Body-condition dynamics in a northern ungulate gaining fat in winter

Individual condition generally depends on density and is partly determined by habitat quality and climate. Westudied long-term trends in the condition and productivity of female caribou (Rangifer tarandus(L., 1758)) in two largemigratory herds in the Quebec–Labrador peninsula (Canada), the George an...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Couturier, Serge, Côté, Steeve D., Huot, Jean, Otto, Robert D.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2008
Subjects:
geo
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/40297
id fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/40297
record_format openpolar
spelling fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/40297 2023-05-15T18:04:18+02:00 Body-condition dynamics in a northern ungulate gaining fat in winter Couturier, Serge Côté, Steeve D. Huot, Jean Otto, Robert D. Canada (Est) 2008-04-07 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/40297 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/40297 other CorpusUL envir geo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2008 fttriple https://doi.org/20.500.11794/40297 2023-01-22T18:38:15Z Individual condition generally depends on density and is partly determined by habitat quality and climate. Westudied long-term trends in the condition and productivity of female caribou (Rangifer tarandus(L., 1758)) in two largemigratory herds in the Quebec–Labrador peninsula (Canada), the George and the Feuilles herds. Females from the Georgeherd were in better summer condition than those from the more abundant Feuilles herd in 2001–2002, while it was the op-posite in 1988 when the Feuilles herd was less abundant than the George herd. Summer nutrition followed the same pat-tern between herds through time. Spring body condition of females in the George herd declined from 1976 to the mid-1980s during early population growth. Fall condition, however, did not change from 1983 to 2002 when caribou numbersfirst peaked and later declined. Pregnancy rates were inversely related to herd size in both herds. Vegetation quality(NDVI) in June was significantly related to body proteins in the fall. Albeit unusual for a northern ungulate, body fat in-creased from fall to spring in the George herd. We conclude that a relatively small and highly grazed summer range, aswell as density-dependent effects, affected summer nutrition and the need to continue lipogenesis during winter. La condition physique des animaux dépend généralement de la densité de la population et est partiellement déterminée par la qualité de l’habitat et le climat. Nous avons étudié les variations à long terme de la condition corporelle et de la productivité des femelles du caribou (Rangifer tarandus (L., 1758)) dans deux grands troupeaux migrateurs de la péninsule du Québec–Labrador, les troupeaux George et Feuilles. Les femelles du troupeau George étaient en meilleure condition estivale que celles du plus grand troupeau Feuilles en 2001–2002, tandis que le contraire s’observait en 1988 alors que le troupeau Feuilles était moins abondant que le troupeau George. La nutrition estivale a suivi le même patron temporel chez les deux troupeaux. La condition ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Rangifer tarandus Unknown Canada
institution Open Polar
collection Unknown
op_collection_id fttriple
language English
topic envir
geo
spellingShingle envir
geo
Couturier, Serge
Côté, Steeve D.
Huot, Jean
Otto, Robert D.
Body-condition dynamics in a northern ungulate gaining fat in winter
topic_facet envir
geo
description Individual condition generally depends on density and is partly determined by habitat quality and climate. Westudied long-term trends in the condition and productivity of female caribou (Rangifer tarandus(L., 1758)) in two largemigratory herds in the Quebec–Labrador peninsula (Canada), the George and the Feuilles herds. Females from the Georgeherd were in better summer condition than those from the more abundant Feuilles herd in 2001–2002, while it was the op-posite in 1988 when the Feuilles herd was less abundant than the George herd. Summer nutrition followed the same pat-tern between herds through time. Spring body condition of females in the George herd declined from 1976 to the mid-1980s during early population growth. Fall condition, however, did not change from 1983 to 2002 when caribou numbersfirst peaked and later declined. Pregnancy rates were inversely related to herd size in both herds. Vegetation quality(NDVI) in June was significantly related to body proteins in the fall. Albeit unusual for a northern ungulate, body fat in-creased from fall to spring in the George herd. We conclude that a relatively small and highly grazed summer range, aswell as density-dependent effects, affected summer nutrition and the need to continue lipogenesis during winter. La condition physique des animaux dépend généralement de la densité de la population et est partiellement déterminée par la qualité de l’habitat et le climat. Nous avons étudié les variations à long terme de la condition corporelle et de la productivité des femelles du caribou (Rangifer tarandus (L., 1758)) dans deux grands troupeaux migrateurs de la péninsule du Québec–Labrador, les troupeaux George et Feuilles. Les femelles du troupeau George étaient en meilleure condition estivale que celles du plus grand troupeau Feuilles en 2001–2002, tandis que le contraire s’observait en 1988 alors que le troupeau Feuilles était moins abondant que le troupeau George. La nutrition estivale a suivi le même patron temporel chez les deux troupeaux. La condition ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Couturier, Serge
Côté, Steeve D.
Huot, Jean
Otto, Robert D.
author_facet Couturier, Serge
Côté, Steeve D.
Huot, Jean
Otto, Robert D.
author_sort Couturier, Serge
title Body-condition dynamics in a northern ungulate gaining fat in winter
title_short Body-condition dynamics in a northern ungulate gaining fat in winter
title_full Body-condition dynamics in a northern ungulate gaining fat in winter
title_fullStr Body-condition dynamics in a northern ungulate gaining fat in winter
title_full_unstemmed Body-condition dynamics in a northern ungulate gaining fat in winter
title_sort body-condition dynamics in a northern ungulate gaining fat in winter
publisher Canadian Science Publishing
publishDate 2008
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/40297
op_coverage Canada (Est)
geographic Canada
geographic_facet Canada
genre Rangifer tarandus
genre_facet Rangifer tarandus
op_source CorpusUL
op_relation http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/40297
op_rights other
op_doi https://doi.org/20.500.11794/40297
_version_ 1766175632917528576