Interrelationships between weather, parasitic insects, and barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour in Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
The Bathurst barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) herd decreased by 90% from 1986-2009. Increased intensity of insect harassment due to climatic warming is hypothesized as a factor contributing to the decline. I monitored weather, trapped insects, and recorded caribou behavior dur...
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University of Northern British Columbia
2011
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ftunbcolumbiadc:oai:unbc.arcabc.ca:unbc_16129 2024-05-19T07:46:17+00:00 Interrelationships between weather, parasitic insects, and barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour in Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Witter, Leslie A. (Author) Johnson, Christopher (Thesis advisor) University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution) 2011 electronic Number of pages in document: 167 https://unbc.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/unbc:16129/datastream/PDF/download https://unbc.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/unbc%3A16129 https://doi.org/10.24124/2011/bpgub717 English eng University of Northern British Columbia Copyright retained by the author. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Barren ground caribou -- Behavior -- Climatic factors -- Canada Northern Barren ground caribou -- Effect of global warming on -- Canada Insects -- Behavior -- Climatic factors -- Canada QL737.U55 W58 2010 Text thesis 2011 ftunbcolumbiadc https://doi.org/10.24124/2011/bpgub717 2024-04-19T00:30:46Z The Bathurst barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) herd decreased by 90% from 1986-2009. Increased intensity of insect harassment due to climatic warming is hypothesized as a factor contributing to the decline. I monitored weather, trapped insects, and recorded caribou behavior during 2007-2009. Oestrid fly (Oestridae) presence, and mosquito (Culicidae) and black fly (Simuliidae) activity/abundance were best explained by temperature, wind speed, light intensity, barometric pressure, relative humidity, vegetation, topography, and location. Time of day and growing degree days also affected mosquito and black fly levels. Conditions favouring mosquito activity declined, while those favouring black and oestrid fly activity increased since the mid 1980s. Mosquitoes had relatively little effect on caribou behavior. Insect avoidance increased when oestrids were present or black flies were active at moderate-high levels. Understanding differential effects of macroparasites on Rangifer behavior is necessary to predict herd dynamics in the context of a changing climate across northern Canada. --P.ii. The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b1677083 Thesis Northwest Territories Nunavut Rangifer tarandus UNBC's Digital Institutional Repository (University of Northern British Columbia) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
UNBC's Digital Institutional Repository (University of Northern British Columbia) |
op_collection_id |
ftunbcolumbiadc |
language |
English |
topic |
Barren ground caribou -- Behavior -- Climatic factors -- Canada Northern Barren ground caribou -- Effect of global warming on -- Canada Insects -- Behavior -- Climatic factors -- Canada QL737.U55 W58 2010 |
spellingShingle |
Barren ground caribou -- Behavior -- Climatic factors -- Canada Northern Barren ground caribou -- Effect of global warming on -- Canada Insects -- Behavior -- Climatic factors -- Canada QL737.U55 W58 2010 Interrelationships between weather, parasitic insects, and barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour in Northwest Territories and Nunavut. |
topic_facet |
Barren ground caribou -- Behavior -- Climatic factors -- Canada Northern Barren ground caribou -- Effect of global warming on -- Canada Insects -- Behavior -- Climatic factors -- Canada QL737.U55 W58 2010 |
description |
The Bathurst barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) herd decreased by 90% from 1986-2009. Increased intensity of insect harassment due to climatic warming is hypothesized as a factor contributing to the decline. I monitored weather, trapped insects, and recorded caribou behavior during 2007-2009. Oestrid fly (Oestridae) presence, and mosquito (Culicidae) and black fly (Simuliidae) activity/abundance were best explained by temperature, wind speed, light intensity, barometric pressure, relative humidity, vegetation, topography, and location. Time of day and growing degree days also affected mosquito and black fly levels. Conditions favouring mosquito activity declined, while those favouring black and oestrid fly activity increased since the mid 1980s. Mosquitoes had relatively little effect on caribou behavior. Insect avoidance increased when oestrids were present or black flies were active at moderate-high levels. Understanding differential effects of macroparasites on Rangifer behavior is necessary to predict herd dynamics in the context of a changing climate across northern Canada. --P.ii. The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b1677083 |
author2 |
Witter, Leslie A. (Author) Johnson, Christopher (Thesis advisor) University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution) |
format |
Thesis |
title |
Interrelationships between weather, parasitic insects, and barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour in Northwest Territories and Nunavut. |
title_short |
Interrelationships between weather, parasitic insects, and barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour in Northwest Territories and Nunavut. |
title_full |
Interrelationships between weather, parasitic insects, and barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour in Northwest Territories and Nunavut. |
title_fullStr |
Interrelationships between weather, parasitic insects, and barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour in Northwest Territories and Nunavut. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interrelationships between weather, parasitic insects, and barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour in Northwest Territories and Nunavut. |
title_sort |
interrelationships between weather, parasitic insects, and barren-ground caribou (rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour in northwest territories and nunavut. |
publisher |
University of Northern British Columbia |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://unbc.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/unbc:16129/datastream/PDF/download https://unbc.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/unbc%3A16129 https://doi.org/10.24124/2011/bpgub717 |
genre |
Northwest Territories Nunavut Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Northwest Territories Nunavut Rangifer tarandus |
op_rights |
Copyright retained by the author. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.24124/2011/bpgub717 |
_version_ |
1799486431923535872 |