The effect of fire on spatial separation between wolves and caribou
Fire management is an important conservation tool in Canada’s national parks. Fires can benefit some species, while others may be negatively impacted. We used GPS and VHF collar data for 47 wolves from 12 separate packs and 153 caribou from 5 separate herds, and resource selection analysis to model...
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ftunitroemsoe:oai:ojs.henry.ub.uit.no:article/2276 2023-05-15T15:50:37+02:00 The effect of fire on spatial separation between wolves and caribou Robinson, Hugh S. Hebblewhite, Mark DeCesare, Nicholas J. Whittington, Jessie Neufeld, Layla Bradley, Mark Musiani, Marco 2012-03-08 application/pdf https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/2276 https://doi.org/10.7557/2.32.2.2276 eng eng Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/2276/2117 https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/2276 doi:10.7557/2.32.2.2276 Copyright (c) 2015 Hugh S. Robinson, Mark Hebblewhite, Nicholas J. DeCesare, Jessie Whittington, Layla Neufeld, Mark Bradley, Marco Musiani http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY Rangifer; Vol 32 (2012): Special Issue No. 20; 277-294 1890-6729 Canis lupus fire Rangifer tarandus caribou resource selection spatial separation wolf woodland caribou info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2012 ftunitroemsoe https://doi.org/10.7557/2.32.2.2276 2021-08-16T15:12:39Z Fire management is an important conservation tool in Canada’s national parks. Fires can benefit some species, while others may be negatively impacted. We used GPS and VHF collar data for 47 wolves from 12 separate packs and 153 caribou from 5 separate herds, and resource selection analysis to model the effects of fire on these species’ habitat and potential interactions. Resource selection modeling showed that wolves select for burned areas and areas close to burns, presumably due to the presence of primary prey (i.e., elk and moose), while caribou avoid burns. Fire reduced the amount of high quality caribou habitat (a direct effect), but also increased the probability of wolf-caribou overlap (an indirect effect). We delineated a spatial index of caribou “safe zones” (areas of low overlap with wolves), and found a positive relationship between the proportion of a herd’s home range represented by “safe zone” in winter and population size (P = 0.10, n=4). While currently-planned prescribed fires in Banff and Jasper reduced the amount of quality caribou habitat by up to 4%, they reduced the area of “safe zones” by up to 7%, varying by herd, location, and season. We suggest that conservation managers should account for the indirect, predator-mediated impacts of fire on caribou in addition to direct effects of habitat loss. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Rangifer Rangifer tarandus University of Tromsø: Septentrio Academic Publishing Rangifer 277 294 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Septentrio Academic Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftunitroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
Canis lupus fire Rangifer tarandus caribou resource selection spatial separation wolf woodland caribou |
spellingShingle |
Canis lupus fire Rangifer tarandus caribou resource selection spatial separation wolf woodland caribou Robinson, Hugh S. Hebblewhite, Mark DeCesare, Nicholas J. Whittington, Jessie Neufeld, Layla Bradley, Mark Musiani, Marco The effect of fire on spatial separation between wolves and caribou |
topic_facet |
Canis lupus fire Rangifer tarandus caribou resource selection spatial separation wolf woodland caribou |
description |
Fire management is an important conservation tool in Canada’s national parks. Fires can benefit some species, while others may be negatively impacted. We used GPS and VHF collar data for 47 wolves from 12 separate packs and 153 caribou from 5 separate herds, and resource selection analysis to model the effects of fire on these species’ habitat and potential interactions. Resource selection modeling showed that wolves select for burned areas and areas close to burns, presumably due to the presence of primary prey (i.e., elk and moose), while caribou avoid burns. Fire reduced the amount of high quality caribou habitat (a direct effect), but also increased the probability of wolf-caribou overlap (an indirect effect). We delineated a spatial index of caribou “safe zones” (areas of low overlap with wolves), and found a positive relationship between the proportion of a herd’s home range represented by “safe zone” in winter and population size (P = 0.10, n=4). While currently-planned prescribed fires in Banff and Jasper reduced the amount of quality caribou habitat by up to 4%, they reduced the area of “safe zones” by up to 7%, varying by herd, location, and season. We suggest that conservation managers should account for the indirect, predator-mediated impacts of fire on caribou in addition to direct effects of habitat loss. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Robinson, Hugh S. Hebblewhite, Mark DeCesare, Nicholas J. Whittington, Jessie Neufeld, Layla Bradley, Mark Musiani, Marco |
author_facet |
Robinson, Hugh S. Hebblewhite, Mark DeCesare, Nicholas J. Whittington, Jessie Neufeld, Layla Bradley, Mark Musiani, Marco |
author_sort |
Robinson, Hugh S. |
title |
The effect of fire on spatial separation between wolves and caribou |
title_short |
The effect of fire on spatial separation between wolves and caribou |
title_full |
The effect of fire on spatial separation between wolves and caribou |
title_fullStr |
The effect of fire on spatial separation between wolves and caribou |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effect of fire on spatial separation between wolves and caribou |
title_sort |
effect of fire on spatial separation between wolves and caribou |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/2276 https://doi.org/10.7557/2.32.2.2276 |
genre |
Canis lupus Rangifer Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus Rangifer Rangifer tarandus |
op_source |
Rangifer; Vol 32 (2012): Special Issue No. 20; 277-294 1890-6729 |
op_relation |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/2276/2117 https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/2276 doi:10.7557/2.32.2.2276 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2015 Hugh S. Robinson, Mark Hebblewhite, Nicholas J. DeCesare, Jessie Whittington, Layla Neufeld, Mark Bradley, Marco Musiani http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.32.2.2276 |
container_title |
Rangifer |
container_start_page |
277 |
op_container_end_page |
294 |
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1766385611792449536 |