Conditions for caribou persistence in the wolf-elk-caribou systems of the Canadian Rockies
Woodland caribou populations are considered threatened in Alberta and have declined in the Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks of Banff and Jasper despite protection from factors causing caribou populations to decline outside of parks. Recent research emphasizes the importance of the numeric resp...
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Online Access: | https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/322 https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.4.322 |
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ftunitroemsoe:oai:ojs.henry.ub.uit.no:article/322 2023-05-15T18:03:55+02:00 Conditions for caribou persistence in the wolf-elk-caribou systems of the Canadian Rockies Hebblewhite, Mark Whittington, Jesse Bradley, Mark Skinner, Geoff Dibb, Alan White, Clifford A. 2007-04-01 application/pdf https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/322 https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.4.322 eng eng Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/322/316 https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/322 doi:10.7557/2.27.4.322 Copyright (c) 2015 Mark Hebblewhite, Jesse Whittington, Mark Bradley, Geoff Skinner, Alan Dibb, Clifford A. White http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY Rangifer; Vol 27 (2007): Special Issue No.17; 79-91 1890-6729 ecosystem management endangered species inverse density dependence long-term range of variation park management predation species at risk info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2007 ftunitroemsoe https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.4.322 2021-08-16T14:20:42Z Woodland caribou populations are considered threatened in Alberta and have declined in the Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks of Banff and Jasper despite protection from factors causing caribou populations to decline outside of parks. Recent research emphasizes the importance of the numeric response of wolves to moose in moose-caribou-wolf systems to caribou persistence. Moose are rare in the Canadian Rockies, where the dominant ungulate prey for wolves is elk. Few studies have explored wolf-elk dynamics and none have examined implications for caribou. We used data collected in Banff to estimate the numeric response of wolves to elk from 1985 to 2005. Because no caribou kill-rate data exist for the Rockies, we explore the consequences of a range of hypothetical kill-rates based on kill-rates of alternate prey collected from 1985 to 2000 in Banff. We then multiplied the numeric response of wolves by the estimated caribou kill-rates to estimate the wolf predation response on caribou as a function of elk density. Caribou predation rates were inversely density dependent because wolf numbers depend on prey species besides caribou in multiple prey species systems. We then combined this simple wolf-elk-caribou model with observed demographic and population estimates for Banff and Jasper caribou from 2003-2004 and solved for the critical kill-rate thresholds above which caribou populations would decline. Using these critical kill-rate thresholds, Jasper caribou are likely to persist when wolf densities are below 2.1 - 4.3 wolves/1000km2 and/or when elk densities are below 0.015- 0.033 elk/km2. Thresholds for Banff caribou persistence are much lower because of inverse density dependence. Future research is needed on some of the necessary assumptions underlying our modeling including multi-prey wolf numeric responses, wolf kill-rates of caribou, caribou mortality by other predators, and spatial aspects of wolf-elk-caribou dynamics. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rangifer University of Tromsø: Septentrio Academic Publishing Rangifer 27 4 79 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Septentrio Academic Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftunitroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
ecosystem management endangered species inverse density dependence long-term range of variation park management predation species at risk |
spellingShingle |
ecosystem management endangered species inverse density dependence long-term range of variation park management predation species at risk Hebblewhite, Mark Whittington, Jesse Bradley, Mark Skinner, Geoff Dibb, Alan White, Clifford A. Conditions for caribou persistence in the wolf-elk-caribou systems of the Canadian Rockies |
topic_facet |
ecosystem management endangered species inverse density dependence long-term range of variation park management predation species at risk |
description |
Woodland caribou populations are considered threatened in Alberta and have declined in the Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks of Banff and Jasper despite protection from factors causing caribou populations to decline outside of parks. Recent research emphasizes the importance of the numeric response of wolves to moose in moose-caribou-wolf systems to caribou persistence. Moose are rare in the Canadian Rockies, where the dominant ungulate prey for wolves is elk. Few studies have explored wolf-elk dynamics and none have examined implications for caribou. We used data collected in Banff to estimate the numeric response of wolves to elk from 1985 to 2005. Because no caribou kill-rate data exist for the Rockies, we explore the consequences of a range of hypothetical kill-rates based on kill-rates of alternate prey collected from 1985 to 2000 in Banff. We then multiplied the numeric response of wolves by the estimated caribou kill-rates to estimate the wolf predation response on caribou as a function of elk density. Caribou predation rates were inversely density dependent because wolf numbers depend on prey species besides caribou in multiple prey species systems. We then combined this simple wolf-elk-caribou model with observed demographic and population estimates for Banff and Jasper caribou from 2003-2004 and solved for the critical kill-rate thresholds above which caribou populations would decline. Using these critical kill-rate thresholds, Jasper caribou are likely to persist when wolf densities are below 2.1 - 4.3 wolves/1000km2 and/or when elk densities are below 0.015- 0.033 elk/km2. Thresholds for Banff caribou persistence are much lower because of inverse density dependence. Future research is needed on some of the necessary assumptions underlying our modeling including multi-prey wolf numeric responses, wolf kill-rates of caribou, caribou mortality by other predators, and spatial aspects of wolf-elk-caribou dynamics. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hebblewhite, Mark Whittington, Jesse Bradley, Mark Skinner, Geoff Dibb, Alan White, Clifford A. |
author_facet |
Hebblewhite, Mark Whittington, Jesse Bradley, Mark Skinner, Geoff Dibb, Alan White, Clifford A. |
author_sort |
Hebblewhite, Mark |
title |
Conditions for caribou persistence in the wolf-elk-caribou systems of the Canadian Rockies |
title_short |
Conditions for caribou persistence in the wolf-elk-caribou systems of the Canadian Rockies |
title_full |
Conditions for caribou persistence in the wolf-elk-caribou systems of the Canadian Rockies |
title_fullStr |
Conditions for caribou persistence in the wolf-elk-caribou systems of the Canadian Rockies |
title_full_unstemmed |
Conditions for caribou persistence in the wolf-elk-caribou systems of the Canadian Rockies |
title_sort |
conditions for caribou persistence in the wolf-elk-caribou systems of the canadian rockies |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/322 https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.4.322 |
genre |
Rangifer |
genre_facet |
Rangifer |
op_source |
Rangifer; Vol 27 (2007): Special Issue No.17; 79-91 1890-6729 |
op_relation |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/322/316 https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/322 doi:10.7557/2.27.4.322 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2015 Mark Hebblewhite, Jesse Whittington, Mark Bradley, Geoff Skinner, Alan Dibb, Clifford A. White http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.4.322 |
container_title |
Rangifer |
container_volume |
27 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
79 |
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1766175073284128768 |