Demography of the George River Caribou Herd: Evidence of Population Regulation by Forage Exploitation and Range Expansion
The George River caribou herd in northern Quebec/Labrador increased from about 5000 animals in 1954 to 472,200 (or 1.1 caribou/km) prior to the 1984 calving season. The range used by the herd expanded from 160,000 to 442,000 sq km for the period 1971-84. The exponential rate of increase (r) was esti...
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ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/64787 2023-05-15T14:19:14+02:00 Demography of the George River Caribou Herd: Evidence of Population Regulation by Forage Exploitation and Range Expansion Messier, F. Huot, J. Le Henaff, D. Luttich, S. 1988-01-01 application/pdf https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64787 eng eng The Arctic Institute of North America https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64787/48701 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64787 ARCTIC; Vol. 41 No. 4 (1988): December: 261–336; 279-287 1923-1245 0004-0843 Animal distribution Animal food Animal mortality Animal population Animal reproduction Caribou Hunting Predation Wildlife management Wolves Wildlife habitat Cumulative effects George Rivière region Québec Labrador Nouveau-Québec info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 1988 ftunivcalgaryojs 2022-03-22T21:21:59Z The George River caribou herd in northern Quebec/Labrador increased from about 5000 animals in 1954 to 472,200 (or 1.1 caribou/km) prior to the 1984 calving season. The range used by the herd expanded from 160,000 to 442,000 sq km for the period 1971-84. The exponential rate of increase (r) was estimated at 0.11 in the 1970s. Calf:female ratio in autumn was relatively constant (x=0.52) from 1973 to 1983, but decreased to about 0.39 in 1984-86. The harvest rate was relatively low in the 1970s (about 3%/y), but seemingly increased in the mid-1980s to 5-7% as a result of more liberal regulations and a greater impetus to exploit caribou for subsistence. The cumulative impact of lower calf recruitment and more intensive hunting may have appreciably depressed the growth rate of the herd in 1984-86. A greater year-round competition for food resources and a greater energy expenditure associated with range expansion are presented as probable regulatory factors for the George River herd. It is argued that the nature of caribou-habitat interactions in continental regions generate long-term fluctuations in caribou numbers if human exploitation remains low. At present, wolf predation does not appear to be an important mortality factor capable of regulating the George River herd.Key words: caribou, population regulation, food limitation, northem Quebec, Labrador, wolf predation Mots clés: caribou, régulation de la population, limitation de la nourriture, nord du Québec, Labrador, prédation des loups Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic caribou University of Calgary Journal Hosting ARCTIC 41 4 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Calgary Journal Hosting |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgaryojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal distribution Animal food Animal mortality Animal population Animal reproduction Caribou Hunting Predation Wildlife management Wolves Wildlife habitat Cumulative effects George Rivière region Québec Labrador Nouveau-Québec |
spellingShingle |
Animal distribution Animal food Animal mortality Animal population Animal reproduction Caribou Hunting Predation Wildlife management Wolves Wildlife habitat Cumulative effects George Rivière region Québec Labrador Nouveau-Québec Messier, F. Huot, J. Le Henaff, D. Luttich, S. Demography of the George River Caribou Herd: Evidence of Population Regulation by Forage Exploitation and Range Expansion |
topic_facet |
Animal distribution Animal food Animal mortality Animal population Animal reproduction Caribou Hunting Predation Wildlife management Wolves Wildlife habitat Cumulative effects George Rivière region Québec Labrador Nouveau-Québec |
description |
The George River caribou herd in northern Quebec/Labrador increased from about 5000 animals in 1954 to 472,200 (or 1.1 caribou/km) prior to the 1984 calving season. The range used by the herd expanded from 160,000 to 442,000 sq km for the period 1971-84. The exponential rate of increase (r) was estimated at 0.11 in the 1970s. Calf:female ratio in autumn was relatively constant (x=0.52) from 1973 to 1983, but decreased to about 0.39 in 1984-86. The harvest rate was relatively low in the 1970s (about 3%/y), but seemingly increased in the mid-1980s to 5-7% as a result of more liberal regulations and a greater impetus to exploit caribou for subsistence. The cumulative impact of lower calf recruitment and more intensive hunting may have appreciably depressed the growth rate of the herd in 1984-86. A greater year-round competition for food resources and a greater energy expenditure associated with range expansion are presented as probable regulatory factors for the George River herd. It is argued that the nature of caribou-habitat interactions in continental regions generate long-term fluctuations in caribou numbers if human exploitation remains low. At present, wolf predation does not appear to be an important mortality factor capable of regulating the George River herd.Key words: caribou, population regulation, food limitation, northem Quebec, Labrador, wolf predation Mots clés: caribou, régulation de la population, limitation de la nourriture, nord du Québec, Labrador, prédation des loups |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Messier, F. Huot, J. Le Henaff, D. Luttich, S. |
author_facet |
Messier, F. Huot, J. Le Henaff, D. Luttich, S. |
author_sort |
Messier, F. |
title |
Demography of the George River Caribou Herd: Evidence of Population Regulation by Forage Exploitation and Range Expansion |
title_short |
Demography of the George River Caribou Herd: Evidence of Population Regulation by Forage Exploitation and Range Expansion |
title_full |
Demography of the George River Caribou Herd: Evidence of Population Regulation by Forage Exploitation and Range Expansion |
title_fullStr |
Demography of the George River Caribou Herd: Evidence of Population Regulation by Forage Exploitation and Range Expansion |
title_full_unstemmed |
Demography of the George River Caribou Herd: Evidence of Population Regulation by Forage Exploitation and Range Expansion |
title_sort |
demography of the george river caribou herd: evidence of population regulation by forage exploitation and range expansion |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
1988 |
url |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64787 |
genre |
Arctic caribou |
genre_facet |
Arctic caribou |
op_source |
ARCTIC; Vol. 41 No. 4 (1988): December: 261–336; 279-287 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_relation |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64787/48701 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64787 |
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ARCTIC |
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41 |
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