Population Dynamics, Winter Ecology and Social Organization of Coats Island Caribou
The indigenous caribou population of Coats Island, N.W.T., suffered major declines from winter mortality in the winters of 1974-75 (a 71% loss) and 1979-80. There was a minor die-off in the winter of 1983-84. Apparently in the major declines the entire calf cohorts (1974 and 1979) died. In the less...
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1986
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ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/65129 2023-05-15T14:19:15+02:00 Population Dynamics, Winter Ecology and Social Organization of Coats Island Caribou Gates, C.C. Adamczewski, J. Mulders, R. 1986-01-01 application/pdf https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65129 eng eng The Arctic Institute of North America https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65129/49043 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65129 ARCTIC; Vol. 39 No. 3 (1986): September: 195–284; 216-222 1923-1245 0004-0843 Animal behaviour Animal ecology Animal food Animal mortality Animal population Caribou Inuit Predation Subsistence Winter ecology Starvation Coats Island Nunavut info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 1986 ftunivcalgaryojs 2022-03-22T21:22:12Z The indigenous caribou population of Coats Island, N.W.T., suffered major declines from winter mortality in the winters of 1974-75 (a 71% loss) and 1979-80. There was a minor die-off in the winter of 1983-84. Apparently in the major declines the entire calf cohorts (1974 and 1979) died. In the less drastic decline in 1983-84 males, calves and adults, died at greater rates than females. The over-winter losses occurred at different densities and hence were density independent, resulting from snow accumulation and a sparse food supply. Reproductive success was low following severe winters, with 3.7% calves in June 1975 and 8.5% in June 1980. In other years, despite poor winter nutrition, the herd was productive: fall calf: cow ratios of 76:100 in 1981, 57:100 in 1982 and 102:100 in 1983. Apparently cows that survived winter starvation were able to recover despite a short growing season, in the absence of insect and predation influences, and to conceive the following autumn. High summer calf survival in the absence of predation, plus the high proportion of cows in the herd (83%), provided the means for rapid recovery in numbers (r=0.21) when winter conditions ameliorated sufficiently that starvation did not occur.Key words: island caribou, winter mortality, population regulation, social organization Mots clés: caribou des îles, mortalité hivernale, contrôle de la population, organisation sociale Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic caribou Coats Island inuit Nunavut University of Calgary Journal Hosting Coats Island ENVELOPE(-82.974,-82.974,62.620,62.620) Nunavut ARCTIC 39 3 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Calgary Journal Hosting |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgaryojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal behaviour Animal ecology Animal food Animal mortality Animal population Caribou Inuit Predation Subsistence Winter ecology Starvation Coats Island Nunavut |
spellingShingle |
Animal behaviour Animal ecology Animal food Animal mortality Animal population Caribou Inuit Predation Subsistence Winter ecology Starvation Coats Island Nunavut Gates, C.C. Adamczewski, J. Mulders, R. Population Dynamics, Winter Ecology and Social Organization of Coats Island Caribou |
topic_facet |
Animal behaviour Animal ecology Animal food Animal mortality Animal population Caribou Inuit Predation Subsistence Winter ecology Starvation Coats Island Nunavut |
description |
The indigenous caribou population of Coats Island, N.W.T., suffered major declines from winter mortality in the winters of 1974-75 (a 71% loss) and 1979-80. There was a minor die-off in the winter of 1983-84. Apparently in the major declines the entire calf cohorts (1974 and 1979) died. In the less drastic decline in 1983-84 males, calves and adults, died at greater rates than females. The over-winter losses occurred at different densities and hence were density independent, resulting from snow accumulation and a sparse food supply. Reproductive success was low following severe winters, with 3.7% calves in June 1975 and 8.5% in June 1980. In other years, despite poor winter nutrition, the herd was productive: fall calf: cow ratios of 76:100 in 1981, 57:100 in 1982 and 102:100 in 1983. Apparently cows that survived winter starvation were able to recover despite a short growing season, in the absence of insect and predation influences, and to conceive the following autumn. High summer calf survival in the absence of predation, plus the high proportion of cows in the herd (83%), provided the means for rapid recovery in numbers (r=0.21) when winter conditions ameliorated sufficiently that starvation did not occur.Key words: island caribou, winter mortality, population regulation, social organization Mots clés: caribou des îles, mortalité hivernale, contrôle de la population, organisation sociale |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gates, C.C. Adamczewski, J. Mulders, R. |
author_facet |
Gates, C.C. Adamczewski, J. Mulders, R. |
author_sort |
Gates, C.C. |
title |
Population Dynamics, Winter Ecology and Social Organization of Coats Island Caribou |
title_short |
Population Dynamics, Winter Ecology and Social Organization of Coats Island Caribou |
title_full |
Population Dynamics, Winter Ecology and Social Organization of Coats Island Caribou |
title_fullStr |
Population Dynamics, Winter Ecology and Social Organization of Coats Island Caribou |
title_full_unstemmed |
Population Dynamics, Winter Ecology and Social Organization of Coats Island Caribou |
title_sort |
population dynamics, winter ecology and social organization of coats island caribou |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
1986 |
url |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65129 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-82.974,-82.974,62.620,62.620) |
geographic |
Coats Island Nunavut |
geographic_facet |
Coats Island Nunavut |
genre |
Arctic caribou Coats Island inuit Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Arctic caribou Coats Island inuit Nunavut |
op_source |
ARCTIC; Vol. 39 No. 3 (1986): September: 195–284; 216-222 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_relation |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65129/49043 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65129 |
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ARCTIC |
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39 |
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3 |
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