Productivity and Carrying Capacity of a Subarctic Sheep Winter Range
Estimates of range composition and net primary productivity for a 10-year period are presented for the semi-arid grasslands of Sheep Mountain, Kluane National Park, Yukon, the winter range of a Dall's sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) population. Estimates varied among plots, depending on altitude and a...
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The Arctic Institute of North America
1984
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ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/65231 2023-05-15T14:19:15+02:00 Productivity and Carrying Capacity of a Subarctic Sheep Winter Range Hoefs, Manfred 1984-01-01 application/pdf https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65231 eng eng The Arctic Institute of North America https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65231/49145 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65231 ARCTIC; Vol. 37 No. 2 (1984): June: 91–194; 141-147 1923-1245 0004-0843 Alpine tundra ecology Animal ecology Animal population Mountain sheep Primary production (Biology) Tundra ecology Winter ecology Aspect Kluane National Park Yukon Sheep Mountain (61 03 N 138 35 W) info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 1984 ftunivcalgaryojs 2022-03-22T21:22:19Z Estimates of range composition and net primary productivity for a 10-year period are presented for the semi-arid grasslands of Sheep Mountain, Kluane National Park, Yukon, the winter range of a Dall's sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) population. Estimates varied among plots, depending on altitude and aspect, as well as among years, according to rainfall during the growing season. Extremes were 29.1 g/sq m and 120.1 g/sq m. Over the 10-year assessment period, the vegetative composition did not change nor was there a grazing-related reduction in productivity. Winter range use by about 200 sheep was within the carrying capacity of the range. A 40% utilization rate of the winter range forage can evidently be sustained and provides a stocking rate of about 1.9 sheep-months/ha. A significant correlation is demonstrated between forage production of the winter range, lamb survival the following winter, and lamb production the following spring. This correlation indicates that a form of self-regulation of the sheep population is functioning.Key words: productivity of subarctic, semi-arid grasslands; Dall's sheep, carrying capacity, Kluane National Park, Yukon Mots clés: productivité dans les régions sub-arctiques, prairie semi-aride, mouflon de Dall, capacité de soutien, parc national Kluane, Yukon Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctique* Kluane National Park Subarctic Tundra Yukon University of Calgary Journal Hosting Yukon ARCTIC 37 2 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Calgary Journal Hosting |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgaryojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Alpine tundra ecology Animal ecology Animal population Mountain sheep Primary production (Biology) Tundra ecology Winter ecology Aspect Kluane National Park Yukon Sheep Mountain (61 03 N 138 35 W) |
spellingShingle |
Alpine tundra ecology Animal ecology Animal population Mountain sheep Primary production (Biology) Tundra ecology Winter ecology Aspect Kluane National Park Yukon Sheep Mountain (61 03 N 138 35 W) Hoefs, Manfred Productivity and Carrying Capacity of a Subarctic Sheep Winter Range |
topic_facet |
Alpine tundra ecology Animal ecology Animal population Mountain sheep Primary production (Biology) Tundra ecology Winter ecology Aspect Kluane National Park Yukon Sheep Mountain (61 03 N 138 35 W) |
description |
Estimates of range composition and net primary productivity for a 10-year period are presented for the semi-arid grasslands of Sheep Mountain, Kluane National Park, Yukon, the winter range of a Dall's sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) population. Estimates varied among plots, depending on altitude and aspect, as well as among years, according to rainfall during the growing season. Extremes were 29.1 g/sq m and 120.1 g/sq m. Over the 10-year assessment period, the vegetative composition did not change nor was there a grazing-related reduction in productivity. Winter range use by about 200 sheep was within the carrying capacity of the range. A 40% utilization rate of the winter range forage can evidently be sustained and provides a stocking rate of about 1.9 sheep-months/ha. A significant correlation is demonstrated between forage production of the winter range, lamb survival the following winter, and lamb production the following spring. This correlation indicates that a form of self-regulation of the sheep population is functioning.Key words: productivity of subarctic, semi-arid grasslands; Dall's sheep, carrying capacity, Kluane National Park, Yukon Mots clés: productivité dans les régions sub-arctiques, prairie semi-aride, mouflon de Dall, capacité de soutien, parc national Kluane, Yukon |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hoefs, Manfred |
author_facet |
Hoefs, Manfred |
author_sort |
Hoefs, Manfred |
title |
Productivity and Carrying Capacity of a Subarctic Sheep Winter Range |
title_short |
Productivity and Carrying Capacity of a Subarctic Sheep Winter Range |
title_full |
Productivity and Carrying Capacity of a Subarctic Sheep Winter Range |
title_fullStr |
Productivity and Carrying Capacity of a Subarctic Sheep Winter Range |
title_full_unstemmed |
Productivity and Carrying Capacity of a Subarctic Sheep Winter Range |
title_sort |
productivity and carrying capacity of a subarctic sheep winter range |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
1984 |
url |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65231 |
geographic |
Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Yukon |
genre |
Arctic Arctique* Kluane National Park Subarctic Tundra Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctique* Kluane National Park Subarctic Tundra Yukon |
op_source |
ARCTIC; Vol. 37 No. 2 (1984): June: 91–194; 141-147 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_relation |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65231/49145 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65231 |
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ARCTIC |
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37 |
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2 |
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1766290884686512128 |