south coast caribou study presentation 2007 : island of newfoundland

8/9/2019 South Coast Caribou Study Presentation 2007 : Island of Newfoundland

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Management Information Requirements

and

Research Priorities


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Satellite Based Collars: - Class 3: better than 150 m on both axes, 250 m radius

- Class 2: better than 350 m, 500 m radius,- Class 1: better than 1000 m, 1500 m radius- Class 0: over 1000 m, 1500 m radius

Limits data use to class 2 or better Class 1 could be used in situations where accuracy is not important,

i.e. delineation of migration routes Data not suitable for habitat utilization or avoidance behavior

evaluation 49 active collars (winter deployment not included) Over 120,000 locations (unfiltered) recorded by October, 2006


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GPS Based Collars Summer deployed collars


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Delineation of calving grounds, post calving areas andwintering grounds

Delineation of migration routes

Timing of migration and its impact on the currentmanagement regime for hunting caribou

Identification of the herd affiliation of collared caribou(needed to correct winter count)

Use of satellite collar locations to delineate springcount areas by herd


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1. Evaluation of the biotic and abiotic characteristics ofpre-calving, calving and post-calving areas utilized byfemale caribou, with and without calves

- Identification of the study area- Determination of the time period covered by the three life

phases listed above- Identification of females that reared a calf- Use of cluster analysis and autocorrelation to indentify

areas of importance to breeding female caribou- Use of viewscape analysis to determine the importance of

forest fragmentation and cover as it relates to use bybreeding female caribou

- Determine the influence of temperature, elevation andwind speed on selection of areas utilized


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L(d)

Ripley's K-Function All GPS

ExpectedK

ObservedK


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Clustering highly significant at the local level

Level of clustering reduced as the scale is increased

Suggests that management of habitat/population

should be initiated at the local level and based onvariables related to clustering activities

Smaller and larger scales should be investigated asadditional data is collected


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2. Evaluation of the biotic and abiotic characteristics ofmigration routes utilized by female caribou

- Delineation of migration routes utilized by all herdsincluded in this study

- Evaluation of the topographic characteristics ofutilized routes- Evaluation of land cover characteristics of utilized

routes- Comparison of currently utilized migration routes to

those used in the past- Identification of any changes in the timing of

migration


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3. Evaluation of avoidance behaviour exhibited by femalecaribou as it relates to man-made influences

- Identification of all man-made influences locatedwithin the study area (i.e. forest harvesting, etc.)

- Calculation of caribou distances from identifiedmanmade features with comparison to distancescalculated from random points

- Evaluation of the timing of movement into or adjacentto man-made features and the duration of stay as

compared to randomly selected areas within the studyarea


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Clustering analysis to be re-run after upcoming GPSdata download

Preliminary research proposal for pre-calving, calvingand post-calving activities to be completed by end ofFebruary (Paul Saunders)

Additional research activities identified will have to beprioritized and assigned

Management data requirements will have to beprioritized and assigned

south coast caribou study presentation 2007 : island of newfoundland

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