Landscape genetics of boreal caribou using non-invasive fecal samples

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The listing of boreal caribou as a threatened species under the federal Species at Risk Act (2007) and equivalent provincial legislation has obligated industry to demonstrate that their current and proposed land use activities will not impact the long-term viability of the species. It has also forced the federal and appropriate provincial and territorial governments to develop a recovery strategy for the species. In order to support this work, we propose to further develop a Genetic-Habitat toolkit to provide Manitoba Hydro a suite of applications ranging from the immediate establishment of baseline data, population and demographic genetic structure to characterize herds on the landscape and connectivity among herds; to longer-term assessments (i.e. population size estimates) and multi-year monitoring of impacts resulting from development (i.e. changes to dispersal patterns, demographic herd signatures, connectivity and kinship). These applications will supply Manitoba Hydro with options for generating comprehensive results through the different phases of planning, specifically: routing and construction of new transmission lines, the generation of new facilities; and in monitoring impacts of existing facilities. Applying this toolkit will ultimately provide early warning of potential problems associated with anthropogenic activities along with options for mitigating these impacts. This work will be achieved through a partnership of relevant stakeholders, specifically industry (Manitoba Hydro), the provincial (Manitoba Conservation) and federal (Parks Canada) governments and academia (Trent University and the University of Manitoba).