Landscape genetics of boreal caribou using non-invasive fecal samples

根据《联邦濒危物种法》（2007年）和相应的省级立法，北方驯鹿被列为受威胁物种，这使行业有义务证明其目前和拟议的土地使用活动不会影响该物种的长期生存能力。它还迫使联邦和适当的省和地区政府制定一项恢复该物种的战略。为了支持这项工作，我们提议进一步开发一个遗传生境工具包，为马尼托巴水电局提供一套应用程序，包括立即建立基线数据、人口和人口遗传结构，以确定牧群在景观中的特征和牧群之间的联系;长期评估（即人口规模估计数）和对发展造成的影响的多年监测（即扩散模式、人口群体特征、联系和亲属关系的变化）。这些应用程序将为马尼托巴水电公司提供各种选择，以便在规划的不同阶段产生综合结果，特别是：新输电线路的路由和建设，新设施的产生;以及监测现有设施的影响。应用这一工具包将最终提供与人类活动相关的潜在问题的早期预警，沿着提供减轻这些影响的备选方案。这项工作将通过相关利益攸关方的伙伴关系来实现，特别是工业（马尼托巴水电）、省（马尼托巴保护）和联邦（加拿大公园）政府和学术界（特伦特大学和马尼托巴大学）。

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).