Fogo Island Long-Term Individual-Based Monitoring Program Remote Monitoring Tools

研究活动使：我们提出了一个综合的方法来研究驯鹿的社会生态学，驯鹿生态学的研究轴。社会行为正在成为人口健康的重要指标，对生殖成功和生存产生影响。我们强调社会和空间生态的变化的原因和后果，并将这些行为和生态过程与动物地球化学生态系统过程联系起来。这些新的GPS设备必须提供更高分辨率的数据，我们将能够测试元素及其比例（碳：氮）描述的资源如何影响动物的社会动态，空间使用和运动，这反过来又影响整个生态系统中碳和氮的转移。我们的目标是促进基本生态学，同时开发应用程序，以帮助了解驯鹿种群的长期生存能力。设备要求：我们要求20个GPS启用铱上行生物遥测项圈驯鹿，将适合成年女性。我们还要求40个甚高频项圈驯鹿小牛，以适应小牛的项圈母亲与监测设备。Fogo Island Caribou项目可能是现有的唯一一个驯鹿研究项目，可以经济地，可靠地将成年驯鹿与生物遥测项圈配对。为什么和谁的活动是重要的：福戈岛驯鹿计划目前支持在加拿大和美国的学生5博士生项目的元素。该计划历史上为6名硕士学生和4个国际硕士研究项目提供了培训机会。该计划培养高素质的人才，是学术轨道，并打算在野生动物机构工作。每年的实地项目通常培训10名HQP驯鹿处理和生态学。该计划提供了一个安全和包容的空间，学习基础和应用生态学，并获得与实地观察驯鹿的经验。预期结果：基础：我们期望进一步解开动物社会动力学，空间利用和运动之间的相关关系，同时模拟它们对生态系统过程的影响，即，碳和氮循环。应用：我们将继续将行为和生态系统过程与人口生存能力的具体措施联系起来，即，繁殖成功率和存活率，可用于加强驯鹿的管理和保护计划。对加拿大的好处：全球范围内，包括加拿大在内，驯鹿数量正在下降。通常情况下，研究驯鹿的精细尺度行为和生态的机会是有限的，由于它们的偏远分布。福戈岛驯鹿计划提供了一个机会，将有关驯鹿生态的遥感概念与精细尺度的行为学推断结合起来，并将这些与个人健康和种群动态的保护相关措施联系起来。

Research activities enabled: We propose an integrative approach to study caribou socioecology, an under-studied axis of caribou ecology. Social behaviours are emerging as important indicators of population health, with implications for reproductive success and survival. We spotlight the cause and consequence in variability of social and spatial ecology, and link these behavioural and ecological processes to zoogeochemical ecosystem processes. These new GPS devices are imperative to provide a finer resolution of data from which we will be able to test the how resources described by elements and their ratios (carbon:nitrogen), affect animal social dynamics, space use, and movement, which in turn affect the transfer of carbon and nitrogen throughout the ecosystem. Our aim is to further the fundamental ecology, while developing applications to help inform long-term viability of caribou populations.******Equipment Requested: We are requesting 20 GPS enabled Iridium uplink biotelemetry collars for caribou that will be fit onto adult females. We are also requesting 40 VHF collars for caribou calves to fit calves of collared mothers with monitoring devices. It is possible that the Fogo Island Caribou Project is the only existing caribou research program that can economically, and reliably fit adult-calf pairs of caribou with biotelemetry collars.******Why and whom the activities are important: The Fogo Island Caribou Program currently supports elements of 5 PhD student projects for students in Canada and the United States. The programme has historically provided training opportunities for 6 MSc students and 4 international MSc research programs. The program trains highly qualified personnel that are academic track and intend to work in wildlife agencies. The annual field program typically trains 10 HQP in caribou handling and ecology. The program provides a safe and inclusive space to learn fundamental and applied ecology and get hands on experience working with and observing caribou in the field.******Anticipated outcome: Fundamental: We anticipate to further disentangle the correlated relationship between animal social dynamics, space use, and movement, while modeling their consequences to ecosystem processes, i.e., carbon and nitrogen cycles. Applied: We will continue to link behavioural and ecosystem processes to tangible measures of population viability, i.e., reproductive success and survival, which could be used to augment management and conservation plans for caribou.******Benefit to Canada: Caribou populations are in decline globally, including in Canada. Typically, opportunities to study the fine-scale behaviour and ecology of caribou are limited due to their remote distribution. The Fogo Island Caribou Program provides an opportunity to integrate remotely sensed notions about caribou ecology, with fine-scale ethological inferences and link these to conservation-relevant measures of individual fitness and population dynamics.**