Landscape genetics of boreal caribou using non-invasive fecal samples

根据联邦《濒危物种法》(2007年)和相当的省级立法，将北方驯鹿列为濒危物种，使工业界有义务证明其当前和拟议的土地利用活动不会影响该物种的长期生存能力。它还迫使联邦以及适当的省和地区政府为该物种制定恢复战略。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，为马尼托巴省水电提供一整套应用程序，从立即建立基线数据、种群和人口遗传结构，以确定畜群在地形上的特征和畜群之间的联系；到较长期的评估(即种群规模估计)和对开发造成的影响(即分散模式、人口群体特征、连接性和亲缘关系的变化)的多年监测。这些应用程序将为马尼托巴省水电公司提供通过规划的不同阶段产生全面结果的选项，特别是：布线和建设新的输电线路，产生新的设施；以及监测现有设施的影响。应用这一工具包最终将提供与人为活动相关的潜在问题的早期预警，以及减轻这些影响的选择。这项工作将通过相关利益攸关方的伙伴关系实现，特别是工业界(马尼托巴省水电)、省级(马尼托巴省保护)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)的伙伴关系。

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).