Population dynamics and critical habitat of woodland caribou in the boreal shield of Saskatchewan

在加拿大北部的森林中，林地驯鹿被列为受威胁的物种。萨斯喀彻温省北方盾牌的驯鹿面临着高度的森林火灾，但面临着该国一些最低水平的人类活动。他们也是最少被研究的种群之一。事实上，萨斯喀彻温省北方盾牌是加拿大环境部目前确定的51个驯鹿范围中唯一一个在关键栖息地的现状、趋势和定义方面缺乏数据的地方。启动对这一特殊人群的研究具有省级和全国性的重要意义。除了提供了可能是我们在大量自然调节种群中研究林地驯鹿生态的最后机会(作为该国其他地区的基线参考)，驯鹿在当地地位的不确定性对在萨斯喀彻温省生活和工作的人具有重要影响。在缺乏数据的情况下，萨斯喀彻温省北方盾牌的社区和公司面临监管延误和开发投资成本，而且几乎没有关于如何减少活动以允许根据《濒危物种法》采取可接受做法的指导意见。特别令人关切的是，对发展北部社区的通道和基础设施以及可持续地开发自然资源(特别是开采黄金和铀；后者在加拿大其他地方没有发现，占世界产量的17%)的影响。我们拟议的研究旨在减少驯鹿在一个对萨斯喀彻温省和加拿大经济至关重要的地区地位的不确定性，同时确定确定物种关键栖息地的新方法。我们的主要目标是了解驯鹿的栖息地和种群如何对高自然但低人为干扰的条件做出反应，以及我们如何通过将个体驯鹿的生存和繁殖与其独特的环境经验(包括栖息地、火灾、捕食风险)联系起来来定义关键栖息地。我们提出了一个以基础和应用生态学为基础的五年计划，以研究萨斯喀彻温省北部林地驯鹿的栖息地，驯鹿的种群和行为生态学，以及它们的天敌(狼和黑熊)的行为生态学。

Woodland caribou are classified as Threatened in the boreal forests of Canada. Caribou of the Saskatchewan Boreal Shield are faced with high levels of forest fire, but are exposed to some of the lowest levels of human activity in the country. They are also among the least studied of populations. In fact, the Saskatchewan Boreal Shield is the only one of 51 caribou ranges currently identified as data deficient by Environment Canada with respect to status, trend, and definition of critical habitat. Initiating research on this special population is of both provincial and national importance. In addition to providing perhaps our last opportunity to study the ecology of woodland caribou in a large, naturally regulated population (serving as a baseline reference for the rest of the country), uncertainty as to the local status of caribou has important implications for the people that live and work in Saskatchewan. In the absence of data, communities and companies of the Saskatchewan Boreal Shield face regulatory delays and costs to investment with respect to development, and little guidance as to how activities must be mitigated to allow for acceptable practices under the Species at Risk Act. Of particular concern are implications for developing access and infrastructure for northern communities and sustainably developing natural resources (especially mining gold and uranium; the latter occurs nowhere else in Canada and accounts for 17% of the world's production). Our proposed research is aimed at reducing uncertainty as to the status of caribou in a region fundamentally important to the Saskatchewan and Canadian economies while identifying novel means by which to define critical habitat for species. Our primary goals are to understand how caribou habitat and populations respond to conditions of high natural but low anthropogenic disturbance, and how we can define critical habitat by relating survival and reproduction of individual caribou to their unique experiences of the environment (including habitat, fire, predation risk). We present a 5-year plan founded in basic and applied ecology to study woodland caribou habitat in northern Saskatchewan, the population and behavioural ecology of caribou, and that of their natural predators (wolves and black bears).