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

使研究活动成为可能：我们提出了一种综合的方法来研究驯鹿社会生态学，这是一个未被研究的驯鹿生态轴。社会行为正在成为衡量人口健康的重要指标，并对生殖成功和生存产生影响。我们强调了社会和空间生态的变异性的原因和结果，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设备对于提供更精细的数据分辨率是必不可少的，我们将能够从中测试元素及其比率(碳：氮)所描述的资源如何影响动物的社会动态、空间使用和运动，进而影响整个生态系统的碳和氮的转移。我们的目标是促进基本生态，同时开发应用程序，以帮助告知驯鹿种群的长期生存能力。*需要设备：我们正在为驯鹿订购20个启用GPS的Irdium上行链路生物遥测项圈，这些项圈将适合成年雌性驯鹿。我们还要求为驯鹿幼崽配备40个甚高频项圈，以便为有项圈的母亲的小牛安装监测设备。福戈岛驯鹿项目可能是现有的唯一一项能够经济、可靠地为成年-幼鹿配对生物遥测项圈的驯鹿研究项目。*为什么这项活动很重要：福戈岛驯鹿项目目前支持加拿大和美国学生的5个博士生项目的内容。该项目历来为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，这些人是学术轨道上的，并打算在野生动物机构工作。一年一度的实地项目通常会培训10名HQP，了解驯鹿的处理和生态。该项目提供了一个安全和包容的空间，学习基础和应用生态学，并获得在野外与驯鹿合作和观察的实际经验。*预期结果：基础：我们预计将进一步理清动物社会动态、空间利用和运动之间的相互关系，同时模拟它们对生态系统过程的影响，即碳循环和氮循环。应用：我们将继续将行为和生态系统进程与种群生存能力的具体衡量指标联系起来，即繁殖成功和存活，这可用于加强驯鹿的管理和保护计划。*加拿大受益：全球驯鹿数量正在下降，包括加拿大。通常，由于驯鹿分布偏远，研究驯鹿细微规模行为和生态的机会有限。福戈岛驯鹿计划提供了一个机会，将关于驯鹿生态的遥感概念与精细的行为学推断结合起来，并将这些与个体健康和种群动态的与保护相关的措施联系起来。

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.**