Woodland caribou population declines in west-central Alberta precipitated a wolfcontrol. This program to protect caribou could be compromised if (1) there are strong public pressures against helicopter gunning and strychnine poisoning of wolves and/or (2) other predators compensate to kill caribou. Because bears can be important ungulate predators, I used stable isotope techniques to reconstruct
black and grizzly bear diets including contributions of caribou, caribou calves, ants, ungulates (moose, deer and elk), and 3 plant groups. Bears assimilated 2-58% terrestrial protein indicating large variation among individuals. As an alternative to current wolf-control practices, I reviewed spatial and temporal patterns of harvests (1985-2006) on registered traplines. Wolf trapping has increased during the past 2 decades, but on average trappers harvested only 10% of the provincial wolf population, well below culls required to control the
population. Under the registered trapline system it is unlikely that trapping could control wolf abundance. / Ecology
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/686 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Robichaud, Christine B |
| Contributors | Boyce, Mark S. (Biological Sciences), Boutin, Stan (Biological Sciences), Hudson, Robert (Renewable Resources) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1354757 bytes, application/pdf |
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