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Woodland caribou conservation in the Little Smoky: wolf management and the role of bears

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

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/686
Date11 1900
CreatorsRobichaud, Christine B
ContributorsBoyce, Mark S. (Biological Sciences), Boutin, Stan (Biological Sciences), Hudson, Robert (Renewable Resources)
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format1354757 bytes, application/pdf

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