Combined effects of long‐term feeding, population density and vegetation green‐up on reindeer demography

Ballesteros, Manuel; Bårdsen, Bård‐Jørgen; Fauchald, Per; Langeland, Knut; Stien, Audun; Tveraa, Torkild

doi:10.1890/es13-00015.1

Cited by 24 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…This is because a higher mean NDVI value at the start of the green-up period is thought to be associated with an earlier start to the growing season, and elongated time period at which forage is at peak quality. This result is in line with previous work on the migratory patterns of mule deer in this region, which demonstrated that deer "jumped" rather than "surfed" the green wave (sensu Bischof et al 2012), arriving on summer range well before peak productivity of forage occurs (Lendrum et al 2014 (Nielsen et al (2012), as well as lower female body mass in free-ranging reindeer in areas with later vegetation onset (Ballesteros et al 2013). However, Pettorelli et al (2007) found no positive effect of early vegetation onset on juvenile growth or survival in three ungulate species in Canada and northern Italy, and suggested that there is a greater influence of the average duration of the period of access to high quality forage, rather than the measure of the average timing of vegetation onset.…”

Section: Vegetation Phenology and Ungulate Winter Body Conditionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Asynchronous vegetation phenology enhances winter body condition of a large mobile herbivore

et al. 2015

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Article (refereed) -postprintSearle, Kate R.; Rice, Mindy B.; Anderson, Charles R.; Bishop, Chad; Hobbs, N.T. 2015. Asynchronous vegetation phenology enhances winter body condition of a large mobile herbivore. Oecologia, 179 (2). 377-391. 10.1007/s00442-015-3348-9 Contact CEH NORA team at noraceh@ceh.ac.ukThe NERC and CEH trademarks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. AbstractUnderstanding how spatial and temporal heterogeneity influence ecological processes forms a central challenge in ecology. Individual responses to heterogeneity shape population dynamics, therefore understanding these responses is central to sustainable population management. Emerging evidence has shown that herbivores track heterogeneity in nutritional quality of vegetation by responding to phenological differences in plants. We quantified the benefits mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) accrue from accessing habitats with asynchronous plant phenology in northwest Colorado over three years. Our analysis examined both the direct physiological and indirect environmental effects of weather and vegetation phenology on mule deer winter body condition. We identified several important effects of annual weather patterns and topographical variables on vegetation phenology in the home ranges of mule deer. Crucially, temporal patterns of vegetation phenology were linked with differences in body condition, with deer tending to show poorer body condition in areas with less asynchronous vegetation green-up and later vegetation onset. The direct physiological effect of previous winter precipitation on mule deer body condition was much less important than the indirect effect mediated by vegetation phenology. Additionally, the influence of vegetation phenology on body fat was much stronger than that of overall vegetation productivity. In summary, changing annual weather patterns, particularly in relation to seasonal precipitation, have the potential to alter body condition of this important ungulate species during the critical winter period. This finding highlights the importance of maintaining large contiguous areas of spatially and temporally variable resources to allow animals to compensate behaviourally for changing climate-driven resource patterns.

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Section: Vegetation Phenology and Ungulate Winter Body Conditionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Asynchronous vegetation phenology enhances winter body condition of a large mobile herbivore

et al. 2015

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“…At the population level, we would expect that feeding increases nutritional carrying capacity and therefore population density, if other factors are not limiting (Brown and Cooper , Oro et al ). This reduces the effects of density dependence (Lubow and Smith ), and population growth rates may increase (e.g., Ballesteros et al ) until a new higher carrying capacity is approached (Ozoga and Verme ). Although our findings supported this pattern (Table ), feeding programs also have the potential to decrease carrying capacity at high densities, either through negative impacts on summer or autumn forage availability (Ozoga and Verme ) or through an increase in year‐round use of limited winter ranges because of changes in migration patterns (Peterson and Messmer ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

To feed or not to feed? Evidence of the intended and unintended effects of feeding wild ungulates

Milner

Beest

Schmidt³

et al. 2014

Jour. Wild. Mgmt.

124

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Storaas, T. (2014). To feed or not to feed? Evidence of the intended and unintended effects of feeding wild ungulates.Journal of Wildlife Management, 78(8) Large ungulates are keystone species in many ecosystems and are a highly valued natural 47 resource for social, cultural, and economic reasons (Gordon et al. 2004). Many populations have grown over recent decades, causing environmental and socio-economic 49 impacts on wider communities and conservation concerns, as well as density-dependent 50 changes in performance (Côté et al. 2004, Putman et al. 2011. Consequently, conflicts 51 arise between stakeholders who benefit economically from high ungulate numbers (e.g., 52hunters, outfitters, tourism operators) and those faced with the costs of their presence 53(e.g., land managers, conservationists, transport users and operators; Austin et al. 2010). 54Manipulating forage availability through the provision of additional food could 60Wildlife can be fed by humans in many different ways, intentionally (e.g., at 61 feeding stations) and unintentionally (e.g., unprotected agricultural crops and rubbish 62 dumps; Oro et al. 2013, Sorensen et al. 2014. In this review, we focus on the effects of 63 intentional feeding of ungulates, specifically considering supplementary feeding (often 64 called winter feeding) and diversionary, or intercept, feeding used to attract animals away 65 from vulnerable vegetation, livestock, or major traffic arteries (defined fully in 66 Supplemental Material). However, many of the issues raised also apply across a broad 67 range of unintentional but predictable anthropogenic food subsidies (Oro et al. 2013). 68Earlier reviews of the consequences of feeding large herbivores, published a decade or 77 METHODS 78We reviewed articles in the peer-reviewed and, to a lesser extent, grey literature that our search terms resulted in 232 articles. 86We identified 5 major management goals of supplementary and diversionary 87 feeding and considered the intended effects of feeding that would allow these goals to be 88 achieved (Table 1). We also identified commonly perceived unintended or secondary 89 consequences of feeding ( Table S1). 152Among adult females, an effect of feeding is complicated by the strong impact of 153 reproductive status on autumn mass (Cook et al. 2013 and higher neonatal growth rates (Jacobsen et al. 1981, Smith et al. 1997). 160The reproductive rate (number of offspring per adult female in summer or 161 autumn) of supplementally fed herbivores increased in 5/7 studies ( were used (Gundersen et al. 2004, Sahlsten et al. 2010 feeding site users and non-users (van Beest et al. 2010b). 282Of 16 controlled studies, 6 showed diversionary feeding to be effective in 283 reducing damage in the targeted areas, whereas 4 showed a significantly increased 284 impact, opposing the management goal ( we found no studies that formally addressed this ( 379In studies addressing the increased probability of browsing or grazing impacts in 380 response to feeding (4/4 studies; Table 2 and Supplem...

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“…; Ballesteros et al . ). High vulnerability to climatic perturbation and predation is expected to remain unless actions are taken to increase gain in body mass during summer.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The role of predation and food limitation on claims for compensation, reindeer demography and population dynamics

Tveraa

Stien

Brøseth

et al. 2014

Journal of Applied Ecology

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A major challenge in biodiversity conservation is to facilitate viable populations of large apex predators in ecosystems where they were recently driven to ecological extinction due to resource conflict with humans.Monetary compensation for losses of livestock due to predation is currently a key instrument to encourage human–carnivore coexistence. However, a lack of quantitative estimates of livestock losses due to predation leads to disagreement over the practice of compensation payments. This disagreement sustains the human–carnivore conflict.The level of depredation on year-round, free-ranging, semi-domestic reindeer by large carnivores in Fennoscandia has been widely debated over several decades. In Norway, the reindeer herders claim that lynx and wolverine cause losses of tens of thousands of animals annually and cause negative population growth in herds. Conversely, previous research has suggested that monetary predator compensation can result in positive population growth in the husbandry, with cascading negative effects of high grazer densities on the biodiversity in tundra ecosystems.We utilized a long-term, large-scale data set to estimate the relative importance of lynx and wolverine predation and density-dependent and climatic food limitation on claims for losses, recruitment and population growth rates in Norwegian reindeer husbandry.Claims of losses increased with increasing predator densities, but with no detectable effect on population growth rates. Density-dependent and climatic effects on claims of losses, recruitment and population growth rates were much stronger than the effects of variation in lynx and wolverine densities.Synthesis and applications. Our analysis provides a quantitative basis for predator compensation and estimation of the costs of reintroducing lynx and wolverine in areas with free-ranging semi-domestic reindeer. We outline a potential path for conflict management which involves adaptive monitoring programmes, open access to data, herder involvement and development of management strategy evaluation (MSE) models to disentangle complex responses including multiple stakeholders and individual harvester decisions.

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Combined effects of long‐term feeding, population density and vegetation green‐up on reindeer demography

Cited by 24 publications

References 48 publications

Asynchronous vegetation phenology enhances winter body condition of a large mobile herbivore

Asynchronous vegetation phenology enhances winter body condition of a large mobile herbivore

To feed or not to feed? Evidence of the intended and unintended effects of feeding wild ungulates

The role of predation and food limitation on claims for compensation, reindeer demography and population dynamics

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