Suitability of boreal mixedwood clearcuts as wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) foraging habitat in north-central Alberta, Canada

Spatiotemporal variations in resources affect activity and movement patterns of white-tailed deer (Odocoileusvirginianus) at high density

“…Variations in forage also occur at several spatial scales. Open or regenerating habitat categories are generally more productive than forested habitats in temperate regions (Morrison et al 2002;Redburn et al 2008). Moreover, the abundance of forage resources may be heterogeneous within a specific habitat (Fortin et al 2003, resulting in a patchy distribution of forage at finer scales (Edenius et al 2002).…”

Individual-based seasonal habitat selection in a forest-dwelling population of reintroduced bison Bison bison

“…Foraging habitat is relatively abundant in the range of the Ronald Lake population, where graminoid, shrub and herbaceous plants are prevalent (∼15% cover, DeMars et al 2016, compared to 6% cover in the Nahanni region) and where burned forest provides a rich source of forage (grasses and forbs) across most of the population range. In contrast, the Nahanni region is dominated by dense, mature boreal forest, which offers little forage for bison (Redburn et al 2008, Strong and Gates 2009). Thus, fluvial habitats may provide much‐needed forage for Nahanni bison, given the lack of other suitable foraging habitat within their range.…”

“…Nahanni bison consistently selected artificial clearings associated with forestry and oil and gas development. Although these disturbances were the rarest type of land cover in the study area (0.1%), bison may have been attracted to them because they were likely rich in forage species compared to the surrounding forest (Redburn et al 2008).…”

“…Climate is continental, with short, warm summers and long, cold winters. Relative to other reintroduced populations in northern Canada (Larter and Gates 1991, Redburn et al 2008, Jung et al 2018b, Belanger et al 2020, the range of the Nahanni population is densely forested, lacking large patches of wet sedge meadow, regenerating forest or relict boreal grasslands.…”

“…Linear features such as seismic lines and roads may reduce the energetic costs of travel (Bruggeman et al 2006, Jung 2017, DeMars et al 2020) and support the growth of key forage plants such as graminoids and shrubs (Strong et al 2013, Finnegan et al 2018). Resource and residential developments also create grazing habitats that may attract bison, such as clearcuts (Redburn et al 2008), airstrips (Fig. 1), fields and lawns (Larter and Allaire 2007).…”