The Buffalo of the North: Caribou (<i>Rangifer tarandus</i>) and Human Developments

Abstract

and Sndhetta) exposed to industrial activities or transportation corridors are reviewed. Eehaviour patterns of caribou encountering transportation corridors are explainable in terms of adaptive responses to natural environmental features. There is no evidence that disturbance activities or habitat alteration have affected productivity. Transportation corridors have adversely affected caribou numbers by facilitating access by hunters. There are no examples where physical features of corridors or associated disturbances have affected numbers or productivity. Caribou apparently have a high degree of resilience to human disturbance, and seasonal movement patterns and extent of range occupancy appear to be a function of population size rather than of extrinsic disturbance. The carrying capacity of the habitat is based on the space caribou need to interact successfully with their natural predators. Caribou must not be prevented from crossing transportation corridors by the construction of physical barriers, by firing lines created by hunting activity along a corridor, or by intense harassmenta loss in usable space will ultimately result in reduced abundance.

Forest management guidelines for forest-dwelling caribou in Québec

“…In Québec, caribou are more common in areas subject to a very long forest fire cycle (200-500 years, Courtois et al 2003b). They are highly vulnerable to predation, hunting and other anthropogenic disturbances (Bergerud 1974;Seip 1991Seip , 1992Dyer et al 2001), and large areas of suitable habitat are required for caribou to persist in the presence of predators (Bergerud et al 1984, Racey et al 1999. Their space and habitat use strategies are adapted to reduce the impact of these limiting factors by using habitats less suitable for other cervids, wolves and black bears, by occupying large home ranges and undertaking extensive movements (AWCCSD 1997.…”

“…Because caribou have evolved in environments shaped by major forest fires, their movement strategies are dictated by predator avoidance and they usually search for mature forests (Bergerud et al 1984, Courtois 2003, protected blocks should cover large areas (> 100-250 km 2 ) and should include uneven-aged mature (80-140 years) and relatively mature (40-100 years; Racey et al 1997) stands. The relatively large size of protected blocks is based on large home ranges and extensive movements of caribou, and is intended to minimize the risks of habitat loss due to forest fires, which will continue to rejuvenate large forested areas.…”

Responses of Mountain Caribou to Linear Features in a West-Central Alberta Landscape

“…They interpret these abnormalities as avoidance of the comdor (Cameron et al 1995). However, Bergerud et al (1984) returned to pre-construction locations after the development was completed. Caribou approached trafficked access roads, reversed direction and moved 1.5 km fiorn the area (Northcott 1985).…”

“…Linear features have been deemed the most important factor in detemiinhg the level of hunting mortality a caribou population experiences (Bergerud et al 1984;Hanington 1996;Seip and Cichowski 1996).…”

“…increasing the biornass of prey which could ailow wolf numbers to Uicrease to high levels. ultimately leading to a predicted increase in caribou predation (Bergerud et al 1984; was required that could be used within a GIS.…”