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Protecting wildlife corridors is a common management problem in regions of industrial forestry. In boreal Canada, human disturbances have negatively affected woodland caribou populations (Rangifer tarandus caribou), which prefer to function in large undisturbed areas. We present a linear programming model that allocates a fixed-width corridor between isolated caribou ranges and estimates its impact on harvest activities. Our corridor placement problem minimizes total resistance for caribou passing through the corridor, which is protected by a prohibition on all economic activities. We link this corridor placement problem with a harvest planning problem that maximizes the net revenues from harvest minus the cost of building and maintaining forest access roads. We depict gradual expansion of the forest road network over time as a multi-temporal network flow problem. We applied our approach to explore corridor options for connecting caribou populations in the Lake Superior Coast Range, with the Nipigon and Pagwachuan Ranges in the Kenogami-Pic Forest, in northern Ontario, Canada. Our results revealed two locations where corridor placement is cost-effective. Optimal corridor placement depends on the perception of the severity of the impact of roads on caribou populations and decision-making objectives. When the negative impact of roads is perceived to be high and/or maximizing harvest revenues is important, the optimal corridor location is in the eastern part of the study area. However, it is optimal to place the corridor in the western part of the area when the negative impact of roads is perceived to be small or the shortest corridor is desired.

In social species, reproductive success and rates of dispersal vary among individuals resulting in spatially structured populations. Network analyses of familial relationships may provide insights on how these parameters influence population‐level demographic patterns. These methods, however, have rarely been applied to genetically derived pedigree data from wild populations.Here, we use parent–offspring relationships to construct familial networks from polygamous boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Saskatchewan, Canada, to inform recovery efforts. We collected samples from 933 individuals at 15 variable microsatellite loci along with caribou‐specific primers for sex identification. Using network measures, we assess the contribution of individual caribou to the population with several centrality measures and then determine which measures are best suited to inform on the population demographic structure. We investigate the centrality of individuals from eighteen different local areas, along with the entire population.We found substantial differences in centrality of individuals in different local areas, that in turn contributed differently to the full network, highlighting the importance of analyzing networks at different scales. The full network revealed that boreal caribou in Saskatchewan form a complex, interconnected familial network, as the removal of edges with high betweenness did not result in distinct subgroups. Alpha, betweenness, and eccentricity centrality were the most informative measures to characterize the population demographic structure and for spatially identifying areas of highest fitness levels and family cohesion across the range. We found varied levels of dispersal, fitness, and cohesion in family groups. Synthesis and applications: Our results demonstrate the value of different network measures in assessing genetically derived familial networks. The spatial application of the familial networks identified individuals presenting different fitness levels, short‐ and long‐distance dispersing ability across the range in support of population monitoring and recovery efforts., Network analyses of familial relationships may provide insights on how fitness influences population‐level demographic patterns in socially structured populations. Here, we use networks to reconstruct parent‐offspring relationships and create a familial network from polygamous boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), assessing the contribution of individual caribou to the population with several centrality metrics and determine which metrics are best suited to inform on population demographic structure. The familial network revealed that boreal caribou in Saskatchewan form a complex, interconnected social network, and identified areas of higher fitness levels and social cohesion across the range in support of population monitoring and recovery efforts.

Landscape change is a key driver of biodiversity declines due to habitat loss and fragmentation, but spatially shifting resources can also facilitate range expansion and invasion. Invasive populations are reproductively successful, and landscape change may buoy this success.We show how modeling the spatial structure of reproductive success can elucidate the mechanisms of range shifts and sustained invasions for mammalian species with attendant young. We use an example of white‐tailed deer (deer; Odocoileus virginianus) expansion in the Nearctic boreal forest, a North American phenomenon implicated in severe declines of threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus).We hypothesized that deer reproductive success is linked to forage subsidies provided by extensive landscape change via resource extraction. We measured deer occurrence using data from 62 camera traps in northern Alberta, Canada, over three years. We weighed support for multiple competing hypotheses about deer reproductive success using multistate occupancy models and generalized linear models in an AIC‐based model selection framework.Spatial patterns of reproductive success were best explained by features associated with petroleum exploration and extraction, which offer early‐seral vegetation resource subsidies. Effect sizes of anthropogenic features eclipsed natural heterogeneity by two orders of magnitude. We conclude that anthropogenic early‐seral forage subsidies support high springtime reproductive success, mitigating or exceeding winter losses, maintaining populations. Synthesis and Applications. Modeling spatial structuring in reproductive success can become a key goal of remote camera‐based global networks, yielding ecological insights into mechanisms of invasion and range shifts to inform effective decision‐making for global biodiversity conservation., White‐tailed deer are expanding into the boreal with detrimental effects on the mammal community. Landscape change via resource extraction best explains successful deer reproduction in this boreal landscape.

Mountain caribou, a behaviourally and genetically distinct set of ecotypes of the Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) restricted to the mountains of western Canada, have undergone severe population declines in recent decades. Although a broad consensus exists that the ultimate driver of these declines has been the reduction of habitat upon which mountain caribou depend, research and policy attention has increasingly focused on predation. Recently, Serrouya et al. (Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 116:6181–6186, 2019) analysed population dynamics data from 18 subpopulations in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, subject to different treatments and ‘controls’, and concluded that lethal wolf control and maternal caribou penning provide the most effective ways to stabilize population declines. Here we show that this inference was based on an unbalanced analytical approach that omitted a null scenario, excluded potentially confounding variables and employed irreproducible habitat alteration metrics. Our reanalysis of available data shows that ecotype identity is a better predictor of population trends than any adaptive management treatments considered by Serrouya et al. Disparate behavioural characteristics and responses to industrial disturbance among ecotypes suggest it may be incorrect to assume that adaptive management strategies that might benefit one ecotype are transferable to another.

Local population units (LPUs) were delineated in Canada’s recovery strategy for threatened boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Population viability analyses central to contemporary integrated risk assessments of LPUs implicitly assume geographic closure. Several LPUs in northwest Canada, however, were in part delineated by geopolitical boundaries and/or included large areas in the absence of evidence of more finely resolved population spatial structure. We pooled >1.2 million locations from >1200 GPS or VHF-collared caribou from northeast British Columbia, northwest Alberta and southwestern Northwest Territories. Bayesian cluster analysis generated 10 alternative candidate LPUs based on a spatial cluster graph of the extent of pairwise co-occurrence of collared caribou. Up to four groups may be artifacts in as yet under-sampled areas. Four were mapped LPUs that were conserved (Prophet, Parker, Chinchaga and Red Earth). One small group between Parker and Snake-Sahtaneh known locally as the “Fort Nelson core,” and outside any mapped LPU, was also conserved. Finally, one large group, at >136000 km2, spanned all three jurisdictions and subsumed all of six delineated LPUs (Maxhamish, Snake-Sahtaneh, Calendar, Bistcho, Yates, Caribou Mountains) and part of southern Northwest Territories. These results suggest less geographic closure of LPUs than those currently delineated, but further analyses will be required to better reconcile various sources of knowledge about local population structure in this region.

One of the most challenging tasks in wildlife conservation and management is to clarify how spatial variation in land cover due to anthropogenic disturbance influences wildlife demography and long‐term viability. To evaluate this, we compared rates of survival and population growth by woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) from 2 study sites in northern Ontario, Canada that differed in the degree of anthropogenic disturbance because of commercial logging and road development, resulting in differences in predation risk due to gray wolves (Canis lupus). We used an individual‐based model for population viability analysis (PVA) that incorporated adaptive patterns of caribou movement in relation to predation risk and food availability to predict stochastic variation in rates of caribou survival. Field estimates of annual survival rates for adult female caribou in the unlogged ( x̄ = 0.90) and logged ( x̄ = 0.76) study sites recorded during 2010–2014 did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) from values predicted by the individual‐based PVA model (unlogged: x̄ = 0.87; logged: x̄ = 0.79). Outcomes from the individual‐based PVA model and a simpler stage‐structured matrix model suggest that substantial differences in adult survival largely due to wolf predation are likely to lead to long‐term decline of woodland caribou in the commercially logged landscape, whereas the unlogged landscape should be considerably more capable of sustaining caribou. Estimates of population growth rates (λ) for the 2010–2014 period differed little between the matrix model and the individual‐based PVA model for the unlogged (matrix model x̄ = 1.01; individual‐based model x̄ = 0.98) and logged landscape (matrix model x̄ = 0.88; individual‐based model x̄ = 0.89). We applied the spatially explicit PVA model to assess the viability of woodland caribou across 14 woodland caribou ranges in Ontario. Outcomes of these simulations suggest that woodland caribou ranges that have experienced significant levels of commercial forestry activities in the past had annual growth rates 0.96. These differences were strongly related to regional variation in wolf densities. Our results suggest that increased wolf predation risk due to anthropogenic disturbance is of sufficient magnitude to cause appreciable risk of population decline in woodland caribou in Ontario. © 2020 The Authors. The Journal of Wildlife Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Wildlife Society.

Space‐use behaviour reflects trade‐offs in meeting ecological needs and can have consequences for individual survival and population demographics. The mechanisms underlying space use can be understood by simultaneously evaluating habitat selection and movement patterns, and fine‐resolution locational data are increasing our ability to do so.We use high‐resolution location data and an integrated step‐selection analysis to evaluate caribou, moose, bear, and wolf habitat selection and movement behaviour in response to anthropogenic habitat modification, though caribou data were limited. Space‐use response to anthropogenic linear features (LFs) by predators and prey is hypothesized to increase predator hunting efficiency and is thus believed to be a leading factor in woodland caribou declines in western Canada.We found that all species moved faster while on LFs. Wolves and bears were also attracted towards LFs, whereas prey species avoided them. Predators and prey responded less strongly and consistently to natural features such as streams, rivers and lakeshores. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that LFs facilitate predator movement and increase hunting efficiency, while prey perceive such features as risky.Understanding the behavioural mechanisms underlying space‐use patterns is important in understanding how future land‐use may impact predator–prey interactions. Explicitly linking behaviour to fitness and demography will be important to fully understand the implications of management strategies., The authors provide a framework to combine habitat selection and movement behaviour to understand the mechanisms behind space‐use patterns. They then apply this framework to a predator–prey system of high socio‐economic value in Canada, woodland caribou, to understand caribou, moose, bear and wolf space use in relation to human habitat alteration.

Protecting wildlife within areas of resource extraction often involves reducing habitat fragmentation. In Canada, protecting threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) populations requires preserving large areas of intact forest habitat, with some restrictions on industrial forestry activities. We present a linear programming model that assesses the trade-off between achieving an objective of habitat protection for caribou populations while maintaining desired levels of harvest in forest landscapes. The habitat-protection objective maximizes the amount of connected habitat that is accessible by caribou, and the forestry objective maximizes net revenues from timber harvest subject to even harvest flow, a harvest target, and environmental sustainability constraints. We applied the model to explore the habitat protection and harvesting scenarios in the Cold Lake caribou range, a 6726 km2 area of prime caribou habitat in Alberta, Canada. We evaluated harvest scenarios ranging from 0.1 Mm3·year–1 to maximum sustainable harvest levels over 0.7 Mm3·year–1 and assessed the impact of habitat protection measures on timber supply costs. Protecting caribou habitat by deferring or reallocating harvest increases the timber unit cost by Can$1.1–2.0 m–3. However, this impact can be partially mediated by extending the harvest to areas of oil and gas extraction to offset forgone harvest in areas of prime caribou habitat.

The Interior Wetbelt (IWB) of British Columbia, which includes the globally rare Inland Temperate Rainforest (ITR), contains primary forests poorly attributed and neglected in conservation planning. We evaluated the IWB and ITR using four IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Criteria: geographic distribution, environmental degradation (abiotic and biotic factors), and likelihood of ecosystem collapse. Clearcut logging (3.2M ha) represented 57% of all anthropogenic disturbances, reducing potential primary forest by 2.7 million ha (28%) for the IWB and 524,003 ha (39%) for the ITR. Decadal logging rates nearly doubled from 5.3% to 10.2% from 1970s–2000s. Core areas (buffered by 100-m from roads and developments) declined by 70% to 95% for the IWB and ITR, respectively. Vulnerable was assigned to karst, the only abiotic factor assessed, because it was associated with rare plants. For biotic factors, Old-Growth Birds were Vulnerable, Southern Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) habitat and Sensitive Fish were Endangered, and Old-Growth Lichens habitat was Critical. Overall, the IWB was ranked as Endangered and the ITR as Critical with core area collapse possible within 9 to 18 years for the ITR, considered one of the world’s most imperiled temperate rainforests.

Habitat loss is often the ultimate cause of species endangerment and is also a leading factor inhibiting species recovery. For this reason, species‐at‐risk legislation, policies and plans typically focus on habitat conservation and restoration as mechanisms for recovery. To assess the effectiveness of these instruments in decelerating habitat loss, we evaluated spatiotemporal habitat changes for an iconic endangered species, woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). We quantified changes in forest cover, a key proxy of caribou habitat, for all caribou subpopulations in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. Despite efforts under federal and provincial recovery plans, and requirements listed under Canada's Species at Risk Act, caribou subpopulations lost twice as much habitat as they gained during a 12‐year period (2000–2012). Drivers of habitat loss varied by ecotype, with Boreal and Northern Mountain caribou affected most by forest fire and Southern Mountain caribou affected more by forest harvest. Our case study emphasizes critical gaps between recovery planning and habitat management actions, which are a core expectation under most species‐at‐risk legislation. Loss of caribou habitat from 2000 to 2018 has accelerated. Linear features within caribou ranges have also increased over time, particularly seismic lines within Boreal caribou ranges, and we estimated that only 5% of seismic lines have functionally regenerated. Our findings support the idea that short‐term recovery actions such as predator reductions and translocations will likely just delay caribou extinction in the absence of well‐considered habitat management. Given the magnitude of ongoing habitat change, it is clear that unless the cumulative impacts of land‐uses are effectively addressed through planning and management actions that consider anthropogenic and natural disturbances, we will fail to achieve self‐sustaining woodland caribou populations across much of North America.

Anthropogenic disturbances fragmenting wildlife habitat greatly contribute to extinction risk for many species. In western Canada, four decades of oil and gas exploration have created a network of seismic lines, which are linear disturbances where seismic equipment operates. Seismic lines cause habitat fragmentation and increase predator access to intact forest, leading to declines of some wildlife populations, particularly the threatened woodland caribou, Rangifer tarandus caribou. Restoration of forests within seismic lines is an important activity to reduce habitat fragmentation and recovery caribou. We present an optimization model with the objective of guiding landscape restoration strategies that maximize the area of connected habitat for a caribou population in a fragmented landscape. We use our model to find optimal strategies for seismic line restoration in the Cold Lake Area of Alberta, Canada, a 6726-km2 expanse of boreal forest that represents prime caribou habitat. We formulate mixed integer programming models that depict the landscape as a network of interconnected habitat patches. We develop and compare formulations that emphasize the population's local or long-distance access to habitat. Optimal restoration involves a mix of two strategies: the first establishes short-distance connections between forest patches with large areas of intact habitat and the second establishes corridors between areas with known species locations and large amounts of suitable habitat. Our approach reveals the trade-offs between these strategies and finds the optimal restoration solutions under a limited budget. The approach is generalizable and applicable to other regions and species sensitive to changes in landscape-level habitat connectivity.

Understanding how conservation of woodland caribou, an at-risk species for which large undisturbed areas are often proposed to maintain viable populations, can contribute to conservation of boreal biodiversity is an important consideration for an ecosystem warming at twice the global average and experiencing rapid resource development. We assess the focal or ‘umbrella’ value of the boreal population of woodland caribou for conservation of mammalian and avian richness (n = 432) in the boreal region of Canada by (i) evaluating co-occurrence of caribou distribution with that of boreal mammals (n = 102), birds (n = 330), at-risk mammals (n = 11) and at-risk birds (n = 47); and (ii) conducting systematic conservation planning using MARXAN software to identify minimum representative and complementary reserve networks, comprised of planning units deemed large enough (10,000 km2) for persistence of terrestrial wildlife, both at the extent of boreal caribou distribution and the entire boreal region. While boreal caribou overlap with the range of 90% of boreal birds and mammals, area-efficient networks representative of boreal diversity focus on species-rich areas south of caribou distribution and other areas that contain relatively small-ranged species. A similar pattern occurs when the MARXAN analysis focused only on caribou distribution, i.e. representative networks are preferentially located on southern herd ranges. However, this situation differs markedly to include large areas within the distribution of caribou if anthropogenic footprint on the landscape is considered as a constraint on reserve design. Efforts to sustain boreal caribou offer considerable opportunities to conserve diversity of co-occurring mammals and birds, including areas of the relatively more disturbed caribou southern ranges that have irreplaceable value in an efficient and representative pan-boreal network of reserves. The high focal value of boreal caribou for animal diversity should be considered when making decisions and policy choices about how to best allocate conservation efforts across its extensive distribution.

Significance A replicated management experiment was conducted across >90,000 km2 to test recovery options for woodland caribou, a species that was functionally extirpated from the contiguous United States in March 2018. Recovery options were reductions of predators, reductions of overabundant prey, translocations, and creating fenced refuges from predators. Population growth was strongest where multiple recovery options were applied simultaneously. This adaptive management study was one of the largest predator-prey manipulations ever conducted and provided positive results for this endangered North American ungulate., Adaptive management is a powerful means of learning about complex ecosystems, but is rarely used for recovering endangered species. Here, we demonstrate how it can benefit woodland caribou, which became the first large mammal extirpated from the contiguous United States in recent history. The continental scale of forest alteration and extended time needed for forest recovery means that relying only on habitat protection and restoration will likely fail. Therefore, population management is also needed as an emergency measure to avoid further extirpation. Reductions of predators and overabundant prey, translocations, and creating safe havens have been applied in a design covering >90,000 km2. Combinations of treatments that increased multiple vital rates produced the highest population growth. Moreover, the degree of ecosystem alteration did not influence this pattern. By coordinating recovery involving scientists, governments, and First Nations, treatments were applied across vast scales to benefit this iconic species.

Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are threatened in Canada, with population and distribution declines evident in most regions of the country. Causes of declines are linked to landscape change from forest fires and human development, notably forestry oil and gas activities, which result in caribou habitat loss and affect ecosystem food webs. The Federal Species at Risk Act requires effective protection and restoration of caribou habitat, with actions to increase caribou survival. These requirements call for effective monitoring of caribou population trends to gauge success. Many woodland caribou populations are nearly impossible to count using traditional aerial survey methods, but demographic‐based monitoring approaches can be used to estimate population trends based on population modeling of vital rates from marked animals. Monitoring programs have used a well‐known simple population model (the Recruitment‐Mortality [R/M] equation) to estimate demographic rates for woodland caribou, but have faced challenges in managing large data streams and providing transparency in the demographic estimation process. We present a stand‐alone statistical software application using open‐source software to permit efficient, transparent, and replicable demographic estimation for woodland caribou populations. We developed an easy‐to‐use, interactive web‐based application for the R/M population model that uses a Bayesian estimation approach and provides the user flexibility in choice of prior distributions and other output features. We illustrate the web‐application to the A la Pêche Southern Mountain (Central Group) woodland caribou population in west‐central Alberta, Canada, during 1998–2017. Our estimates of population demographics are consistent with previous research on this population and highlight the utility of the application in assessing caribou population responses to species recovery actions. We provide example data, computer code, the web‐based application package, and a user manual to guide installation and use. We also review underlying assumptions and challenges of population monitoring in this case study. We expect our software will contribute to efficient monitoring of woodland caribou and help in the assessment of recovery actions for this species. © 2019 The Authors. Wildlife Society Bulletin Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., We developed a stand‐alone Web‐Application to support population trend estimation for endangered and threatened woodland caribou populations.

Global climate warming is causing reductions in the depth and duration of snow cover across much of the distributional range of threatened boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Plasticity in group size and composition among gregarious ungulates likely reflects a response to a variety of proximate factors, including environmental conditions such as snow depth. Yet, longitudinal studies of social organization by ungulates in response to environmental conditions are limited. We used 11 years of aerial survey data to examine winter group size in a northern population of boreal woodland caribou in response to late-winter snow depth. We documented caribou social organization (size and types of groups) and annual variability in group size. We tested the hypothesis that group size increases with increasing snow depth. Most groups (61%; n = 456) were ≤ 5 animals; however, they only constituted 37% of the animals. Caribou were distributed among four types of groups, including solitary females, males only, females only, and mixed groups. Group sizes differed among group types. Mixed groups were both the most common and largest groups encountered in late winter. We found a positive relationship between snow depth and group size; however, there was no relationship between snow depth and the percentage of mixed groups. These caribou may form larger groups in winters with deep snow as a behavioral strategy to reduce energetic costs, predation risk, or both. Climate-induced decreases in late-winter snow depth will likely reduce group sizes in boreal woodland caribou. However, further work is required to understand if this change in social organization will affect the persistence of local boreal woodland caribou populations.

Unspoiled wildlands of boreal landscapes provide critical habitats for wildlife. With the increase in resource development across Canada's boreal zone, woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) and grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) are at risk of population declines. We used 4 planning scenarios with variants of these in decision-support software Marxan to allocate potential conservation priority areas for caribou and grizzly bears in boreal wildlands of the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area in northeast British Columbia, Canada. For caribou and grizzly bears across their seasonal habitats, priority areas allocated to preserve connectivity of habitat patches maintained more intact high-value habitats, with moderate opportunity cost for resource development, than those allocated under other scenarios. In winter when high-value habitats of caribou tend to coincide with resource-rich areas, priority areas allocated to preserve areas that are more vulnerable to development maintained more intact high-value habitats with higher opportunity cost (therefore greater adverse economic consequences) than those allocated in areas with lower resource potential. In growing-season (non-winter) habitats of caribou and grizzly bears, allocating priority areas toward either more vulnerable or less vulnerable areas did not substantially affect patch and landscape characteristics of conserved habitats. Priority areas intended to avoid predation risk for caribou were not effective in maintaining intact high-value habitats for caribou in these undeveloped wildlands. Conserving connectivity would best maintain most intact habitats for both species across seasons; conserving habitats most vulnerable to development also would discourage future development outside of the conserved areas in winter habitats of caribou. Findings from these conservation planning scenarios have implications globally to other areas where sensitive species are threatened by pending resource developments.

AIM: Population‐limiting factors represent the core of conservation biology. Because animal space use is affected by ecological constraints that can vary among populations, limiting factors might be revealed from intraspecific variation in home range size. We evaluated biogeographic variation in the home range size of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), a threatened species inhabiting the boreal forest, in relation to land cover, topography, snowcover and disturbance across the species’ range. LOCATION: Twenty‐five populations in Canada, spanning the contiguous boreal forest (an east–west extent of 4,400 km), including the southern fringe of the species’ range, adjacent to a broad region of extirpation. METHODS: We compiled the average annual home range size of adult female caribou (5–68 home ranges per population) and 18 putative predictor variables in each population range. We uncovered major gradients using principal components analysis and then evaluated models of home range size using multiple regression, with orthogonal variables representing vegetation, human disturbance and snowcover. RESULTS: Average home range size varied 28‐fold among populations (range: 312–8,838 km²). Home range area was most strongly and negatively correlated with anthropogenic disturbance in the population range (R² = 0.391), a variable in all seven top models (ΔAICc ≤ 5.99). Among populations, where human disturbance in the population range was low (≤10%), mean home range sizes consistently exceeded 1,400 km². Conversely, where human disturbance was high (>55%), especially at the species’ southern range margin, mean home range sizes did not exceed 1,500 km². MAIN CONCLUSIONS: In the boreal forest, female caribou may constrict their home ranges amid human‐caused disturbances. We speculate that smaller home ranges may lower the risk of encounter by predators, a key limiting factor. Among populations, smaller home ranges may serve as a signal of anthropogenic habitat loss.

As global climate change progresses, wildlife management will benefit from knowledge of demographic responses to climatic variation, particularly for species already endangered by other stressors. In Canada, climate change is expected to increasingly impact populations of threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) and much focus has been placed on how a warming climate has potentially facilitated the northward expansion of apparent competitors and novel predators. Climate change, however, may also exert more direct effects on caribou populations that are not mediated by predation. These effects include meteorological changes that influence resource availability and energy expenditure. Research on other ungulates suggests that climatic variation may have minimal impact on low-density populations such as woodland caribou because per-capita resources may remain sufficient even in “bad” years. We evaluated this prediction using demographic data from 21 populations in western Canada that were monitored for various intervals between 1994 and 2015. We specifically assessed whether juvenile recruitment and adult female survival were correlated with annual variation in meteorological metrics and plant phenology. Against expectations, we found that both vital rates appeared to be influenced by annual climatic variation. Juvenile recruitment was primarily correlated with variation in phenological conditions in the year prior to birth. Adult female survival was more strongly correlated with meteorological conditions and declined during colder, more variable winters. These responses may be influenced by the life history of woodland caribou, which reside in low-productivity refugia where small climatic changes may result in changes to resources that are sufficient to elicit strong demographic effects. Across all models, explained variation in vital rates was low, suggesting that other factors had greater influence on caribou demography. Nonetheless, given the declining trajectories of many woodland caribou populations, our results highlight the increased relevance of recovery actions when adverse climatic conditions are likely to negatively affect caribou demography.

Changes in primary productivity have the potential to substantially alter food webs, with positive outcomes for some species and negative outcomes for others. Understanding the environmental context and species traits that give rise to these divergent outcomes is a major challenge to the generality of both theoretical and applied ecology. In aquatic systems, nutrient-mediated eutrophication has led to major declines in species diversity, motivating us to seek terrestrial analogues using a large-mammal system across 598 000 km2of the Canadian boreal forest. These forests are undergoing some of the most rapid rates of land-use change on Earth and are home to declining caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) populations. Using satellite-derived estimates of primary productivity, coupled with estimates of moose (Alces alces) and wolf (Canis lupus) abundance, we used path analyses to discriminate among hypotheses explaining how habitat alteration can affect caribou population growth. Hypotheses included food limitation, resource dominance by moose over caribou, and apparent competition with predators shared between moose and caribou. Results support apparent competition and yield estimates of wolf densities (1.8 individuals 1000 km−2) above which caribou populations decline. Our multi-trophic analysis provides insight into the cascading effects of habitat alteration from forest cutting that destabilize terrestrial predator–prey dynamics. Finally, the path analysis highlights why conservation actions directed at the proximate cause of caribou decline have been more successful in the near term than those directed further along the trophic chain.

1. Endangered species policies and their associated recovery documents and management actions do not always sufficiently address the importance of migratory behaviour and seasonal ranges for imperilled populations. 2. Using a telemetry location dataset spanning 1981–2018, we tested for changes in prevalence of migratory tactics (resident, migrant) over time, switching between tactics, shifts in seasonal space use including migration corridors, and survival consequences of migrant and resident tactics for 237 adult female endangered woodland mountain caribou in one population in western Canada. 3. Over more than three decades, the proportion of individuals displaying annual migration to the low elevation forested winter range declined from nearly 100%–38%. Correspondingly, there was a strong switch away from being migrant to being year‐round residents at high elevation. 4. These behavioural changes corresponded to abandonment of low elevation winter ranges in association with increasing levels of anthropogenic land uses, including forestry and oil and gas developments. Furthermore, there were no identifiable migration corridors to target for migratory route protection. 5. These shifts translated to lower survival rates, particularly for caribou demonstrating resident tactics, consistent with recent declines of the caribou population. That migrants switched to residency in their largely undisturbed summer range, despite lower survival, indicates maladaptive habitat selection consistent with recent patterns of mountain caribou extirpations. 6. Globally, endangered species policies and their associated recovery plans and management actions often do not explicitly consider the challenge of protecting migratory species. Effective conservation of migratory species requires protecting critical habitats needed for the entire life history of the species, including all seasonal ranges and migratory habitat.

Identifying habitat that is essential to the recovery of species at risk, known as critical habitat, is a major focus of species at risk legislation, yet there has been little research on the degree to which these areas are protected. Here, we first review the provisions for protecting critical habitat on non‐federal lands within Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA). Next, we use the declining southern mountain population of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in British Columbia, Canada as a case study to show that identification of critical habitat does not guarantee its protection on non‐federal lands. Our analyses show that 909 km2 of critical habitat identified on provincial lands were logged in 5 years after it was legally identified under SARA. Existing provincial legislation and policies have provided incomplete protection of caribou critical habitat, and Canada's federal government has yet to exercise authority under SARA that could protect these areas. In the absence of nondiscretionary protection under provincial legislation, a combination of alternative mechanisms, involving all levels of government, Indigenous people, and industry, will be essential to protect critical habitat and help recover species at risk.

Anthropogenic landscape disturbances are known to alter, destroy, and fragment habitat, which typically leads to biodiversity loss. The effects of landscape disturbance generally vary among species and depend on the nature of the disturbances, which may interact and result in synergistic effects. Western Canada's oil sands region experiences disturbances from forestry and energy sector activities as well as municipal and transportation infrastructure. The effects of those disturbances on single species have been studied and have been implicated in declines of the boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Yet, the specific responses of the mammal community, and of functional groups such as prey and predators, to those interacting disturbances are still poorly known. We investigated the responses of black bear, grey wolf, coyote, fisher, lynx, red fox, American red squirrel, white-tailed deer, moose, caribou, and snowshoe hare to both natural habitat and disturbance associated with anthropogenic features within Alberta's northeast boreal forest. We used a novel community-level modelling framework on three years of camera-trap data collected in an oil sands landscape. This framework allowed us to identify the natural and anthropogenic features which explained the most variation in occurrence frequency among functional groups, as well as compare responses to linear and non-linear anthropogenic disturbance. Occurrence frequency by predators was better explained by anthropogenic features than by natural habitat. Both linear and non-linear anthropogenic features helped explain occurrence frequency by prey and predators, although the effects differed in magnitude and spatial scale. To better conserve boreal biodiversity, management actions should extend beyond a focus on caribou and wolves and aim to restore habitat across a diversity of anthropogenic disturbances and monitor the dynamics of the entire mammal community.

Boreal caribou (Woodland Caribou, boreal population; Rangifer tarandus caribou) is a prominent mammal at the heart of a decades-long conflict between a growing resource sector and the associated risks to biodiversity. We employed the ISO 31010 Bow-tie Risk Assessment Tool (BRAT) to evaluate the cumulative effects of anthropogenic and natural factors that may affect the risk of self-sustainability to the boreal caribou herds of Northeastern British Columbia. We used the BRAT to produce a visual synthesis of the cumulative effects causing the growth rate of boreal caribou herds to persistently fall below a level corresponding to a 60% chance of being self-sustaining (λ < 1.025). The BRAT diagram provided the basis for a quantitative Layers of Protection Analysis (LOPA) of risk probabilities for three caribou herds. We combined threat assessments from the Species at Risk Act recovery strategy (Environment Canada 2012) with data from published landscape experiments (e.g. restoration of seismic traces, maternal penning, and wolf culls) to parameterize the LOPA in three study areas. We report the implications of a combination of mitigation options versus current risk conditions, as well as the implications of uncertainty in threat prevention. Our analysis indicates that a combination of mitigation scenarios will best facilitate caribou herd recovery, that barriers preventing predation threats could also aid in recovery success, and that compensatory predation may account for a significant proportion of both adult and juvenile female mortality across different herds. We estimated the minimum annual cost for effective mitigation and recovery to be $CDN 224K within any of the study areas. Bow-tie diagrams are a flexible and quantifiable tool that can translate resource management solutions to the diverse audience involved in conservation decision-making: scientists, land managers, policy makers, and concerned stakeholders.

Canada, like many nations around the world, is struggling to find solutions to both climate change impacts and biodiversity loss. Given the enormity of these problems, opportunities to align government policy responses are highly appealing. In Canada's Boreal Forest biome there is a compelling case that conservation designations of large landscapes can help slow biodiversity losses, including of iconic threatened species like boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), while increasing the likelihood that massive stores of carbon in those landscapes will remain there. The Boreal Forest biome of Canada is estimated to hold a minimum of 208 billion tons of carbon. Only 11% of the total carbon stored in soils and vegetation in Canada is now within existing protected areas. At least 69 billion tons of carbon are stored in unprotected intact landscapes that support woodland caribou.

Mountain pine beetle (MPB) has become an invasive forest pest of mature pine in western North America as it spreads beyond its former endemic range. Management actions such as timber harvest can reduce the spread of MPB but may affect species of conservation concern like woodland caribou. Our goal was to inform MPB management within caribou ranges by exploring the impacts of MPB on caribou habitat-focusing on terrestrial lichens, an important winter food for caribou. We evaluated differences in lichen cover among four MPB management actions: timber harvest, wildfires, leaving MPB killed trees as-is, and single-tree cut-and-burn control. We found little evidence that leaving MPB killed trees as-is or controlling MPB using single-tree cut-and-burn impacted lichen cover. However, we found that lichen cover was lower in timber harvested and burned areas compared to intact undisturbed forest but only 10 to 20 years post-disturbance, respectively. Our results suggest that despite short-term reductions in lichen cover, using timber harvesting and prescribed burns to control MPB may balance management needs for MPB while maintaining lichen cover over time. However, using timber harvesting and prescribed burns to manage MPB is likely to have detrimental population-level effects on caribou by increasing the proportion of disturbed habitat and thus predators within caribou ranges. Among the four management actions that we evaluated, the cut-and-burn control program balances the need to limit the spread of MPB while also limiting negative impacts on caribou food. Our work addresses some of the challenges of managing competing forest and ecosystem values by evaluating the consequence of forest pest management actions on an important food resource for a species-at-risk.

Faced with a growing number of species headed toward extinction, some scientists and governments are seeking a better way to dole out money for species conservation. They are embracing an approach called "triage" or "prioritization," which relies on calculations of where the biggest benefit will come from spending. The story of Canada9s woodland caribou offers a look at why some scientists are calling for triage, and the wrenching choices involved. Proponents say it can benefit the most species with limited funding. But the strategy has critics, who charge it threatens to strip money from some of the neediest cases—species on the brink of extinction that might be saved only with costly, last-ditch efforts.

Post-glacial origins of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus subsp.) on the island of Newfoundland and their relationship to mainland populations have been uncertain. Sequence analysis of 2223 bp of the mitochondrial DNA control region and cytochrome b gene from 233 Newfoundland caribou identified 32 haplotypes in four major clades. Comparison with other Nearctic caribou confirms a closer affinity of the basal Clade A with animals from the mainland, and as an outgroup to Clades B, C, and D that are endemic to the island. This indicates re-entry of caribou to post-glacial Newfoundland across the Strait of Belle Isle from Labrador, rather than from southern coastal refugia. Newfoundland caribou are a distinct subspecies, Rangifer tarandus terranovae (Bangs, 1896). Hierarchical AMOVA shows significant clinal differentiation of the major clades from northwest to southeast across the island. The isolated Avalon Peninsula population in the extreme southeast is genetically depauperate. Founder effects are evident in herds introduced to previously unoccupied areas by wildlife managers over the past 40–50 years. Reindeer introduced in the early 20th century have not contributed to mtDNA diversity in Newfoundland caribou.

Collective movement decisions are often based on personal and conspecific knowledge. In fission–fusion animal societies, individuals rarely have the same level of information about their environment, with knowledge being a reflection of past individual and collective decisions. Knowledge of the environment is particularly essential in heterogeneous landscapes, where resources may vary in space and time. Indeed, landscape heterogeneity, a product of the quantity and configuration of resources as well as predators and competitors, is the basis of both individual and collective movement decisions. We assessed individual movement decisions of an alpine ungulate as a function of landscape knowledge and landscape heterogeneity. We hypothesized that individuals would base their decisions on previous information in areas they know well, especially in highly heterogeneous landscapes. These individual decisions would have consequences for the collective movement decisions of groups. To test this hypothesis, we used GPS collars to monitor the movements of ∼45% of the individuals (N = 28) of a small population of woodland caribou, Rangifer tarandus caribou, between 2013 and 2016. We assessed the fission probability of caribou dyads (N = 3681, from 172 dyad combinations) in relation to landscape knowledge, landscape heterogeneity and social bonds between dyad members. The probability of group fission was influenced by the interaction between the variables describing landscape knowledge of dyadic members and social bonds. The probability of group fission and the influence of habitat or social bonds on fission probability increased with landscape knowledge. In familiar landscapes, individuals were more likely to stay with conspecifics if they shared a strong social bond or if they were in preferential habitat. Such fine adjustments in movement and social decisions demonstrated the importance of the information held by conspecifics when occupying unfamiliar areas. By staying with conspecifics, individuals could gain access to high-quality resources without the energetic cost of locating such resources.

Natural regeneration of seismic lines, cleared for hydrocarbon exploration, is slow and often hindered by vegetation damage, soil compaction, and motorized human activity. There is an extensive network of seismic lines in western Canada which is known to impact forest ecosystems, and seismic lines have been linked to declines in woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Seismic line restoration is costly, but necessary for caribou conservation to reduce cumulative disturbance. Understanding where motorized activity may be impeding regeneration of seismic lines will aid in prioritizing restoration. Our study area in west-central Alberta, encompassed five caribou ranges where restoration is required under federal species at risk recovery strategies, hence prioritizing seismic lines for restoration is of immediate conservation value. To understand patterns of motorized activity on seismic lines, we evaluated five a priori hypotheses using a predictive modeling framework and Geographic Information System variables across three landscapes in the foothills and northern boreal regions of Alberta. In the northern boreal landscape, motorized activity was most common in dry areas with a large industrial footprint. In highly disturbed areas of the foothills, motorized activity on seismic lines increased with low vegetation heights, relatively dry soils, and further from forest cutblocks, while in less disturbed areas of the foothills, motorized activity on seismic lines decreased proportional to seismic line density, slope steepness, and white-tailed deer abundance, and increased proportional with distance to roads. We generated predictive maps of high motorized activity, identifying 21,777 km of seismic lines where active restoration could expedite forest regeneration.

Seismic lines are one of the most pervasive disturbances across the boreal forest of western Canada, with densities in Alberta as high as 10 km/km2. The effect of seismic lines and associated habitat fragmentation on boreal wildlife is generally well understood, and most recently seismic lines have been focus of habitat restoration efforts to conserve declining woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) populations. However, despite decades of research assessing wildlife response to seismic lines, little is known about the effects of seismic line clearing on the quality of understory forage for wildlife, or about the resilience of boreal understory communities to seismic line clearing. Using field data collected from 351 seismic lines across west-central and north-western Alberta, Canada, and focusing on forage taxa preferred by moose and bears, we (1) investigated whether understory forage taxa composition differed among seismic lines, seismic line edges, and the interior forest, and (2) assessed how this relationship changed as a function of seismic line attributes (ecosite, orientation, level of motorized human use, regeneration). Although we found regional differences and differences among ecosites, generally disturbance-tolerant forbs and graminoids were more abundant on seismic lines, Rhododendron spp. and Vaccinium vitis-idaea were more abundant on edges, and Alnus, Salix and Betula spp. were more abundant on edges and seismic lines. Attributes of seismic lines did not explain patterns of understory forage abundance, although we found positive relationships between motorized human use and abundance of Chamerion spp. and non-target graminoids. With habitat restoration for caribou in mind, this study increases understanding of patterns of understory forage availability on seismic lines, which could help prioritize seismic line restoration efforts to reduce forage attractive to primary wolf prey (moose), and bears, and decrease the spatial overlap between caribou and predators. Overall, our results reveal that even decades after construction, understory forage on seismic lines is different from the interior forest, and is similar to that of harvest blocks. Silviculture and reforestation are recognized as key components for the recovery of harvested areas, and our results suggest that the same treatments may be needed to re-establish or maintain natural successional trajectories on seismic lines. By focusing on habitat changes that influence wildlife responses, such as changes in the presence and abundance of forage used by moose and bears, this study provides valuable insight into the need for active restoration of seismic lines to restore boreal forest ecosystems.

As global conservation actions become more urgent, informed decision-making requires robust analyses of the costs and benefits of policy options, based on available evidence. Recovery planning for threatened or endangered species must assume a cause-and-effect relationship between proposed management interventions and population responses. However, a significant portion of current knowledge about threatened or endangered species is derived from observational studies because experiments that fully meet random and controlled design criteria are largely infeasible or unethical. Large-scale field experiments are becoming more common, yet the greater uncertainty generated by what remain fundamentally observational studies can lead researchers to weak inferences about causal mechanisms, creating debate and confusion among decision-makers, planners and stakeholders. This has been an acute problem facing conservationists and governments as they struggle with the successful recovery of species in decline. In other domains where experimental evidence is difficult to collect, causal modelling has been adopted to identify causal relationships from observational data, based on a set of strong assumptions and identification rules. In Canada, significant and ongoing efforts have had limited success in reversing the population decline of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). We examine the scientific framework for woodland caribou recovery efforts through the lens of causal modelling, highlighting feasible steps that could be taken to improve the rigour of causal inferences.

Habitat disturbance threatens woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) by altering inter-tropic relationships, which causes predation rates to increase. Of particular concern is the increase in early seral vegetation in high-elevation caribou summer habitat created by the recent expansion of logging into these forests. Deep snow confines the relatively abundant moose (Alces alces) population to valleys during winter, but in summer they can move up slope, where their spatial overlap with caribou increases. Wolves (Canis lupus) follow moose, their primary prey, up slope and occasionally encounter and kill caribou. We tested the hypothesis that early seral vegetation in high-elevation cutblocks (i.e., logged areas) attracts moose into mountain caribou summer habitat, and thereby increases the spatial overlap between caribou, moose, and wolves. To test our hypothesis, we examined how moose selection for early seral vegetation changed with elevation, how moose used undisturbed habitat, and how the proportion of early seral vegetation at high elevations in a moose home range was related to the amount of time moose spent at high elevations. Moose selection for cutblocks increased with elevation; however, when moose were at high elevations they spent the majority of their time in old-growth forest where they were likely browsing on understory shrubs, and the area of high-elevation cutblocks in moose home ranges did not affect the amount of time moose spent at high elevations. When we further explored the relationship between the amount of early seral vegetation at high elevations and the amount of time moose spent at high elevations, we found moose spent more time at high elevations when total early seral vegetation (from natural sources and cutblocks) increased, but there was little evidence that either type, on their own, influenced moose to use higher elevations. We conclude that although moose select cutblocks, the influence of high-elevation cutblocks on moose was minor in our study. Our results and those of other studies suggests low-elevation logging in moose winter ranges has led to an increased number of moose, and likely has a greater effect on moose distribution than logging at higher elevations. These insights can help guide management of apparent competition between moose and caribou. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

The development of habitat restoration techniques for restoring critical woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) winter habitat will play an important role in meeting the management thresholds in woodland caribou recovery plans. The goal is to restore disturbed environments within critical winter habitat for the declining woodland caribou. Woodland caribou are diet specialists, utilizing lichen-rich habitat for forage during winter months. Cladonia sub-genus Cladina is the most frequently eaten species during this time. Herein, we provide: 1) A review of previously used methods for transplanting Cladonia sub-genus Cladina and their feasibility in restoring woodland caribou winter habitat; 2) A stepby- step protocol on how to carry out a terrestrial lichen transplant program (using Cladonia sub-genus Cladina and C. uncialis); and, 3) An evaluation of our protocol through the establishment of a case study in northern British Columbia. Our results indicate that transplanting C. sub-genus Cladina fragments is the most efficient technique for transplanting terrestrial lichen communities, but transplanting lichen ‘patches’ or ‘mats’ may also be effective.

Wildfires are a key driver of boreal forest structure and community composition that alter food resources affecting the behaviour and ecology of wildlife. In the first 50 years post-wildfire, woody browse availability in upland forests increase in quantity and quality for generalist ungulates, such as moose (Alces alces) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Greater favorable habitat for these generalist ungulates results in increases to their respective populations, and through apparent competition, leads to increases in wolf populations; thus, causing unsustainable levels of predation on threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) populations. However, the duration of post-wildfire browse availability is not well understood in the Boreal Plains of Alberta as previous studies are primarily from the Taiga and Boreal Shield where vegetation communities are structurally different. This study examines the changes in winter browse richness, evenness, abundance, and community composition, as well as their use (browse levels) by moose and white-tailed deer, over a 150-year post-wildfire period. In the summer of 2019, we collected vegetation and ungulate browsing data from 164 upland and lowland forest sites in northeastern Alberta, Canada. We used analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and ordinal logistic regression to examine changes in browse measures. Species richness and evenness showed a double peak at 10–25 years and 90 years post-wildfire in mixedwood forests, as a result of fluctuations in browse palatability, while browse abundance was constant. In contrast, black spruce and lowland forests had similar species richness, evenness and abundance over the 150-year chronosequence. However, browse abundance in lowland forests was higher than mixedwood forests, but this consisted of low palatable browse. Browsing was significant in jack pine forests, mixedwood forests and poor fens; coniferous saplings were generally avoided, whereas 35–65% of available deciduous saplings were browsed. Understanding post-wildfire succession and ungulate browsing in post-wildfire forests provides useful information for managing alternative prey populations necessary for long-term woodland caribou conservation.

We present a forest harvest scheduling model that meets timber harvest targets while maximizing a proxy measure of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) habitat based on the configuration of preferred habitat on the landscape. Woodland caribou within the boreal forest region in Canada tend to prefer mature jack pine forest stands, which tend to be rich in their preferred resource, lichen, and also reduce predation pressure. This can create conflict with industrial wood supply needs. We designed a model that can be used to identify good harvest scheduling plans given these competing objectives. Our approach is to use a series of sequential linear programming models that are solved within a replanning framework. Specifically, each individual linear programming model seeks to produce a solution that will meet timber harvest targets while minimizing the harvest of high-quality woodland caribou habitat stands. Stands are assessed with respect to their suitability as woodland caribou habitat based on their contribution to the overall landscape equivalent connected area (ECA), a combined spatial measure of preferred habitat amount and its connectivity. We used our model for a case study of the Trout Lake Forest in northwestern Ontario, Canada, and found that our model creates approximately 10% more caribou habitat than an earlier heuristic procedure and 30% more caribou habitat than the prevailing woodland caribou habitat forest management plan in the Trout Lake Forest while meeting the same timber harvest targets.

Awareness of the impact of the global energy industry and associated landuse change on biodiversity conservation has been steadily growing amongst conservation biologists. Across Canada, 28 of 57 populations of boreal woodland caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou) are declining and 20 of 25 southern mountain populations are in decline with several recent high-profile extirpations. Declines stem from widespread landuse change from energy development and forestry that will take decades to recover, if ever. In Western Canada's Boreal forest, a globally significant oil and gas industry has emerged that is the biggest source of foreign oil to US markets. All woodland caribou populations overlapping oil and gas development in oil-rich Alberta are in rapid decline, shrinking by 50% every 8 years. After a decade of delay, the Federal government released recovery plans under the Canadian Species-at-Risk Act (SARA) in 2012 and 2014 for these two caribou ecotypes, and will audit provincial compliance in 2017. Yet recovery actions have been inadequate, and have relied on wolf control as a short-term solution. Given the stark reality, conservation triage might be expected. Instead, the conservation objective at Federal and Provincial levels remains legally committed to recovery of all populations despite the paradox of continued declines. I suggest the reason for ineffective conservation planning is the staggering cost of effective habitat protection that far exceeds $150 billion (CDN) in Alberta alone. Declines of woodland caribou also allegedly violate Canadian Aboriginal treaty rights that have been challenged in court. This complex conservation case-study urgently illustrates the need for strategic conservation triage at provincial and national levels. And more generally, caribou conservation demonstrates the challenge of using national endangered species legislation to retroactively counteract the global energy industry without strategic conservation planning coordinated with energy and cultural policies.

Inter‐individual variability in behavior has been studied extensively for a wide range of species. However, few researchers have considered marginality, defined as the degree to which a choice made by an individual is located at the margins of the distribution of all possible choices available to a particular population. We explored the influence of marginal behaviors on the probability of survival of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). We used GPS collars to record the movement and fate of 43 caribou and distributed their habitat use behavior along two axes of a multidimensional scaling. We used Cox proportional‐hazards models to evaluate whether marginality had an effect on mortality risk. We found that individuals that exhibited marginal behavior had higher mortality risk than more conformist individuals. Caribou is a social species; thus, sharing a common habitat use strategy is likely an adaptation for minimizing the risk of predation. Our findings provide an empirical link between behavior and survival, contributing to our understanding of the decline of Rangifer across much of its Canadian distribution.

Anthropogenic landscape change (i.e., disturbance) is recognized as an important factor in the decline and extirpation of wildlife populations. Understanding and monitoring the relationship between wildlife distribution and disturbance is necessary for effective conservation planning. Many studies consider disturbance as a covariate explaining wildlife behavior. However, we propose that there are several advantages to considering the spatial relationship between disturbance and wildlife directly using utilization distributions (UDs), including objective assessment of the spatially explicit overlap between wildlife and disturbance, and the ability to track trends in this relationship over time. Here, we examined how central mountain woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) distribution changed over time in relation to (i) anthropogenic disturbance, baseline range (defined using telemetry data from 1998 to 2005), and alpine habitat; and (ii) interannual climate variation (North Pacific Index; NPI). We developed seasonal UDs for caribou in west‐central Alberta and east‐central British Columbia, Canada, monitored with GPS collars between 1998 and 2013. We mapped the cumulative annual density of disturbance features within caribou range and used indices of overlap to determine the spatial relationship and trend between caribou UDs, anthropogenic disturbance, baseline range, alpine habitat, and the NPI. Anthropogenic disturbance increased over time, but the overlap between caribou UDs and disturbance did not. Caribou use of alpine habitat during spring, fall, and late winter increased over time, concurrent with a decrease in use of baseline range. Overlap between caribou UDs and disturbance increased during spring and fall following relatively cold, snowy winters (high NPI), but overall, climate did not explain changes in caribou distribution over time. We provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that caribou populations adjust their spatial distribution in relation to anthropogenic landscape change. Our findings could have implications for population persistence if distributional shifts result in greater use of alpine habitat during winter. Monitoring long‐term changes in the distribution of populations is a valuable component of conservation planning for species at risk in disturbed landscapes.

Summary Predation by grey wolves Canis lupus has been identified as an important cause of boreal woodland caribou Rangifer tarandus caribou mortality, and it has been hypothesized that wolf use of human-created linear features such as seismic lines, pipelines and roads increases movement, resulting in higher kill rates. We tested if wolves select linear features and whether movement rates increased while travelling on linear features in north-eastern Alberta and north-western Saskatchewan using 5-min GPS (Global Positioning System) locations from twenty-two wolves in six packs. Wolves selected all but two linear feature classes, with the magnitude of selection depending on feature class and season. Wolves travelled two to three times faster on linear features compared to the natural forest. Increased average daily travelling speed while on linear features and increased proportion of steps spent travelling on linear features increased net daily movement rates, suggesting that wolf use of linear features can increase their search rate. Synthesis and applications. Our findings that wolves move faster and farther on human-created linear features can inform mitigation strategies intended to decrease predation on woodland caribou, a threatened species. Of the features that can realistically be restored, mitigation strategies such as silviculture and linear deactivation (i.e. tree-felling and fencing) should prioritize conventional seismic lines (i.e. cleared lines used for traditional oil and gas exploration) and pipelines, as they were selected by wolves and increased travelling speed, before low-impact seismic lines.

The fragmentation and loss of old-growth forest has led to the decline of many forest-dwelling species that depend on old-growth forest as habitat. Emblematic of this issue in many areas of the managed boreal forest in Canada is the threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)). We develop a methodology to help determine when and how timber can be harvested to best satisfy both industrial timber supply and woodland caribou habitat requirements. To start, we use least-cost paths based on graph theory to determine the configuration of woodland caribou preferred habitat patches. We then developed a heuristic procedure to schedule timber harvesting based on a trade-off between merchantable wood volume and the remaining amount of habitat and its connectivity during a planning cycle. Our heuristic can attain 84% of the potential woodland caribou habitat that would be available in the absence of harvesting at the end of a 100 year planning horizon. Interestingly, this is more than that which is attained by the current plan (50%) and a harvesting plan that targets high volume stands (32%). Our results indicate that our heuristic procedure (i.e., an ecologically tuned optimization approach) may better direct industrial activities to improve old-growth habitat while maintaining specified timber production levels.

Census of avocational and public collections for Folsom and Midland artifacts from Illinois and Wisconsin signals a substantial Folsom occupation in the Upper Midwest. Over 200 points and preforms demonstrate a southwest–northeast pattern of point manufacture, use, discard, and loss across much of Illinois and the southern third of Wisconsin. The distribution of these artifacts overlaps to a large extent; however, most Midland points occur in Wisconsin. This non-fluted weaponry is interpreted as a techno-situational response to the intrinsic properties and distribution of regional toolstones, combined with the relatively high cost of fluting failure experienced during periods of focused hunting. Folsom mobility and land use are structured along major rivers, with southern Wisconsin most often functioning as a main destination of group movement. Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are the inferred focal prey and organizational driver of Folsom adaptations in the Upper Midwest.

Ecotypes offer an essential framework for conservation and ecological understanding, but their identification can be problematic. These challenges are exemplified by the sedentary and migratory ecotypes of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). In Ontario, Canada, reliable discrimination based on morphology, pelage, or genetics has been unsuccessful. We tested the discriminatory power of locational and movement metrics as candidate indicators of discrete behaviours for 132 GPS-tracked female caribou. We assigned each animal to an ecotype each year using two variables which demonstrated the strongest bi-modality and the best discriminatory power: percent of calving season locations within the Hudson Bay Lowland and mean distance to treeline during calving season. The analysis revealed two distinct modes. None of 101 caribou tracked for more than 1 year switched behaviours, implying the distinction may be permanent. Although there was no significant difference in morphology between ecotypes, mean aggregation metrics and calving dates were significantly different. Geographic distribution of these ecotypes showed substantial range overlap, particularly during winter, which presents challenges for conservation of the sedentary ecotype, a threatened designatable unit under federal and provincial legislation. Woodland caribou − with its cryptic ecotypes, discernible from differences in spatial behaviour − illustrate the importance of this type of analysis for identifying significant units for protection, understanding habitat relationships, and delineating ranges for habitat protection.

The Eastern boreal forests of Quebec, Canada, have been extensively harvested over the past decades. Second-growth stands originating from sites harvested between 1920 and 1950 will soon reach the stage allowing for a second harvest. In order to guide the decision-makers responsible for ecosystem-based management of these forests, their specific management issues must be identified, based on the best knowledge available. In this context, we used the Delphi method and asked experts to identify and prioritize the main ecological issues related to the management of second-growth forests. Fourteen experts participated in at least one round of the process, out of an initial population of 30 known experts. After three rounds of questions, experts identified the maintenance of old-growth forests as the most important issue related to second-growth forest management in this region. The protection of woodland caribou and its habitat, and land fragmentation by forest roads were the second and third most important issues identified by the Delphi survey participants. These issues are not unique to second-growth forests, but should be given priority in considering management strategies associated with second-growth stands.

Restoration of degraded habitats is increasingly used to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic landscape change on wildlife populations, but wildlife responses to habitat restoration are often assumed rather than verified. In the western Canadian boreal forest, restoration of seismic lines-linear corridors cut for oil exploration-has been proposed to mitigate declines in woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) driven by altered predator-prey dynamics in industrialized landscapes. Seismic lines fragment caribou habitat, facilitate predator (wolves Canis lupus and black bears Ursus americanus) movements, and may enhance apparent competition from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and moose (Alces alces). Here, we tested the assumption that restoration provides immediate wildlife conservation benefits, using a caribou-boreal forest case study. We used camera traps to monitor seismic line use by caribou, their competitors, and predators following restoration in northeastern Alberta. We assessed species responses to four line strata: two restored (active and passive) and two unrestored (human-use and control). Three-to-six years after restoration, white-tailed deer preferred unrestored seismic lines over actively restored lines, while wolves preferred human-use lines but did not avoid restored lines. Caribou preferred lines in lowland habitat and lines surrounded by low linear density regardless of restoration. Species responses to restoration were muted, indicating that restoration alone may not be immediately effective in stabilizing threatened caribou populations. Our results highlight that wildlife responses to restoration must be tested. We recommend rigorous wildlife monitoring following restoration, particularly when the indirect, interspecific effects of habitat change drive species endangerment or recovery.