Science to inform policy: Linking population dynamics to habitat for a threatened species in Canada.

Boreal forests provide numerous ecological services, including the ability to store large amounts of carbon, and are of significance to global biodiversity. Increases in industrial activities in boreal landscapes since the mid‐20th century have added to concerns over biodiversity loss and climate change. Boreal forests are home to dwindling populations of boreal caribou Rangifer tarandus caribou in Canada, a species at risk that requires large, undisturbed landscapes for persistence. In 2012, the Canadian government defined critical habitat for boreal caribou by relating calf recruitment to disturbances. Some have questioned whether the recruitment relationship can be extrapolated beyond the environmental conditions represented in the analysis.We examined the effects of human disturbances and fire (alone and in combination) on variation in recruitment and adult female survival using data from 58 study areas in Canada. Top models were used in aspatial scenarios of landscape change to evaluate the efficacy of the critical habitat definition in achieving the recovery objectives for boreal caribou in two contrasting landscapes: Little Smoky, dominated by high levels of human disturbances, and the northern boreal shield of Saskatchewan (SK1), dominated by fire.The top recruitment model suggested the negative effect of fire was three to four times smaller than human disturbances. The top adult female survival model included human disturbances only. These results re‐affirm that human disturbances are the primary factor contributing to boreal caribou declines.Our aspatial scenarios suggested that undisturbed habitat would have to increase to ≥68% for Little Smoky to maintain a self‐sustaining population of boreal caribou with some degree of certainty. In contrast, the SK1 population was self‐sustaining with 40% undisturbed habitat when fire disturbance predominates, but could become vulnerable with increases in human disturbances (8%–9%).Policy implications. Boreal caribou are listed as threatened under Canada's Species at Risk Act. Our results suggest that the 65% undisturbed critical habitat designation in Canada's boreal caribou Recovery Strategy may serve as a reasonable proxy for achieving self‐sustaining populations of boreal caribou in landscapes dominated by human disturbances. However, some populations may be less or more vulnerable, as illustrated by the scenarios in a landscape dominated by fire (SK1). Continued population monitoring will be essential to assessing the effectiveness of land management strategies developed for boreal caribou recovery, especially with climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]