Characterizing woodland caribou habitat in sub-boreal and boreal forests
نویسندگان
چکیده
Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are sensitive to changes in understory vegetation resulting from forest harvesting and are, therefore, of special concern for foresters and habitat biologists. Effective management of this species requires reliable habitat inventories which, because of the large heterogeneous areas over which caribou range, can be costly. We used Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery and digital elevation data to identify 23 vegetative cover types across the 5100 km range of the Wolverine caribou herd of northcentral British Columbia, Canada. The classification was augmented with available geographical information system (GIS) data for a total of 27 cover types. We achieved an overall accuracy of 76.7% based on known ground samples; however, accuracy varied according to cover type. Considering the size of the study area, the procedure we employed was relatively cost effective and efficient. We discuss the advantages of such an approach for wildlifehabitat studies reliant on large-scale vegetation maps. # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
منابع مشابه
Explaining Geographic Gradients in Winter Selection of Landscapes by Boreal Caribou with Implications under Global Changes in Eastern Canada
Many animal species exhibit broad-scale latitudinal or longitudinal gradients in their response to biotic and abiotic components of their habitat. Although knowing the underlying mechanism of these patterns can be critical to the development of sound measures for the preservation or recovery of endangered species, few studies have yet identified which processes drive the existence of geographic...
متن کاملThe eastern migratory caribou: the role of genetic introgression in ecotype evolution
Understanding the evolutionary history of contemporary animal groups is essential for conservation and management of endangered species like caribou (Rangifer tarandus). In central Canada, the ranges of two caribou subspecies (barren-ground/woodland caribou) and two woodland caribou ecotypes (boreal/eastern migratory) overlap. Our objectives were to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the e...
متن کاملCONSERVATION. To save caribou, Alberta wants to fence them in.
T he Little Smoky caribou herd of western Alberta province is among the most imperiled in Canada, its few dozen animals threatened by oil and gas development, logging, and hungry wolves. Soon, the herd could also become a high-profile test case for a controversial plan to save some of Canada’s woodland caribou from extinction: herding them into pens enclosing 100 square kilometers or more and r...
متن کاملThe impacts of forest management strategies for woodland caribou vary across biogeographic gradients
Loss or alteration of forest ecosystems due to anthropogenic activities has prompted the need for mitigation measures aimed at protecting habitat for forest-dependent wildlife. Understanding how wildlife respond to such management efforts is essential for achieving conservation targets. Boreal caribou are a species of conservation concern due to the impacts of human induced habitat alteration; ...
متن کامل