Premium
Woodland Caribou Extirpation and Anthropogenic Landscape Disturbance in Ontario
Author(s) -
VORS LIV S.,
SCHAEFER JAMES A.,
POND BRUCE A.,
RODGERS ARTHUR R.,
PATTERSON BRENT R.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the journal of wildlife management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1937-2817
pISSN - 0022-541X
DOI - 10.2193/2006-263
Subject(s) - woodland caribou , disturbance (geology) , akaike information criterion , woodland , occupancy , geography , critical habitat , habitat , range (aeronautics) , ecology , environmental science , taiga , physical geography , forestry , geology , statistics , mathematics , biology , endangered species , paleontology , materials science , composite material
The decline of woodland caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou ) has been attributed to anthropogenic landscape disturbances, but critical distance thresholds and time lags between disturbance and extirpation are unknown. Using a database of caribou presence and extirpation for northern Ontario, Canada, geo‐coded to 10 times 10‐km cells, we constructed logistic regression models to predict caribou extirpation based on distance to the nearest of each of 9 disturbance types: forest cutovers, fires, roads, utility corridors, mines, pits and quarries, lakes, trails, and rail lines. We used Akaike's Information Criterion to select parsimonious models and Receiver‐Operating Characteristic curves to derive optimal thresholds. To deal with the effects of spatial autocorrelation on estimates of model significance, we used subsampling and restricted randomizations. Forest cutovers were the best predictor of caribou occupancy, with a tolerance threshold of 13 km to nearest cutover and a time lag of 2 decades between disturbance by cutting and caribou extirpation. Management of woodland caribou should incorporate buffers around habitat and requires long‐term monitoring of range occupancy.