Survival and Mortality of Translocated Woodland Caribou Author(S): Bradley B
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Survival and Mortality of Translocated Woodland Caribou Author(s): Bradley B. Compton, Peter Zager and Gregg Servheen Reviewed work(s): Source: Wildlife Society Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 490-496 Published by: Allen Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3782959 . Accessed: 07/11/2012 15:12 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Allen Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Wildlife Society Bulletin. http://www.jstor.org Caribou survival Survival and mortality of translocated woodland caribou Bradley B. Compton, Peter Zager, and Gregg Servheen AbstractWe monitoredsurvival of 60 woodland caribou (Rangifertarandus) translocatedfrom BritishColumbia to the SelkirkMountains of northernIdaho betweenMarch 1987 and February1992. This translocationwas to assistin recoveryof the endangeredSelkirk population. For all translocatedcaribou combined,estimated annual survivalrates rangedfrom 0.65-0.94 and wereconsistent with declining established populations. No differences(P > 0.10) in survivalwere foundbetween male and femalecaribou or be- tweenmountain and northernecotypes. Causes ofdeath included unknown (n = 14), pre- dation(n = 7), other(n = 4), and human-caused(n = 2), withsummer accounting for the greatestproportion (53o/o). Emigrationof 7 mountainecotype animals also was a loss to the population. Mountainlions (Fe/is concolor) caused mostconfirmed predator kills. Seasonalpattern of mortality was consistentwith established populations where predation was identifiedas a significantfactor. Keywords caribou,mortality, Rangifer tarandus, survival, translocation Historically,woodland caribou(Rangifer tarandus Washington,and southernBritish Columbia, Canada caribou) rangedover much of the northerntier of the (Scottand Servheen1985). Thispopulation was listed UnitedStates (U.S. Fishand Wildl.Serv. [USFWS] 1985). as endangeredin 1984 underthe EndangeredSpecies Bythe early 1980's, their U.S. distributionhad been re- Act. Human-causedmortality, habitat loss, and forest duced to a smallherd of 25-30 animalsinhabiting the fragmentationwere believedto be limitingthe Selkirk SelkirkMountains of northernIdaho, northeastern population(USFWS 1985). The managementand re- coveryplan (USFWS1985) identified 4 objectivesfor the Selkirkpopula- tion: (1) controlpoaching; (2) mini- mizecaribou-vehicle collisions along BritishColumbia Highway 3; (3) im- prove habitatquality; and (4) aug- .'4 mentthe population. Whiletranslocation is potentially an importanttool forspecies conserva- tion(Griffith et al. 1989), littleinfor- mationhas been reportedon post-re- lease survivalrates of caribou(Klein 1968,Leader-Williams 1988, Bergerud and Mercer1989). Betterinformation and understandingof survivalrates is neededto evaluatethe role of translo- cationfor conserving the Selkirkcari- bou and otherpopulations. All authorsare withthe Idaho Departmentof Fishand Game. BradleyB. Compton: 1345 BartonRoad, Pocatello,ID 83204, USA; Peter Zager: 1540 WarnerAvenue, Lewiston, ID 83501, USA; GreggServheen: 1540 WarnerAvenue, Lewiston,ID 83501, USA. All photos fromIdaho Fishand Game. WildlifeSociety Bulletin 1995, 23(3):490-496 Peer refereed Caribousurvival * Comptonet al. 491 Our objectivewas to monitorthe survivalof cari- northernIdaho, and southernBritish Columbia (see bou moved fromBritish Columbia (B.C.) to unoccu- map). Approximately2,700 km2 (47%o)of this area pied habitatin the SelkirkMountains of Idaho (U.S. lies in B.C. and 3,000 km2 (53%) are in the U.S., in- For. Serv. [USFS] 1985). We reportsurvival rates and cludingthe Salmo-PriestWilderness, portions of the mortalitycauses fortranslocated caribou from March Colvilleand Idaho PanhandleNational forests, Idaho 1987-February1992. Departmentof Lands holdings,and scatteredprivate parcels. Physiographyis characterized by short, steep-sloped drainages. Elevations range from Study area 540-2,375 m. The Pacificmaritime-continental cli- Capture sites mate is characterizedby long wintersand shortsum- All capturedcaribou came fromBritish Columbia. merswith an averageannual precipitation of ?250 cm Caribou were captured duringthe wintersof 1987 and wintersnowfall generally >700 cm at higherele- and 1988 fromthe Ilgachuz Mountainsnear Anahim vations(Krajina 1967). Vegetationis dominatedby Lake and the northern Selkirk Mountains near Engelmannspruce-subalpine firand western red- Revelstoke.During the winter of 1990, caribouwere cedar-westernHemlock foresttypes (Cooper et al. capturedfrom the Cariboo and Monasheemountains 1987). Caribouin thisecosystem, characterized by ar- near Blue River. AnahimLake is approximately580 boreal lichens and heavy snowfall,are classifiedas km northwest of the Selkirks. Blue River and mountainecotype". Revelstokeare approximately420 and 285 kmnorth- northwest,respectively. The Ilgachuz Mountains are located within the Methods InteriorPlateau region of west-central B.C. witheleva- Fourteencaribou were capturedduring March by tions rangingfrom 1,200-2,400 m (Holland 1976). drive-netting(Beasom et al. 1980) and 49 by net-gun- Biotic zones are dominatedby the sub-borealpine ning (Barrettet al. 1982). Captured caribou were (lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta)-spruce (white manually restrained, blindfolded, sedated with spruce,Picea glauca and Engelmannspruce, P. engel- 40-100 mg xylazinehydrochloride, and flown to a mannfi), Engelmannspruce-subalpine fir (Abies la- holdingpen. At the holdingpen, each caribouwas siocarpa), and alpinetundra zones. Climateis charac- fittedwith a mortality-sensingradio collar (Telonics, terizedby cool, short,dry summers; winters are cold, Inc., Mesa, Ariz.) and numbered plastic ear tags long,and dry. Precipitationaverages 42 cm annually (AllflexInt., Ltd., New Zealand). All animalswere withwinter snowfall averaging 50 cm. Cariboufrom classifiedas eithercalves (<1 year)or adults(?1 year). the Ilgachuz Mountainsprimarily rely on terrestrial lichens (Cladina spp., Cladonia spp., Stereocaulon spp.,Peltigera spp.) duringwinter and are considered "northernecotype" (Stevenson and Hatler1985). The northern Selkirk, Cariboo, and Monashee mountainslie withinthe InteriorWet Belt regionof southeasternB.C. with elevations from460-3,050 NELSONi meters(Krajina 1967). Engelmannspruce-subalpine fir,western redcedar (Thuja pl/cata)-westernhem- KOOTENAY lock (Tsuga heterophylla),and alpine tundraare the dominantbiotic zones. The wet continentalclimate Highway 3 1 N is characterizedby moist,warm summersand cold winterswith heavy snowfall. Annual precipitation BRITISH COLUMBIA ] rangesfrom 56-280 cm with snowfallgenerally ex- WASH. IDAHO km ceeding 700 cm. Cariboufrom this region primarily . Q ~ ~~~25 use arboreal lichens (Alectoria spp., Bryoria spp.) Ball duringthe winterand are referredto as "mountain l Creek ii ecotype"(Stevenson and Hatler1985). o s \ ~BONNERS ~~~~~FERRY Release site Occupied and potentialwoodland caribou habitat was approximately 5,700 km2 in the Selkirk SelkirkMountains woodland caribou habitat in the U.S. and Mountains, located in northeasternWashington, Canada. 492 WildlifeSociety Bulletin 1995, 23(3):490-496 -j W - 7 - - T, the population. Deaths were attributedto predation when carcasseswere in good condition,had signsof predatorfeeding (e.g. caching,tissue removal),der- mal puncturewounds withhemorrhaging, and exhib- ited no grossly identifiablepredisposing factors. Unknowncauses of mortalitywere generallyassoci- ated with extensively scavenged carcasses. Ad- ditionally,deaths were attributedto unknowncause when necropsycould not identifygross morphologi- cal or physiologicalimpairments and marrowfat con- tent was <15%. Deaths were attributedto other causes when marrowfat contentwas <15% (Davis and Valkenburg1985, Davis et al. 1987) or necropsy indicatedgross naturally occurring morphological or physiologicalimpairments. Predation and human- caused mortalitywas not ruledout in manyof the un- known cases. Likewise,other causes of death were not ruled out, although malnourishment(as evi- denced bybone marrowfat content) was notbelieved to be a major contributor(Hanks 1981, Davis and Valkenburg1985). Annual (March throughFebruary) survival rates and 5-yearsurvival functions were estimatedwith the Kaplan-Meierstaggered entry design (Pollock et al. Cariboubeing prepared for relocation from British Columbia, 1989). Caribousurvival data were censored(Pollock to U.S.A. Canada, Idaho, et al. 1989, Whiteand Garrott1990) forloss-failure of the transmitter.Differences in survivalfunctions Blood sampleswere takenfor disease titersand tu- were evaluatedusing chi-squareanalysis (Pollock et berculinwas administeredfor tuberculosis testing. al. 1989). Significancewas determinedat P < 0.10. Additionally,caribou were administered1,000,000 units (u) VitaminA, 150,000 u VitaminD, 400 u VitaminE, 2.5 ml VitaminB complex, 6.76 mg sele- Results nium,590,000 u short-actingantibiotics, 1,350,000 u Sixtycaribou (15 adultmales, 1 male calf,42 adult long-actingantibiotics, and 21.1I mg Ivermectin. Fecal females,2 femalecalves) were translocated,includ- samples were collected opportunisticallyto