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Distribution and Behavior of Barren-Ground Caribou in Relation to Weather and Parasitic Insects "

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Distribution and Behavior of Barren-Ground Caribou in Relation to Weather and Parasitic Insects DISTRIBUTION AND BEHAVIOR OF . BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU IN RELATION TO WEATHER AND PARASITIC INSECTS A THESIS MASTER OF SCIENCE By Jim Dau, B.S. Fairbanks, Alaska September 1986 3Y1GJ/475 '1 QL i31 . uSS 0~1 \ q3Co • DISTRIBUTION AND BEHAVIOR OF BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU IN RELATION TO WEATHER AND PARASITIC INSECTS " RECOMMENDED: \i)~Q~ffi' ._ Co-~:r:man. Advisory Committee ./ fL ~k.:.- co-U:r:man. Advisory Commit::; Wildlife Program Chair ~..-~r:?('" ·X.sq - Head. Department of Biology. Fisheries. and Wildlife APPROVED: Sciences 0 0 ARLIS co Alaska Resources co0 M Library & Information Services 8 Anchorage, Alaska 0 LO LO,..... M M Information Resource Center BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. P.O. Box 196612 Anchorage, AK 99S 19-6612 DISTRIBUTION AND BEHAVIOR O!' BARREN-GROUW CARIBOU IN R!LATION TO WEATHER AND PARASITIC INSECTS A THESIS Presented to the !aculty of the University of Alaska in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE By Jim Dau. B. S. Fairbanks. Alaska September 1986 • • ABSTRAC'l' Ralationahipa between weather and the ac:tivity of mosquitoes (Culic:idae) and oestrid flies (Oeatridae). and reaponaea by c:aribou (Rangifer tarandus) to insect haraa ..ent. were examined near Milne Point. Alaska. Weather conditiona were uaually unfavorable for insects within 20 km of the Beaufort Sea. and were laat favorable within 1-3 km of the coast. Weather affected the occurrence more than the level of insect activity. Mosquitoes were rarely active within 1 km of the coast; maritime weather conditions had little effect on oeatrida. Weather conditioua and insect activity were more variable through time than through apace: this necessitated models predicting: (1) the presence of insects. and (2) levels of insect activity when insects were present. Insect harasS1Lent caused caribou to travel rapidly to coastal areas at the expense of feeding and lying. and form large. mixed groups. Insect activity was most highly c:orrelated with caribou rate of travel and behavior. - • TABLE OF CONTENTS AB snAC'l' ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• iii TABLE or CONTmTS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1V LIST or FIGURES ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• vi LIST or TABLES •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• i:z Ac:ICNCIJLEOO~ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• zi i BA.acGRaJJm ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 atAP'l'ER 1. EFFECTS OF W!A'lRER ON INSECT ACT IV IT! •••••••••••••••• 4 Introduction•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 4 MtlthoCS.. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 7 Res'Ul ts •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 15 Relatioll8hipa between weather and insect ac'tivi ty •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 15 &apirical aodels •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 42 Discussion••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 52 Relationships between weather and insect act.ivity •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• S 2 Eapirical aodels •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 67 atAPTBll 2. !FFECTS OF INSECT HAR.AS SM!NT ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND BEHAVIOR OF CARIBOU •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 73 Introduction••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 73 Methods •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 75 Results •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 82 Quantitative analyses ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 82 iv - v Descriptive observations ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 106 Discussion•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 110 Quantitative analyses •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 110 Descriptive observations ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 132 CON<l.USIONS •••••••••• ........................................ • .137 LIT!RA1'UR! CITED ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 141 • LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The Milne Point study area and surrounding region ••••••••••••• 2 2. The Milne Point road system with sampling stations and grids •. ..............•.•....•••.....•....••............... 8 3. Three-day moving averages of sweep counts of mosquitoes near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 272. 1982: n = 455. 1983) .•.•...•.........••.••.•.••••••••..•.•••..•............ 20 4. Three-day moving averages of trap counts of mosquitoes near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 272. 1982: n = 455. ·1983) ••.••••••.••••••••••.••••••••••••••••••••••••••.•.••••. • 21 5. Three-day moving averages of trap counts of oestrids near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 272. 1982: n = 455. 1983) •••••....•.••.•..•••••••••••••••••••••••..•••.•••.....•. 22 6. Three-day moving averages of current ambient shade air taaperature near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 272. 1982: n = 455. 1983) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.••. 23 7. Three-day moving averages of wind velocity near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 272. 1982: n = 455. 1983) ••••••••••••••••• 24 8. Three-day m<Wing averages of relative humidity near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 220. 1982: n = 447. 1983) ••••••••••• 25 9. Three-day moving averages of saturation deficit near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 220. 1982: n = 447. 1983) ••••••••••• 26 10. Three-day moving averages of cloud cover near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 272. 1982: n = 455. 1983) •••••••••••••••• 27 11. Mean (~1 SD) current shade air temperature and wind velocity in relation to distance from the Beaufort Sea near Milne Point. Alaska: 1982-83 (sample sizes for stations 1-5 reported in Table 4) ••••••••••••••••• 33 12. Mean (!1 SD) maximum and minimum shade air temperature in relation to distance from the Beaufort Sea near Milne Point. Alaska: 1982-83 (sample sizes for stations 1-5 reported in Table 4) ••••••••••••••••• 34 vi vii Figure Pase 13. Mean {!l SD) relative humidity and saturation deficit in relation to distance from the Beaufort Sea near Milne Point. Alaska; 1982-83 (sample sizes for stations 1-5 reported in Table 4) ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 35 14. Mean (tl SD) cloud cover in relation to distance from the Beaufort Sea near Milne Point. Ala.ka: 1982-83 (sample sizes for stations 1-5 reported in Table 4) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••. 36 15. The proportion of samples in which mosquitoes and oestrids were caught in relation to distance from the Beaufort Sea near Milne Point. Alaska: 1982-83 (sample sizes for stations 1-5 are reported in Table 4) ••••••••••••• 37 16. Mean (!1 SD) number of mosquitoes captured per 100 sweeps in relation to distance from the Beaufort Sea near Milne Point. Alaska: 1982-83 (sample sizes for stations 1-5 reported in Table 4) ••••••••••••••••• 38 17. Mean (!l SD) number of 11.oaquitoea captured per trap per hour in relation to distance from the Beaufort Sea near Milne Point. Alaska: 1982-83 (sample sizes for stations 1-5 reported in Table 4) ••••••••••••••••• 39 18. Mean (±1 SD) number of oestrids captured per trap per hour in relation to distance from the Beaufort Sea near Milne Point. Alaska: 1982-83 (sample sizes for stations 1-5 reported in Table 4) ••••••••••••••••• 40 19. Three-day moving averages of distance of caribou from the Beaufort Sea near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 2085. 1982: n = 12008. 1983) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 83 20. Three-day moving averages of caribou group size near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 255. 1982: n = 254. 1983) •••••••••• 84 21. Three-day moving averages of the daily proportion of caribou groups in constructive activities (feeding. lying. or nursing) near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 255. 1982: n = 254. 1983) •••••••••••.•••••••••••••••••.••.••••••• 85 22. Three-day moving averages of the proportion of calves per group of caribou (for groups containing calves) near Milne Point. Alaska (n = 106, 1982; n = 149. 1983) .•...........•....•.....•......••..•....•••..••.••..... 86 .. viii !'igure 23. Three-day moving averages of the distance " between caribou within groups near Milne Point. Alaska Cn = 183. 1982: n = 204. 1983) ••••••••••••••••••••••• 87 LIST OF TABLES l Table 1. The statistical significance of differences in medians of weather parameters between 1982 and 1983 (all 1tations combined) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 17 2. Spearman rank correlation coef ficienta for weather parameters and indices of insect activity for 1982-83 (n • 668)•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••19 3. Median levels of weather parameters during periods when inaecta were present or absent, and the statistical significance of their difference, for each i.nclex of inaect activitY•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••28 4. Median levels, and ranges (in parentheses), of weather parameters for individual aampling stations, 1982-83 •••••••••• 30 5. Multiple comparisons of weather parameters among aampling atationa, 1982-83 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 31 6. Median valuea of weather parameters at coaatal (stations 1 and 2) and inland (atationa 3-5) sampling stations when mosquitoes were captured by sweep counts at stations 1 or 2 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••. 32 7. Maximum and median levels of insect activity (for samples when insects were cap~ured) at each sampling statio~, 1982-83 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 41 8. Thresholds of weather parameters for inaect flight aa determined by each index of insect activity; 1982-83 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 43 9. Coefficient• of determination for aultiple linear regreaaion analyses estimating level• of insect activity, and the percentage of caaea correctly categorized for the presence of insects
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