Boreal Caribou Survival in a Warming Climate, Labrador, Canada 1996–2014

Authors
Isabelle Schmelzer
Keith Lewis
John Jacobs
Sara McCarthy
Resource Date:
April
2020

Highlights

  • Boreal caribou persistence has been affected by landscape disturbance and subsequent apparent competition.
  • Climatic conditions also affect caribou via energy gains and losses and indirectly through climate-predator interactions.
  • NASA’s MERRA climate dataset was paired with data from long-term monitoring of caribou using animal telemetry.
  • Caribou survival was determined using known-fate models in program MARK.
  • An information-theoretic approach was used to evaluate multiple models of adult female caribou survival.
  • Patterns of annual and within-year survival varied among populations.
  • Snow precipitation, fractional snow cover and freezing rain influenced survival of adult female boreal caribou.