Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

We are requesting state-of-the-art Global Positioning System (GPS) telemetry equipment and biologgers for monitoring behaviour and physiology/energetics in snowshoe hares, a keystone species in the boreal forest. Development of minituarized GPS transmitters and biologgers for small mammals represents a very recent technological advance and we will use the equipment to document hare activity, movements, habitat selection, and corresponding physiological responses at a much finer scale than the resolution that has traditionally been possible using standard research equipment. Specifically, this new equipment will allow us to precisely quantify how hares respond to perceived predation risk (PPR), which is increasingly recognized as an important force likely shaping animal populations. Precise parameter estimates will be used to populate bioenergetic and demographic models of the role of PPR on the snowshoe hare population cycle. However, because there have been so few tests of the suite of potential responses to PPR, especially in a field setting, our work could be transformational in terms of understanding keystone species responses to changes in environmental conditions (i.e., increased predation risk) through time. Further, this equipment will allow us to add contemporary methodology and state-of-the-art data to our long-term (40-year) study of snowshoe hares in our Kluane Lake, Yukon, study area, which has produced >100 peer-reviewed publications and a book but to date has relied exclusively on VHF telemetry and limited physiology and energetics work.We are also requesting funds to purchase a new field vehicle to help support augmented field activities associated with the proposed research ventures. The requested equipment will support research from 5 universities and will lead to training >24 graduate and undergraduate students over the 10-year lifespan of the equipment.