Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

The listing of boreal caribou as a Threatened species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) has required federal, provincial and territorial governments to develop a recovery strategy for the species. We propose to expand current provincial-specific conservation genetic projects to a large-scale comparative study to address similar questions and characterize general trends and regional-specific patterns. One of the most fundamental aspects of caribou conservation and effective management is the identification of appropriate conservation and management units. For boreal caribou this is relevant at three different biological scales: the subspecies, the ecotype and the herd. This project will apply a range of DNA markers to understand the relationship among these scales to determine the level of exchange and distinctiveness. Following a delineation and characterization of the functional conservation and management units of boreal caribou, it is critical to quantify the structural and functional connectivity among caribou conservation and management units, and identify the environmental (e.g. climate), landscape (e.g. forest cover, fire disturbance), and anthropogenic (e.g. road densities) variables that facilitate or inhibit animal dispersal and subsequent gene flow. Identifying these variables at both broad- and fine-scales are important for implementing effective land use decisions. For this purpose we will develop models to incorporate genetic, environmental, landscape, anthropogenic and ecological data. This approach will generate a predictive model identifying critical connections and source populations required to maintain sustainable caribou population networks and identify high risk weak points within the network. Threats to boreal caribou populations identified by our models will provide early warning of potential problems associated with anthropogenic activities. These developments have significant implications for active mining and hydroelectric developments as well as planning for protected parks and a potential World Heritage site.