The return of caribou to Ungava / A.T. Bergerud, Stuart N. Luttich, and Lodewijk Camps.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bergerud, A. T.

Contributor:

Camps, Lodewijk.

Luttich, Stuart N.

Series:

McGill-Queen's native and northern series ; 50.

McGill-Queen's native and northern series ; 50

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Caribou--Newfoundland and Labrador--Labrador.

Caribou.

Caribou--Quebec (Province)--George River Region.

Physical Description:

1 electronic text (xxxvii, 586 p., [31] p. of plates : ill. (some col.), maps, ports.) : digital file.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The George River caribou herd increased from 15,000 animals in 1958 to 700,000 in 1988 - the largest herd in the world at the time. The authors trace the fluctuations in this caribou population back to the 1700s, detail how the herd escaped extinction in the 1950s, and consider current environmental threats to its survival. In an examination of the life history and population biology of the herd, The Return of Caribou to Ungava offers a synthesis of the basic biological traits of the caribou, a new hypothesis about why they migrate, and a comparison to herd populations in North America, Scandinavia, and Russia. The authors conclude that the old maxim, "Nobody knows the way of the caribou," is no longer valid. Based on a study in which the caribou were tracked by satellite across Ungava, they find that caribou are able to navigate, even in unfamiliar habitats, and to return to their calving ground, movement that is central to the caribou's cyclical migration. The Return of Caribou to Ungava also examines whether the herd can adapt to global warming and other changing environmental realities.

Contents:

Setting and background

Taxonomy, ecotypes, herds, and morphology

Return of caribou to Ungava after the last ice age

Abundance and distribution of sedentary caribou

Past population fluctuations

Causal factors in historical fluctuations

Forage and range

Body and antler growth

Physical condition

Recruitment, mortality, and population growth

Limiting factors

Use of space

Environmental factors in distribution and movement

Optimal foraging and predation risk in the winter and growing season

Spacing theory of calving and migration

Population regulation

Appendix: summer energy budgets for lactating females.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-282-86722-9

9786612867224

0-7735-7678-9

OCLC:

923234283