Implementing a novel movement-based approach to inferring parturition and neonate caribou calf survival

PloS One
Maegwin BonarEric Vander Wal

Abstract

In ungulates, parturition is correlated with a reduction in movement rate. With advances in movement-based technologies comes an opportunity to develop new techniques to assess reproduction in wild ungulates that are less invasive and reduce biases. DeMars et al. (2013, Ecology and Evolution 3:4149-4160) proposed two promising new methods (individual- and population-based; the DeMars model) that use GPS inter-fix step length of adult female caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) to infer parturition and neonate survival. Our objective was to apply the DeMars model to caribou populations that may violate model assumptions for retrospective analysis of parturition and calf survival. We extended the use of the DeMars model after assigning parturition and calf mortality status by examining herd-wide distributions of parturition date, calf mortality date, and survival. We used the DeMars model to estimate parturition and calf mortality events and compared them with the known parturition and calf mortality events from collared adult females (n = 19). We also used the DeMars model to estimate parturition and calf mortality events for collared female caribou with unknown parturition and calf mortality events (n = 43) and instead derived h...Continue Reading

References

Jun 23, 2010·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Jacqueline L FrairLuca Pedrotti
Jun 13, 2015·Science·Roland KaysMartin Wikelski
May 1, 2000·Oecologia·C M BergmanS N Luttich

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