Influence of In-Situ Oil Sands Development on Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) Movement

PloS One
Tyler MuhlyStan Boutin

Abstract

In-situ oil sands development (ISD) involves a network of facilities, wells, roads and pipelines to extract and transport subsurface bitumen. This technology is rapidly expanding and there is uncertainty whether ISDs restrict animal movement, leading to increased extinction probabilities for some wide-ranging species. Here we test for effects of simulated future (i.e., 50 years from now) and current ISDs on simulated movements of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus), a threatened species across North America. In simulations of future scenarios, we varied the spacing and permeability of ISDs and the presence/absence of protected areas. Permeability was measured as the number of times simulated caribou crossed ISDs with different levels of modelled permeability. We estimated the effects of these factors on caribou step length and annual home range size, key metrics of small and large spatiotemporal scales of movement, respectively. Current caribou crossings of above-ground pipeline features of ISDs were measured using camera traps and compared to expected caribou crossing rates based on present-day caribou movement simulations. Current crossing rates were evaluated within the context of predicted future crossing success rates nec...Continue Reading

References

May 14, 2005·Oecologia·Heiko U WittmerBruce N McLellan
Aug 15, 2006·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Vilis O Nams
Dec 9, 2008·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Eloy Revilla, Thorsten Wiegand
Dec 9, 2008·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Ran NathanPeter E Smouse
Jun 23, 2010·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Juan M MoralesDaniel T Haydon

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Citations

Mar 6, 2019·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Jonah L KeimNoemie S Jenni
Jul 8, 2020·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Timothy J FullmanWendy M Loya
Apr 17, 2020·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Samantha M MaherWiktor L Adamowicz
Sep 13, 2021·Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management·David R RobertsMonique G Dubé

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Software Mentioned

GME
Geospatial Modelling Environment ( GME

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