| dc.description.abstract | Woodland caribou populations in the Lake Superior range have deteriorated. The
caribou’s decline follows industry growth since the 1900s. Islands like those in Slate
Islands Provincial Park, Michipicoten Island and Caribou Island offer periods of escape
from wolves, the main predators of caribou. Minute mainland populations exist because
of translocations conducted in the early 1980s and late 2010s with A.T. Bergerud, and
later Gord Eason at the head. Together with the island populations, the safest and most
common areas of translocations, the mainland connects what can be considered a
metapopulation. Population viability analyses (PVAs), run on Vortex10, were conducted
to determine ways of creating a stable metapopulation with consideration given to future
arrivals of wolves and future translocations to the Lake Superior islands. The probability
of icing events for caribou dispersion were factored into the PVAs. Wolf appearance on
islands has been the chronic limiting factor of caribou abundance. Allowing no
translocations created a high probability of functional extinction. Specific translocation
starting in the present and continuing until 10 years created the highest likelihood of
persistence of the metapopulation. The Slate, Michipicoten, and Caribou islands are
crucial to metapopulation persistence. Further recovery of the woodland caribou
populations in the Lake Superior range should view translocations as a beneficial
management approach. | en_US |
