Prince Albert National Park of Canada Parks Canada uses science and technology to learn about habitat needs and to design conservation measures for species of concern: Plains Bison, Lake Trout, and Woodland Caribou.
1. Issue: Long Term Survival of Woodland Caribou Northwards expansion of industrial development into the boreal forest pose a serious threat to woodland caribou, through: Loss of old-growth pine and spruce forests Progression to younger aspen and birch forests Increase in moose and whitetailed deer Increase in wolf densities Isolation of caribou populations
Prince Albert National Park s role in conserving woodland caribou The conservation of woodland caribou requires land management strategies that not only maintain caribou habitat, but also maintain connectivity among habitat patches so that caribou can travel and migrate to food sources. High Quality Habitat
Project: Analysing connectivity and caribou populations Objectives: To develop a landscape analysis model to identify critical habitat & movement corridors To estimate population sizes using fecal DNA To obtain baseline data on population genetic structure
DNA is extracted from caribou pellets as a means of identifying and counting individuals. Identifying Individual Caribou using their DNA Profile
This Research is a Cooperative Effort Between Many Organizations: Parks Canada Agency Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University Saskatchewan Environment Prince Albert Grand Council Prince Albert Model Forest Weyerhaeuser Canada, Inc.
2. Issue: Understanding habitat use by plains bison in Prince Albert National Park Research led by Daniel Fortin Département de biologie
Bison in Prince Albert National Park s greater ecosystem 2005-2007 Population 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1970 1985 2000 About 400 plains bison live on the west side of Prince Albert National Park. Increasing populations and concerns about bison incursions into neighbouring farmland have led to the need to better understand how bison use landscape and habitats.
Bison-habitat relationship in meadows Objective 1: Understand how bison choose foraging and resting sites within meadows Distribution of slough sedge shapes bison distribution within meadows Resting bison select dry areas in summer Foraging bison avoid deep water in summer - Vegetation in deeper water becomes available during winter
Seasonal Objective distribution 2: Understand of radiocollared bison distribution female bisonand factors that influence bison use of habitat Summer: Winter: Jan, June, Feb, July, March Aug
3. Issue: Evaluating techniques to monitor populations of lake trout Objective 1: evaluate the utility of hydroacoustic sampling for lake trout on a lake with a depleted population and a lake with an abundant population Objective 2: compare the results of hydroacoustic fish surveys with the results of index netting surveys on the two lakes Objective 3: to make recommendations for the management and future monitoring of lake trout in Prince Albert National Park
Hydroacoustic sampling is a remote sensing methodology that does not cause fish mortality. Latitude (Decimal Degrees) 1. Hydroacoustic data for one transect on Crean Lake, 28 August 2005, showing no tracked fish below the depth (23.5 m) where dissolved oxygen falls below 1.0 mg/l Depth (m) 54.06 54.065 54.07 54.075 54.08 54.085 54.09 54.095 54.1 54.105 15.0 17.5 20.0 22.5 25.0 27.5 30.0 DO > 1.0 mg/l DO < 1.0 mg/l Bottom Fish
Summer Profundal Index Netting (SPIN) Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources there are less than a five hundred breeding female lake trout in Crean Lake, the lowest observed for any lake larger than 10,000 ha population of breeding size female lake trout at Wassegam Lake numbers in the thousands Catch per SPIN Net 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 Minnewanka Wassegam Crean 0.0 10 100 1000 10000 100000 Lake Area Selectivity corrected area weighted catch per SPIN net for 57 lake trout lakes from British Columbia to Quebec (Sandstrom and Lester 2007).
Comparison of techniques: Biomass estimates for Wassegam Lake were similar for hydroacoustics (14.4 tonnes) and SPIN netting (12.5 tonnes) Biomass estimate for Crean Lake is 4.2 tonnes for lake trout over 50 cm. Wassegam Lake is of interest on a national level, with one of the highest abundance and biomass density estimates along the southern range of lake trout.