Evaluating the impact of caribou habitat restoration on predator and prey movement.

Fragmentation of the boreal forest by linear features including seismic lines has destabilized predator-prey dynamics, resulting in the decline of woodland caribou populations. Restoration of human-altered habitat has therefore been identified as a critical management tool for achieving self-sustaining woodland caribou populations. However, only recently has testing of the response of caribou and other wildlife to restoration activities been conducted, with early work centering around assessing changes in wildlife use of restored seismic lines. We evaluated if restoration reduces the movement rates of both predators and their associated prey, which is expected to decrease predator hunting efficiency and ultimately reduce caribou mortality. We developed a new methodological framework using cameras to measure fine-scale movement, and applied this framework to quantify speed of caribou, moose, bears, and wolves on treated and untreated seismic lines. Restoration treatments reduced the travel speeds along seismic lines of wolves by 1.38 km/hr, bears by 0.55 km/hr, and caribou by 1.57 km/hr, but did not reduce moose travel speeds. Reduced predator and caribou speed on treated seismic lines is predicted to decrease encounter rates between predators and caribou, and thus lower caribou kill rates. However, further work is needed to understand if reduced movement rates results in reduced encounter rates with prey, and ultimately reduced mortality for caribou. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.