Atle Mysterud, Torkild Tveraa, Brage Bremset Hansen, Vegard Gundersen, Hans Tømmervik, Rasmus Erlandsson, Knut H. Røed, Jørn Våge, Roy Andersen, Einy Brænd, Siri Wølneberg Bøthun, Morten Elgaaen, Øystein Holand, Morten Kjørstad, Kjersti Kvie, Anders Mossing, Ingrid Sønsterud Myren, Manuela Panzacchi, Bart Peeters, Tor Punsvik, Lena Romtveit, Anna Skarin, Bram Van Moorter, Vebjørn Veiberg, Vemund Jaren, Olav Strand, Christer M. Rolandsen
{"title":"A quality standard for conservation of wild reindeer","authors":"Atle Mysterud, Torkild Tveraa, Brage Bremset Hansen, Vegard Gundersen, Hans Tømmervik, Rasmus Erlandsson, Knut H. Røed, Jørn Våge, Roy Andersen, Einy Brænd, Siri Wølneberg Bøthun, Morten Elgaaen, Øystein Holand, Morten Kjørstad, Kjersti Kvie, Anders Mossing, Ingrid Sønsterud Myren, Manuela Panzacchi, Bart Peeters, Tor Punsvik, Lena Romtveit, Anna Skarin, Bram Van Moorter, Vebjørn Veiberg, Vemund Jaren, Olav Strand, Christer M. Rolandsen","doi":"10.1002/wmon.70005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/wmon.70005","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The ongoing biodiversity crisis requires policy tools to establish baselines and assess biodiversity status. Reindeer and caribou (<i>Rangifer tarandus</i>) are iconic ungulates in the Arctic and subarctic, but populations are declining. Although the species is considered vulnerable globally in the International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN] Red List, more detailed policy tools at the population level would allow for targeted conservation efforts nationally. We developed an environmental quality standard (or norm) for reindeer populations to evaluate their overall status and put complex variation and change into simple status categories (poor, medium, and good) based on sets of quantitative indicators for 1) population performance, genetic diversity, and health status; 2) available lichen resources; and 3) loss of seasonal habitat and connectivity. We implemented the environmental quality standard for 10 national and 14 smaller wild reindeer areas (populations) in Norway. Except for 1 area with good status, all others ranged from medium (<i>n</i> = 11) to poor quality (<i>n</i> = 12). More than half of the populations had medium (<i>n</i> = 7) or poor (<i>n</i> = 6) status for 1 or more population performance indicators, with negative trends in calf body mass and recruitment in several populations. High loss of genetic diversity gave poor status in 4 small and isolated populations, and 2 populations with chronic wasting disease scored poor on health status. The status of lichen resources was medium (<i>n</i> = 20) or good (<i>n</i> = 3), with 1 exception. However, lichen time series data were not available to evaluate temporal trends to assess overgrazing. Loss of connectivity (poor; <i>n</i> = 7) was more problematic than loss of seasonal habitat (<i>n</i> = 3). The poor availability of high-quality empirical data, particularly on population performance, has limited the ability to fully assess the conservation status of several small populations. The environmental quality standard provides an important step towards operationalizing management and aiding in securing the long-term conservation of wild reindeer. We discuss further improvements and the potential usefulness of this approach for other large mammals.</p>","PeriodicalId":235,"journal":{"name":"Wildlife Monographs","volume":"219 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145284533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kelly M. Proffitt, J. Terrill Paterson, Jesse D. DeVoe, Christopher P. Hansen, Joshua J. Millspaugh
{"title":"Evaluating patterns of plant phenological progression and pronghorn movement behaviors across diverse landscapes\u0000 Évaluation des modèles de progression phénologique des plantes et des comportements de mouvement des antilopes d'Amérique dans divers paysages","authors":"Kelly M. Proffitt, J. Terrill Paterson, Jesse D. DeVoe, Christopher P. Hansen, Joshua J. Millspaugh","doi":"10.1002/wmon.70003","DOIUrl":"10.1002/wmon.70003","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A variety of metrics based on the remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) are commonly used as proxies for nutritional conditions of landscapes for ungulates, and these proxies are used to explain variation in animals’ vital rates and movements. One common application of NDVI data is to derive the instantaneous rate of green-up (IRG) to represent the rate of plant phenological progression and evaluate hypotheses regarding animal movements related to the green wave. Although the green wave is generally assumed to occur along elevational gradients in mountain-valley systems, it is unknown how variable patterns of plant phenological progression occur across heterogeneous landscapes. Additionally, the consequences of spatial and temporal variability in these phenological patterns on animal movement behaviors in different ecological systems are unknown. Many ungulates worldwide exhibit migratory behaviors to track the leading edge of plant phenological progression; however, some species, such as pronghorn (<i>Antilocapra americana</i>), that occupy mountain-valley and prairie systems may experience variable patterns of plant phenological progression and employ variable movement strategies to exploit these systems. Within 8 pronghorn herd ranges that span broad and heterogeneous landscapes in Montana, USA, our objectives were to 1) calculate and interpret phenology metrics, 2) evaluate spatial and temporal variability in plant phenology patterns, 3) characterize the patterns of plant phenological progression, 4) relate the variability and patterns of plant phenological progression to pronghorn migratory movement behaviors, and 5) evaluate potential nutritional trade-offs between employing a migratory or resident migratory behavior in different landscapes. The study area included the ranges of 3 pronghorn herds in western Montana characterized by an elevational gradient from lower elevation grasslands to higher elevation forests and the ranges of 5 pronghorn herds in eastern Montana characterized by mixed-grass prairie and sagebrush steppe. Across these 8 herds, we collected global positioning system (GPS) collar location data from 586 female pronghorn during 912 animal-years from 2019 to 2021. We processed 12 years of phenology data collected during 2010–2021. Spatial and temporal patterns and predictability of plant phenological progression varied across different pronghorn ranges. In general, the 3 western Montana herd ranges had less annual variation but greater intra-annual spatial variation in values of phenology metrics, as compared to the eastern Montana herd ranges, and greater predictability across years. The estimated green-up order, which represented the strength of the green wave, suggested that a defined and strong wavelike pattern of phenological progression (i.e., a green wave) was not common across pronghorn ranges in Montana. Most ranges in most years experienced a truncated green wave or synchronous greening a","PeriodicalId":235,"journal":{"name":"Wildlife Monographs","volume":"218 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/wmon.70003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145101273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}