Web-based application for threatened woodland caribou population modeling

Area of Science:

• Wildlife ecology and population dynamics
• Conservation biology and species at risk management
• Statistical modeling and software development

Background:

• Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) populations in Canada are declining due to habitat loss from natural and human disturbances.
• Effective monitoring of woodland caribou population trends is crucial for assessing the success of conservation and recovery actions mandated by the Species at Risk Act.
• Traditional aerial surveys are often ineffective for estimating population trends in many woodland caribou populations, necessitating demographic-based monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present a stand-alone statistical software application for efficient, transparent, and replicable demographic estimation of woodland caribou populations.
• To address challenges faced by monitoring programs in managing data streams and ensuring transparency in demographic rate estimation using the Recruitment-Mortality (R/M) model.
• To provide a user-friendly, web-based application utilizing a Bayesian estimation approach for the R/M population model.

Main Methods:

• Development of an interactive, web-based application using open-source software.
• Implementation of the Recruitment-Mortality (R/M) population model with a Bayesian estimation approach.
• Illustration of the application using data from the A la Pêche Southern Mountain woodland caribou population in Alberta, Canada (1998-2017).

Main Results:

• The developed web-application provides efficient, transparent, and replicable demographic estimation for woodland caribou.
• Estimates of population demographics for the A la Pêche population are consistent with previous research.
• The application demonstrates utility in assessing woodland caribou population responses to species recovery actions.

Conclusions:

• The new software application facilitates efficient monitoring of woodland caribou populations.
• The tool aids in the assessment of the effectiveness of species recovery actions for threatened woodland caribou.
• The open-source nature and user manual promote accessibility and adoption for conservation efforts.