Indigenous Guardianship and Moose Monitoring: Weaving Indigenous and Western Ways of Knowing

Increasing global rates of wildlife species extinctions, extirpations, and declines warrant improvements to population monitoring and management approaches. To address regional environmental and wildlife issues, Indigenous communities globally are re-establishing traditional roles as stewards of the land through emerging Indigenous Guardianship Programs (IGPs). By providing the opportunity for community-level participation in monitoring and management, IGPs help foster cohesive solutions for long-term conservation of species while promoting environmental stewardship at the community level. Addressing challenges in monitoring and management of wildlife is especially critical for species that are of cultural and ecological importance at both community and distribution-wide scales. Herein, we describe IGPs in Canada with a focus on moose (Alces alces), an important species to many Indigenous Peoples across the species’ distribution. We outline common Western approaches to moose monitoring applied across Canadian jurisdictions and discuss ways in which weaving Indigenous knowledge systems and information gathered through local participation from Indigenous communities enhances monitoring initiatives at regional levels. We elaborate on a case study on moose monitoring and co-management in the community of Gitanyow in British Columbia, Canada to highlight the value of Guardianship to communities and species conservation in relation to moose. Our study reveals how IGPs and the weaving of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems can contribute to the maintenance of both ecological and cultural integrity to strengthen wildlife monitoring and management under changing global environments

Does connectivity exist for remnant boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) along the Lake Superior Coastal Range? Options for landscape restoration

Genetic analysis can provide important information on the dynamic and spatial structure of groups of animals or populations. Little is known of the genetic population structure of caribou that inhabit the Lake Superior Coastal Range (LSCR) and the level of gene flow between individuals within the range and beyond. From a landscape perspective, this range is spatially isolated and genetic connectivity within the range is presumed limited due to large water crossings on Lake Superior. This study aims to answer if animal movement can be discerned, using genetic population and relatedness analyses, within and beyond the LSCR. Faecal and hair samples collected between 2005 and 2015 in Pukaskwa National Park were analyzed for genetic markers and compared to 131 unique genotypes previously obtained from both within the LSCR and in the two next closest ranges. Animals from one nearshore island (i.e. Otter) were more closely associated with offshore islands than other mainland caribou, likely a result of past movement and translocation rather than ongoing movement. Conversely, on another nearshore island (i.e. Pic), individuals assigned to a different genetic cluster and were related to animals further north outside the range, demonstrating some connectivity through the discontinuous distribution to the coast. Long-term population declines have been observed in the LSCR range despite genetic connectivity within the range and relatively low total habitat disturbance. Restoring connectivity of the LSCR so that it is not isolated from populations to the north is required for the recovery of the mainland portion of the coastal range. These genetic analyses provide some insights on where movements may occur and where landscape restoration efforts may best be directed to enhance connectivity

Priadka_etal_2018_genotypes

Genotypes for 1221 boreal caribou at 9 microsatellite loci. Missing data is indicated by "-99". Coordinates for sampling locations have not been included because boreal caribou are listed as Threatened under Canada's Species At Risk Act

Priadka_etal_2018_Landscape_rasters

Raster .asc files of landscape resistance models. Univariate models include resistance costs of 10, 50 and 100. Optimized models for Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 reflect the optimized resistance costs for roads and water bodies (land1), roads and forestry (land2), water bodies and forestry (land3) and roads, water bodies and forestry (land4). Raster cell size is 250m in planar projection

Data from: Partitioning drivers of spatial genetic variation for a continuously-distributed population of boreal caribou: implications for management unit delineation

Isolation-by-distance (IBD) is a natural pattern not readily incorporated into theoretical models nor traditional metrics for differentiating populations, although clinal genetic differentiation can be characteristic of many wildlife species. Landscape features can also drive population structure additive to baseline IBD resulting in differentiation through isolation-by-resistance (IBR). We assessed the population genetic structure of boreal caribou across western Canada using non-spatial (STRUCTURE) and spatial (MEMGENE) clustering methods and investigated the relative contribution of IBD and IBR on genetic variation of 1221 boreal caribou multilocus genotypes across western Canada. We further introduced a novel approach to compare the partitioning of individuals into management units (MU) and assessed levels of genetic connectivity under different MU scenarios. STRUCTURE delineated five genetic clusters while MEMGENE identified finer-scale differentiation across the study area. IBD was significant and did not differ for males and females both across and among detected genetic clusters. MEMGENE landscape analysis further quantified the proportion of genetic variation contributed by IBD and IBR patterns, allowing for the relative importance of spatial drivers, including roads, water bodies and wildfires, to be assessed and incorporated into the characterization of population structure for the delineation of MUs. Local population units, as currently delineated in the boreal caribou recovery strategy, do not capture the genetic variation and connectivity of the ecotype across the study area. Here, we provide the tools to assess fine-scale spatial patterns of genetic variation, partition drivers of genetic variation and evaluate the best management options for maintaining genetic connectivity. Our approach is highly relevant to vagile wildlife species that are of management and conservation concern and demonstrate varying degrees of IBD and IBR with clinal spatial genetic structure that challenges the delineation of discrete population boundaries