Analysis of the standing age distribution and age-specific recruitment rate of the George River and Beverly barren-ground caribou populations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.11.4.995Keywords:
age distribution, caribou, life table, mortality, Rangifer, recruitment, population dynamicsAbstract
The primary advantage of the standing age distribution of a population is that it can be sampled. Analysis of the age frequencies for estimates of survival rates and determinations of population status by life table construction depend heavily on assumption that require additional data to evaluate. The analysis of age structures for the George River (Messier et al., 1988) and Beverly (Thomas and Barry, 1990a,b) caribou herd was reviewed. An alternativ method of estimating age specific survival rates was explored. The dependence of the life tables produced by the analysis of Messier et al. (1988) and Thomas and Barry (1990a,b) on tenuous and untestable assumptions regarding population growth rate over the life span of the oldest animals, stability of the standing age distribution, and constancy of life table parameters was emphasized. Although the life tables produced by Messier et al. (1988) for the George River herd and Thomas and Barry (1990a,b) for the Beverly herd are probably the best available for barren-ground caribou, they should be used with caution, particularly for management decisions.Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors retain copyright and grant Rangifer irrevocable and non-exclusive right of publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). This means, among other things, that anyone is free to copy and distribute the content, as long as they give proper credit to the author(s) and the journal. For further information, see Creative Commons website for human readable or lawyer readable versions.