Foundations of Restoration Ecology

Mountain goats are an odd looking beast; a mixture between sheep and goats, their white coats and small curved horns give them a devilish appearance. They live in the cold Rocky Mountains and are emblematic of the region, but, as with many ungulate species, they are subject to controversy accused of decimating landscape on one hand and threatened by local extinction because they are valued as a trophy animal on the other. Much of this comes from a limited of understanding of their biology, ecology and behaviour and the lack of inclusion of science-based information in management. This book by Festa-Bianchet and Côté goes some way to overcoming this issue by presenting the results of a fascinating study of a population of mountain goats in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Canada. The study is one of a growing number that takes an approach which follows the life history of known individual animals to attempt an understanding of how variation in morphology, diet, physiology and behaviour between individuals affect fitness and population dynamics. The book summarises the output of 16 years study, much of it already published. Festa-Bianchet and Côté give insights into not only the evolution, ecology and behaviour of mountain goats but also gives a flavour of the difficulties of studying an animal in the harsh mountain environments of North America. I found much to ponder, for example, that, in this species, males and females lead very different lives, only coming together to mate. In many other ungulate species, including the members of the Caprinae, you would expect substantial differences in sexual dimorphism, but male and female mountain goats are difficult to tell apart; males are larger than females but their horns are very similar in size and shape. This may relate to differences in fighting strategies between mountain goats and many other Caprinae species but the question of the limited degree of sexual dimorphism in this species is still open. An important issue for management is the impact of hunting on population viability and the “quality” of the population. This is one area where this study gives insights that are not addressed by other individual-based studies of ungulates across the globe. Festa-Bianchet and Côté argue that poor regulation of hunting is a major threat to mountain goat populations across their range. The results of their study suggest that populations are particularly vulnerable if females are shot as they have a low recruitment rate and do not have a compensatory response in birth kid survival or adult survival in response to hunting. Also, the difficulty of accessing the terrain can mean that hunters target their activities on easily accessed populations threatening these populations because of limited dispersal and high site fidelity of the species. There is much else in the body of the book to interest and excite the reader however, I have to point out that there are a couple of limitations to the study. Firstly, the harsh winter conditions in the study area mean that the research only happens between May and September each year missing out on what could be a very important period of mountain goat mortality; secondly, the limited ability of the researchers to trap adult male mountain goats constrains their understanding of the behaviour, ecology, mating success and fitness of this sex. So who should be interested in reading the book? Firstly, researchers interested in the behaviour and ecology of ungulates; secondly, undergraduates who want to get a feeling for what fieldwork is like in tough conditions and how scientists try to overcome the limitations of the circumstances in which they work; and finally, wildlife managers who need a summary of how scientific insights can be brought to bear on the management of species that are vulnerable to overexploitation. Studies such as the one described in this book are rare, mainly because of the difficulties of sustaining funding in the face of administrative, political, personal and emotional vagaries of the academic world; Festa-Bianchet and Côté’s study has survived and the result is a book that demonstrates the value of long term data collected on individual animals not only for science but also for management. Long may this continue.