Habitat selection and spatial relationships of black bears (Ursus americanus) with woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in northeastern Alberta

Les populations de caribous des bois (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) affichent un declin sur une grande partie de leur aire. On croit que les loups (Canis lupus L., 1758) sont responsables de la majeure partie de la mortalite des caribous femelles adultes; nous emettons, neanmoins, l'hypothese selon laquelle d'autres predateurs, tels que les ours noirs (Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780), peuvent contribuer de facon importante a la mortalite des petits. Nous avons evalue la selection d'habitat chez l'ours noir et les relations spatiales caribous-ours noirs durant la saison de mise bas des caribous dans le nord-est de l'Alberta, Canada. Les ours noirs evitent les tourbieres hautes et basses, mais choisissent les boises mixtes des terres hautes ainsi que diverses installations industrielles. A l'inverse, les caribous montrent une forte selection pour les tourbieres hautes et basses par comparaison aux ours, ce qui appuie l'hypothese qui veut que les caribous dans la foret boreale essaient de minimiser leur risque de predation en choisissant des milieux tourbeux afin d'eviter les regions frequentees par les predateurs. Cependant, la selection d'habitat par les ours noirs individuels est tres variable et certains ours choisissent des habitats semblables a ceux selectionnes par les caribous, c'est-a-dire des tourbieres hautes et basses. Les ours qui recherchent leur nourriture dans les milieux tourbeux pourraient etre responsables d'une partie de la predation sur les petits des caribous. Parce les declins des caribous ont ete causes par une combinaison de fortes mortalites chez les femelles adultes et les petits, les operations de gestion pour la conservation des caribous des bois devraient tenir compte de l'ensemble complet des predateurs potentiels plutot que se concentrer seulement sur les loups.

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