Download PPT - Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Moose
Presented by Lauren N. Watine
What is a moose?
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Introduction
Ecology
Management
The Future
Introduction
• Origins
– Bering Land Bridge from Siberia
• End of Pleistocene
– Great Plains
– Eastern US
Introduction
• Origins
– “Moose”
• Algonquin  “he strips off”
• “Elk” in Europe
Introduction
• Classification and Taxonomy
– Order: Artiodactyla
– Family: Cervidae
– Genus: Alces
– Species: alces
Introduction
• Classification and Taxonomy
– 5 subspecies recognized globally, 4 in NA
• Alces americanus americanus
– Eastern moose
• Alces americanus andersoni Peterson
– Northwestern moose
• Alces americanus gigas Miller
– Alaska moose
• Alces americanus shirasi Nelson
– Shiras moose
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Skull characteristics
• Upper jaw without incisors
• Upper canines almost always absent
• Short pedicels
– 1st antlers appear 4-6 months after birth
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– General Appearance
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Massive body
Long and slender legs
Shoulder hump
Long nose
• Large/flexible overhanging upper lip
• Dewlap at throat
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– General Appearance
• Length
– 2.74 m
• Height
– 1.83 m
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– General Appearance
• Front hoof widths
– Male
» ~13 cm
– Female
» ~10 cm
– Calf
» ~8 cm
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Pelage
• Newborn Moose
– Light red  reddish brown
– Shades of grey  black on lower abdomen, chest, legs,
muzzle, hooves, eye rings, and ears
– Replaced in 2-3 months by darker coat
» Shed in spring
» Replaced by short, fine, nearly black, hair
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Pelage
• Adult prime coats
– Nearly black
What is it?
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Male vs. Female
• Females
– White hair around vulva
– Brown face and dark body
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Male vs. Female
• Males
– Black face
– Antlers
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Male vs. Female
• “Bells”  skin flaps on neck
– Cow: looks like tuft of hair
– Bull: larger, rounder
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Glands
• Lachrymal glands
• Tarsal glands
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Antlers
• PALMICORN
• Males
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Antlers
• Velvet
• Antler “sheds”
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Antlers
• Size and spread
– 35 kg
– 205 cm
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Antlers
• Size and spread
– Spread rarely >16.51 cm
» 13.97 cm = good
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Antlers
• Calves
– Small buds by late September
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Antlers
• Yearlings
– Spikes/small forks
» Palm development
• 2-3 y/o
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Antlers
• Maximum development
– 5 y/o
– Declines in teens
Introduction
• Physical Characteristics
– Weight (live)
• Moose Research Center (MRC), Alaska
– Males
» With antlers before the rut: 771 kg
» Large bulls: >454 kg
– Females
» 573 kg
Introduction
• Distribution and Abundance
– Circumpolar
• 72 °N latitude and south to about 40 °N latitude
• Europe, Asia, and North America
Introduction
• Distribution and Abundance
– North American range
• Northern spruce and boreal forests
• Numbers (1978)
– 0.8-1.2 million
– Little change in 30+ years
Introduction
• Distribution and Abundance
– North American range
• Alaska  Colorado
– South through Rocky Mountains
• East  Newfoundland
• South to New Hampshire,
northern Wisconsin, and northern
North Dakota
Introduction
• Distribution and Abundance
– North American range
• Limitations
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North
Western mountain ranges
South and West
Southeast
Introduction
• Distribution and Abundance
– North American range
• Local limitations
– Successional vegetation stages
Introduction
• Population trends
– Decreased as Europeans spread
• Food value
• Firearms!
– Current
• Stable or increasing
– Local declines?
Introduction
• Conservation and Legal Status
– Global Status: G5 (secure)
• National Status: N5 (secure)
– Varies throughout US
– IUCN: Least Concern
Introduction
• Value
– Historical
• Food, clothes, tools, recreation
– Meat/organs
Introduction
• Value
– Historical
• Food, clothes, tools, recreation
– Peak hunting periods: native Americans
» The rut
» Deep and crusting snow
» Summer on open rivers and lakes
Introduction
• Value
– Historical
• Food, clothes, tools, recreation
– Dung
– Hide
– Bone/antlers
• European immigrants: utilitarian value
Introduction
• Value
– Current
• Food
• Traditional hunt
• Wildlife viewing/photography
Introduction
• Value
– Current
• More aesthetic
– “culturally evolved”
• Alaska: activities associated with hunting
– $31million annually
Ecology: Natural History
• Survival and longevity
– Late teens
– Rarely past 20
• Cows = 8 years
• Bulls = 7 years
Ecology: Natural History
• Survival and longevity
– Female maximum reproductive potential
• 4-12 years
Ecology: Natural History
• Survival and longevity
– Male data limited
• One MRC bull: 11.5 years
• Another: 14 years
• Peak reproductive age: 4-8 years
Ecology: Natural History
• Diet selection
– Browsers with variable diet
– Use early successional woody browse
regrowth
• Following disturbances
– Fire, flood, logging
Ecology: Natural History
• Diet selection
– Winter
• Twigs from shrubs
– Summer
• Leaves from deciduous species
Ecology: Natural History
• Diet selection
– Renecker and Schwartz
• Sampled 164 different plant species in NA
– Only aspen, birch, and willow eaten in large numbers
throughout range
Ecology: Natural History
• Diet selection
– Reproductive performance peaks when
preferred species are abundant and available
• Eastern range
– Balsam fir
• Mid-continent
– Maples and beaked hazel
• Aquatics wherever lakes occur
Ecology: Natural History
• Physiological Ecology
– Continuous growth
– 3 phases
1. Prenatal
2. Suckling
3. Maturity
Ecology: Natural History
• Physiological Ecology
– Single calves are larger than twins at birth
• NO mass difference between sexes
• 12-17 kg at birth
– Can walk/swim soon after
Ecology: Natural History
• Physiological Ecology
– Calves gain ~1-3 kg/day until October
• 160-180 kg by Fall
• October  May,
– LOSE mass
• High natural mortality
– Some areas: >75% die in first 6 months
Ecology: Natural History
• Physiological Ecology
– Maximum mass
• Females
– 4 years, 500 kg
• Males
– 7-9 years, 700 kg
Ecology: Natural History
• Physiological Ecology
– Gain/lose weight seasonally
• Abundance and quality of forage
• Reproductive status
Ecology: Natural History
• Physiological Ecology
– Gain/lose weight seasonally
• Female minimum annual mass
– Postpartum
» Lactating: need >66lbs of browse/day!
– Males are gaining mass
Ecology: Natural History
• Physiological Ecology
– Gain/lose weight seasonally
• Male minimum annual mass
– The rut
» Lose 12-18% of mass
Ecology: Natural History
• Reproductive strategy
– The rut: early September  late October
• Peaks late September and early October
• Young males generally excluded from breeding
• Mean gestation: 231 days, 8 months
– Polyestrous
Ecology: Natural History
• Reproductive strategy
– Calving: mid-May  mid-June
– Cows have first calf at 2 years, most by 3
• Yearling females
• Productivity in teens?
• Maternal strategy?
Ecology: Natural History
• Reproductive strategy
– Single calf vs. Twins
• Twinning
– 5%: Jackson Hole, WY, 1960s
» Static
– 72%: Kenai Peninsula, 1980s
» Expanding
Ecology: Natural History
• Reproductive strategy
– Single calf vs. Twins
• Function of nutrition and population condition
– Rates can be used to asses population status
• Triplets rare
Ecology: Natural History
• Reproductive strategy
– Tundra vs. Taiga Moose
• Harem vs. pair-breeding
Ecology: Natural History
• Reproductive strategy
– Sex ratios
• 20-30 bulls per 100 cows
– Synchronous breeding of all females during 1st estrus
Ecology: Behavior
• Social structure
– The rut: males
• Mock battle
• Low-stretch posture and flehmen to detect
pheromones
– Approach cows
• Yield or fight
• Victory?
Ecology: Behavior
• Social structure
– The rut: females
• Aggressive towards other females
• Tundra females
• Taiga females
Ecology: Behavior
• Social structure
– Individualistic, or quasi-solitary
• Def: large groups uncommon
• Female with calves
• Large aggregations?
– Yarding
Ecology: Behavior
• Social structure
– Cow-calf bond
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Constant contact in first week
Within visual and vocal distance
“lying-out” vs. “hiding”
Cow highly protective/aggressive
Ecology: Behavior
• Interspecific interactions/relationships
– Spatially and temporally
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Caribou
Mule deer
White-tailed deer
Elk
Bison
Musk-oxen
• Rocky-Mountain/Dall’s sheep
Ecology: Behavior
• Interspecific interactions/relationships
– Boer: 4 forms of interactions between moose
and other species
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Direct competition
Parasite-mediated competition
Multi-prey systems
Commensalism
Ecology: Behavior
• Movements, migration, and home-range
– Move within seasonal ranges
– Migrate between seasonal ranges
– Remain year-round residents in an area
– Disperse to new range
Ecology: Behavior
• Movements, migration, and home-range
– Move within seasonal ranges
• Home-ranges where normal activities occur
• Patterns: food and cover
– Shelter from weather and predation
» Thermal cover
Ecology: Behavior
• Movements, migration, and home-range
– Move within seasonal ranges
• Summer: low lying areas with stagnant water
– 25-30 kg aquatic plants/day
– Cool down
• Winter: upland areas with dense habitat cover
– Twigs and shrubs
– Less active
Ecology: Behavior
• Communication
– Olfactory cues
• Pheromones and vomerones
– Bubenik: visual discrimination of antler rank
by females
– Excellent hearing and echolocation
Ecology: Behavior
• Predator response
– Learned behaviors: Joel Berger, UMT, study
– Aggressive
– Run away
Ecology: Behavior
• Response to humans
– Aggressive if startled/frightened
– North America: injure more people than any
other mammal
• Worldwide: only hippos injure more
Ecology: Behavior
• Response to humans
– During the rut
– With calves
Ecology: Population Biology
• Population trends and status
– Fluctuations are the norm
– Populations increase gradually
• NOT rapid, even with good conditions
Ecology: Population Biology
• Population trends and status
– Naturally regulated by predation and K
• Food: ultimate K component!
• Predation
– Increased K with limited-to-no predation
– Habitat decline/loss with high predation
– In between?
Ecology: Population Biology
• Population trends and status
– Causes of variation
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Reintroduction
Fire
Range expansion
Habitat changes
Snow
Conditions
Forestry practices
Ecology: Population Biology
• Productivity and recruitment
– Ideal conditions
• Exceed 1:1/year
– Twinning rates
– Yearling breeding
– Conception rates
Ecology: Population Biology
• Productivity and recruitment
– Nelchina, AK
• Estimated calves per 100 cows in fall
– 1972: 13:100
» Due to calf mortality
» Would NOT sustain populations!
– 1953: 90:100
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Predation
– Severe winters
– Hunting
– Poaching
– Disease
– Old age
– Accidents
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Predation
• 3 notable direct factors
1. Alternative prey
2. Predator-prey ratios
3. Multi-predator systems
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Predation
• Boertje et al, 1996
– 20 year effects of wolf control on wolf, moose, and
caribou abundance
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Winter mortality factors
• Snow depth, density, hardness and persistence
– Mobility
– Food availability
– Resulting energy balance/reserves
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Winter mortality factors
• Koenai Peninsula, AK
– 100% calf mortality 1971-1972
– 85% calf mortality 1989-1990 and 1994-1995
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Harvest
• Unregulated vs. regulated hunting
– Can benefit from culling as a population regulation
» Especially selective harvest!
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Harvest
• Additive or unsustainable
– Depends
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Harvest: Michigan Case Study
• Unsustainable cow harvest
• Additive bull harvest
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Disease
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Meningeal/brainworm
Winter ticks
Arterial worm
Lung worm
Possibly brucella
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Disease
• Meningeal/brainworm – eastern North America
– Parelaphostrongylus tenuis
» Parasitic nematode/roundworm
– Fatal neurological disease
– Weakness, circling, blindness, and paralysis
– Often die
Ecology: Population Biology
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Disease
• Transmissible to humans/make moose inedible
– Toxoplasmosis and brucellosis
– Hydadid cyst tapeworm
» Human risk
» Moose = intermediate host
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Disease
• Biggest threats: domestic and game farm animals
– Brucellosis and TB
» Bacterial
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Natural mortality in “adult” phase is low
– Old age
• Lose weight
• Decrease in antler size
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Accidental mortality
• Moose annually from roadkills:
– Vehicles: 3500
– Trains: 1500
» 70% decline in local populations along a road/railroad Alaskan corridor
• Combination of harvest and roadkills account for
2000-2500 deaths/year in Maine
Ecology: Population Biology
• Mortality factors
– Miscellaneous
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Moose-aircraft
Fighting
Calf abandonment
Drowning/falling
Protection of life and
property
• Forest fire
• Avalanches
• Fence entanglement
Ecology: Habitat
Habitat is the
ULTIMATE limiting
factor for moose!
Ecology: Habitat
• Habitat = ultimate limiting factor
– Food
• Quantity AND quality
– Climate
Ecology: Habitat
• Habitat = ultimate limiting factor
– Need large quantities of forage to maintain
rumen
– Intake varies seasonally
• Sex and age
• Availability, digestibility, and rate of passage
Ecology: Habitat
• Habitat = ultimate limiting factor
– Subsist on browse
• Leaves and twigs of woody plants
• Year-round species
– Wood, aspen, birch, maple, pincherry, and mountain ash
Ecology: Habitat
• Habitat = ultimate limiting factor
– Subsist on browse
• Leaves and twigs of woody plants
• Important winter species
– Balsam fir
» Leaves absent from hardwoods in winter
» Lower nutritive value
Ecology: Habitat
• Habitat = ultimate limiting factor
– Subsist on browse
• Leaves and twigs of woody plants
• Year-round species
• Important winter species
Fire, wind throw, insects, and forest practices
promote disturbance and regrowth of these
important species!
Ecology: Habitat
• Habitat = ultimate limiting factor
– Aquatic plants
• Sodium requirements
– Pondweed, water lily
Ecology: Habitat
• Summer Requirements
– Male vs. Female
• Males: cooler temperatures
– Higher elevation in mixed and hardwood stands
– Less food
– Shade
Ecology: Habitat
• Summer Requirements
– Male vs. Female
• Females: raising calves
– Lower elevations
» Regenerating stands and adjacent softwoods
– Food more concentrated
Ecology: Habitat
• Fire-dependent systems
– Successional stage of burned boreal forests
• 11-30 years post-fire
• Peaks near 15 years
– Kelsall et al 1977, Schwartz et al 1989
Ecology: Habitat
• Non or limited fire-influenced habitats
– Above timberline
– River delta systems
– Extreme northern shrub communities
– Coastal forests
– Riparian willow communities
Ecology: Habitat
• Non or limited fire-influenced habitats
– Aquatic habitats
• Spring  Fall
• Highly digestible and nutritious forage
– High mineral content
• Escape insect pests
• Cool themselves
Ecology: Habitat
• Depth, density, and hardness of snow
– Habitat or vegetation availability
• Limited
– Activity regulated by snow conditions
Ecology: Habitat
• Depth, density, and hardness of snow
– Activity regulated by snow conditions
• 71-97 cm limits travel
• Metabolic demands for movement increase
Ecology: Habitat
• Depth, density, and hardness of snow
– Activity regulated by snow conditions
• Winter in coldest regions when adequate shelter
from wind is available
– High elevations
» More hardwood browse
» Feed on regenerating stands
» Mature softwoods = cover when snow depth > 3 ft
Ecology: Habitat
• Temperature limitations
– >27 degrees Celsius
• No shade
• No lake/water
– No moose!
How do we manage
moose?
• Habitat management
• Harvest management
Habitat
Management
• Necessary habitat components
– Abundant high quality
winter food
– Shelter near food
– Isolated calving sites
– Aquatic feeding areas
– Mineral licks
– Seral forest stands
with deciduous shrubs
and forbs in summer
– Mature forests for
shelter from snow and
heat
– Travel corridors
Habitat
Management
• Necessary habitat components
– Seral forest stands with deciduous shrubs and
forbs in summer
• Young and mature forest mix
• Highest moose densities
Habitat
Management
• Necessary habitat components
– Seral forest stands with deciduous shrubs and
forbs in summer
• Open up forest
• Allow light to hit forest floor
• Promote growth of young trees and shrubs
– Primary food!
Habitat
Management
• How to create seral vegetation
– Wildfire = ultimate habitat creator
– Logging has historical benefits
Habitat
Management
• How to create seral vegetation
– Logging has historical benefits
• Timber harvest
– Creates habitat in some areas
– Can be destructive if:
» Habitat components lost
» Uncontrolled logging road access
» Large areas converted to monotypic stands
Habitat
Management
• How to create seral vegetation
– Logging has historical benefits
• Recommended forest cut size
– 24-250 ha
» Depends on site productivity
– Made considering greatest vegetative regeneration
benefits and components of good habitat
Habitat
Management
• Non-forestry practices that create good
seral vegetation
– Prescribed burns
– Selected land clearing
– Abandonment of farmsteads
– Mechanical rehabilitation
– Wind-throw
– Insects
Habitat
Management
• Managing for mortality
– Vehicular collisions
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Speed limits
Signs
Lighting
Clearing of vegetation
Fencing
Media awareness
Habitat
Management
• Managing for mortality
– Vehicular collisions
• McDonald 1991: Moose movement and mortality
– Glenn Highway expansion, Anchorage, AK
– 65% Decrease in mortality
» Moose-proof fencing
» One-way gates
» Underpasses
» Lighting
Harvest
Management
• How do we manage harvest?
– Data required
• Limited harvest
• Optimum sustained yield
– Cow and bull
Harvest
Management
• How do we manage harvest?
– Data required
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License sales
Controlled access
Controlled method and means of take
Special announcements
– Opening and closure
Harvest
Management
• Michigan Case Study
– 1889, completely protected in Michigan
• No legal harvest since then
– Michigan: Public Act 366 of 2010
• Allows 1st moose hunting season since late 1800s
• MHAC  Moose Hunting Advisory Council
The Future
• Climate change
– Increased temperatures
• Southern-most moose distribution appears to be
temperature-controlled
• Easily heat-stressed
The Future
• Climate change
– May impact recreational harvest
The Future
• Distribution and population trends
– Unrestricted hunting
– Clearing of forests for farms
• White-tailed deer
Current Event
http://www.pressherald.com/news/increase-of-ticks-has-biologists-worried-aboutmoose_2013-07-07.html
Questions?
Sources
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Ecology and Management of Large Mammals in North America, Demarais and Krausman
Big Game of North America, Wildlife Management Institute
Dr. Giuliano’s Wildlife Ecology and Management class
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http://www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/species/moose/
http://www.pressherald.com/news/increase-of-ticks-has-biologists-worried-about-moose_2013-07-07.htm
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/03277c173e6343f7a317193928c452ba/NH--Moose-Population-NH
www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/FW/2ColumnSubPage/STDPROD_090208.html
http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/FW/2ColumnSubPage/STDPROD_090559.html
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/Moose_white_paper_28_Feb_2011_Final_350494_7.pdf
http://www.mooseworld.com/mooseman/index.htm
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/pdfs/species_planning/mammals/moose/assessment.pdf
http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?sourceTemplate=tabular_report.wmt&loadTemplate=species_RptComprehensi
ve.wmt&selectedReport=RptComprehensive.wmt&summaryView=tabular_report.wmt&elKey=792092&paging=home&save=true&startIn
dex=1&nextStartIndex=1&reset=false&offPageSelectedElKey=881533&offPageSelectedElType=species&offPageYesNo=true&post_proce
sses=&radiobutton=radiobutton&selectedIndexes=881533&selectedIndexes=792092&selectedIndexes=792132
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/animals/mammal/alam/all.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/02/0208_moose.html
http://www.mooseworld.com/ecology.htm
http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?A=2723&Q=326044
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:enUS:official&channel=fflb&hl=en&authuser=0&biw=1680&bih=853&tbm=isch&tbnid=qPRBMeXIzwuBM:&imgrefurl=http://fineartamerica.com/featured/moose-male-and-female-during-the-rut-philippehenry.html&docid=KKxjeGU5f_FQHM&imgurl=http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/moose-male-and-female-duringthe-rut-philippehenry.jpg&w=900&h=599&ei=xwI3UuCNIZPa9QSG24CIBw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:20,s:0,i:148&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=183&tbnw=2
64&start=0&ndsp=26&tx=161&ty=83
http://www.bullseyetaxidermy.com/Gallery.html
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