Advancements in monitoring technology have improved markedly since caribou were first monitored by VHF (very high frequency) radio in Jasper National Park in the 1970s.
Back then, large, clunky radio collars were attached to a handful of animals in a herd. Using VHF receivers, researchers would hike into remote areas where caribou were known to live and hope to pick up a signal. The method told scientists if the animals were moving or not and—once they found the animals—if the females had reproduced.
However, there wasn’t much else the radio collars could provide.
“There was certainly no specific habitat data or daily use data,” explained Layla Neufeld, one of Parks Canada’s caribou ecologists.
In the early 2000s, to find out information about how animals react to certain elements in their environment (predators, for example), as soon as it became available, scientists were quick to incorporate GPS technology into their monitoring. GPS collars produce better habitat data than VHF collars, but there were trade offs with the tech. First off, the collars that were first available were even bulkier than the VHF versions. Secondly, they didn’t last as long—caribou fitted with VHF collars can be tracked for years (even today, one individual female has been wearing a VHF collar for more than a decade). Finally, when GPS first came out, the data was “stored on board,” meaning the scientists couldn’t actually access the data until a collar was dropped, usually up to two years later.
“It was limiting,” Neufeld said. “It’s hard to record or recall what conditions were like that long ago.”
Today, however, GPS collars can send out real time information to researchers like Neufeld. It’s no longer store-on-board, meaning biologists can monitor day-to-day interactions; a GPS “fix” is sent out every nine hours on the six female caribou sporting neckwear in the Tonquin herd.
“They’ve advanced to the point where I can wake up in the morning and see where a certain animal has been,” Neufeld said.
That was particularly engaging this past summer, when one caribou was spending a lot of time near the Jasper SkyTram on Whistlers Mountain. It was close enough to town that Neufeld could glass it in her spotting scope.
“We were able to see her, and confirm she had a calf,” she said. “It was definitely the most exciting part of my day.”
GPS can also help provide answers on why an animal may have died. In the old days, a monitoring flight might turn up a stationary collar, but often when the scientists found a carcass, there was no telling how long it had been there.
“Often you’d get there and it was just skin and bones,” Neufeld said.
Now, if a collar doesn’t move for seven hours, the modern GPS collars send Neufeld a text message.
“We can go in right away and look,” she says.
That keen eye is also useful in a third way to monitor caribou populations. Scat collection, thanks to advancements in DNA analysis, is one of Parks Canada’s strongest monitoring tools.
“At the lab they can really tell us who’s who,” Neufeld said.
Using DNA, scientists can calculate survival rates for calves, yearlings, sub adults and adults (more than three years old). They can also get an idea of how different herds mix—for example if a Brazeau member shows up in the Tonquin herd.
Taken together, the monitoring methods contribute to the most important metric of all: adult female survival rates. As one of the most influential values that affects whether a population increases or decreases, it is this number that has moved the needle for action on protecting caribou, including a proposed $24 million breeding facility.
Jasper National Park’s understanding of Jasper’s threatened caribou populations will continue to grow as technological advancements in monitoring technology improve. Time will tell if the caribou’s chance of survival will also increase.
Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com
