Speaker: Dr. Troy McMullin, University of Guelph

Abstract: The number of forest dwelling woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Ontario is declining. There are likely multiple cumulative effects causing a reduction in the population, but the least studied relate to diet and food availability. My research is focused on the decline of critical habitat due to harvesting and post-harvest management practices. Critical habitat for woodland caribou includes high lichen biomass, which is their primary winter forage. The aim of my research is to explore the effects of the most common contemporary silvicultural practices on lichen diversity and, in turn, woodland caribou. My objectives are to 1. determine the environmental variables that are most important for explaining lichen diversity, 2. evaluate the influence of silvicultural practices on the environmental variables assessed, 3. identify the species woodland caribou are eating in the winter months, and 4. develop a method for estimating lichen biomass at the stand level. Methods include the use of camera collars, molecular analyses of scat samples, and comparisons between managed and naturally disturbed stands across a chronosequence of ages throughout Ontario's boreal forest region. The results indicate that harvested stands that were planted and treated with herbicides are not emulating natural disturbances and that high lichen biomass only tends to occur in stands