Caribou-ffet: The nutritional landscape of caribou at Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada

First name: 
Dara
Last name: 
Albrecht
Class Year: 
2023
Advisor: 
Oswald Schmitz and Kristy Ferraro
Essay Abstract: 
Given land use change, which limits resource availability, and climate change, which can alter the floral composition within caribou habitat, we require a firm understanding of the resources used by threatened caribou as their populations decline. Historically, it was assumed that caribou diet mainly consisted of lichen, but studies suggest that caribou diet composition remains opaque. The purpose of this research was to use plant tissue carbon content, nitrogen content, and C: N at three different caribou-relevant scales (the regional, local, and bite) to test whether there was more, less, or even variation in forage nutrition available to the Fogo Island Caribou herd. Within the island, our results show that variance was statistically significant at the regional scale (p = 0.02), confirming our original hypothesis that forage quality for caribou would significantly vary at the regional scale potentially because underlying geology would vary more across a landscape scale. Our results suggest that the Fogo Island herd may be able to identify and select high-quality forage at a local and bite scale. The high variance at the regional level suggests that there may be no consistent pattern of nutritional hotspots for caribou to home in on, emphasizing the need for further research into the foraging behavior and nutritional requirements of the Fogo Island herd to ensure long-term viability.