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Journal
Publications
Larter N.C., Sinclair A.R.E., Ellsworth T.,
Nishi J. and Gates C.C. 2000 Dynamics of reintroduction in an indigenous
large ungulate: the wood bison of northern Canada Animal Conservation
(2000) 4, 299–309
(PDF = 480
KB)
Abstract
We document the recolonization of an indigenous large herbivore into its
historic range. Eighteen wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) were
reintroduced into the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary of the Northwest
Territories, Canada, in 1963. The population subsequently increased in
number and range, peaking at about 2400 in 1989; numbers were estimated at
about 1900 in 1998. Recolonization occurred through a series of increases in
local areas followed by pulses of dispersal and range expansion. This
pattern was originally described for exotic species’ introductions.
Differences in diet and overwinter survival of calves over the bison’s range
suggest that intraspecific competition for food provided the stimulus for
range expansion. For a conservation strategy, the reintroduction of animals
into several independent sites in their historic range would facilitate
recolonization and achieve a faster spread than a reintroduction into one
site followed by waiting for the population to spread as a result of its own
density dependent responses. |
