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Simulation Modelling of Caribou in the Arctic
Canadian Wildlife Service / University of
Alaska
Research and monitoring of the Porcupine caribou
herd in northern Yukon and Alaska have been conducted continuously
since the early 1970s. As more information was gathered it became
increasingly difficult to integrate and apply that information to
answer complex questions regarding the effects of human activities
and developments on the herd. ESSA developed a simulation model
that allows managers to predict the population dynamics of the herd
under various habitat conditions, climatic conditions and harvest
levels. Existing models representing the growth and energetics of
individual caribou were adapted and linked to the model. A user-friendly
interface was developed providing managers with a tool to easily
compare the effects of different management scenarios and generate
graphs of their results. The model stores parameters and simulation
results in a relational database implemented in Microsoft Access.
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