Influence of in-situ oil sands development on caribou (Rangifer tarandus) movement

In-situ oil sands development (ISD) involves a network of facilities, wells, roads and pipelines to extract and transport subsurface bitumen. This technology is rapidly expanding and there is uncertainty whether ISDs restrict animal movement, leading to increased extinction probabilities for some wide-ranging species. Here we test for effects of simulated future (i.e., 50 years from now) and current ISDs on simulated movements of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus), a threatened species across North America. In simulations of future scenarios, we varied the spacing and permeability of ISDs and the presence/absence of protected areas. Permeability was measured as the number of times simulated caribou crossed ISDs with different levels of modelled permeability. We estimated the effects of these factors on caribou step length and annual home range size, key metrics of small and large spatiotemporal scales of movement, respectively. Current caribou crossings of above-ground pipeline featur...

原位油砂开发（In-situ Oil Sands Development, ISD）涉及一系列设施、油井、道路和管道，用于开采和运输地下沥青。该技术正迅速发展，但目前尚不确定ISD是否会限制动物活动，从而增加某些广域分布物种的灭绝概率。本文测试了模拟的未来（即50年后）和当前ISD对林地驯鹿（Rangifer tarandus）模拟活动的影响——林地驯鹿是北美范围内的濒危物种。在未来情景模拟中，我们改变了ISD的间距、渗透性以及保护区的存在与否。渗透性的衡量标准是模拟驯鹿穿越不同模拟渗透水平ISD的次数。我们评估了这些因素对驯鹿步长和年度家域范围的影响——这两个指标分别对应活动的小尺度和大尺度时空特征。当前驯鹿穿越地上管道设施的情况...