Canada's federal recovery strategy for boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) classifies areas burned by forest fire as disturbed habitat. This assignment of fire as a disturbance has potential economic and social implications across Canada, and influences plans and actions to achieve caribou conservation and recovery. Previous researchers have reported caribou avoid burned habitat, but these studies did not typically consider unburned residual patches within fire perimeters. Additionally, the implications of burned habitat on individual caribou survival is unclear. We examined resource selection by boreal woodland caribou of burns, and unburned residual patches, using global positioning system (GPS) locations for 201 caribou across 6 caribou populations in Alberta, Canada. We also examined if burned habitat affected the survival of adult female caribou. Caribou avoided burns and unburned residual patches. Increased use of burned habitats, however, did not lower the survival of adult caribou. Collectively, these results provide evidence to support current assertions that burns, and the embedded unburned residual patches are not preferred caribou habitat and increase our understanding of the implications of forest fire for caribou vital rates. Our investigation offers important information about the role of forest fire in caribou ecology and enhances the identification of disturbed habitat under recovery strategy guidelines to effectively address caribou population declines. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

---

一个迫切的问题：森林火灾对林地驯鹿有什么影响？

加拿大联邦对北方林地驯鹿 ( Rangifer tarandus caribou) 的恢复战略) 将被森林火灾烧毁的地区归类为受干扰的栖息地。将火灾列为干扰对整个加拿大具有潜在的经济和社会影响，并影响实现驯鹿保护和恢复的计划和行动。以前的研究人员报告说驯鹿避免了被烧毁的栖息地，但这些研究通常没有考虑火灾范围内未烧毁的残余斑块。此外，烧毁栖息地对驯鹿个体生存的影响尚不清楚。我们使用全球定位系统 (GPS) 定位加拿大艾伯塔省 6 个驯鹿种群的 201 只驯鹿，研究了北方林地驯鹿的烧伤和未燃烧的残留斑块的资源选择。我们还检查了被烧毁的栖息地是否会影响成年雌性驯鹿的生存。驯鹿避免了烧伤和未烧毁的残留斑块。然而，更多地使用被烧毁的栖息地并没有降低成年驯鹿的存活率。总的来说，这些结果提供了证据来支持当前关于燃烧的断言，嵌入的未燃烧的残留斑块不是驯鹿的首选栖息地，并增加了我们对森林火灾对驯鹿生命率影响的理解。我们的调查提供了有关森林火灾在驯鹿生态中的作用的重要信息，并根据恢复战略指南加强了对受干扰栖息地的识别，以有效解决驯鹿数量下降的问题。© 2021 野生动物协会。嵌入的未燃烧残留斑块不是驯鹿的首选栖息地，这增加了我们对森林火灾对驯鹿生命率影响的理解。我们的调查提供了有关森林火灾在驯鹿生态中的作用的重要信息，并根据恢复战略指南加强了对受干扰栖息地的识别，以有效解决驯鹿数量下降的问题。© 2021 野生动物协会。嵌入的未燃烧残留斑块不是驯鹿的首选栖息地，这增加了我们对森林火灾对驯鹿生命率影响的理解。我们的调查提供了有关森林火灾在驯鹿生态中的作用的重要信息，并根据恢复战略指南加强了对受干扰栖息地的识别，以有效解决驯鹿数量下降的问题。© 2021 野生动物协会。