Using remote Camera Traps to Monitor Population Demographics and Community Ecology of Divii (Dall’s sheep): Part of a Community-based Monitoring Program in the Northern Richardson Mountains, NT

The warming Arctic is undergoing rapid ecological change, influencing wildlife populations, mammal
community interactions, and ultimately, the persistence of many species. Collecting the species
monitoring data required for sound stewardship decisions in these remote areas is a major challenge.
Remote wildlife cameras, facilitated through community-based monitoring programs, offer a solution to
provide these critical data. In this thesis, I employed novel methods in remote camera trapping as part
of a community-based monitoring program to investigate Dall’s sheep population demography and
predator-prey dynamics with grizzly bears. In Chapter 2, I explored the ability of remote wildlife cameras
to estimate population demographics (lamb:nursery, ram:nursery, and ram classification proportions),
as compared to currently standardized aerial surveys. These metrics are imperative to assessing
population status and predicting population trends. I found that camera data, accumulated sufficiently
through time and discretized in appropriate biological seasons produced reliable lamb:nursery,
ram:nursery, and ram classification proportions comparable to those obtained from aerial surveys, and
produced similar population status trends between the two methods. To my knowledge, this is the first
study employing remote cameras to estimate productivity (lamb:nursery ratio) and adult sex ratios in a
wild, un-marked sheep population, and marks a significant advancement in wildlife monitoring with
remote cameras. In Chapter 3, I examined the temporal coexistence of Dall’s sheep and grizzly bears, in
a core habitat area, at different times of the year. I used remote camera data to derive a time-to-event
model investigating if and how grizzly bears are tracking nursery groups and ram bands. I also evaluated
the differences and similarities in diel activity patterns between the species to estimate temporal niche
partitioning. I found clear temporal segregation of nursery groups and grizzly bears, and showed that
grizzly bears were more closely tracking nursery groups than ram bands, especially early in the spring
when lambs are most vulnerable to predation. The results indicate that camera traps can yield fineresolution insights into predator-prey relationships. This study provides a new method to monitor Dall’s
sheep population demography, as well as new information on Dall’s sheep and grizzly bear relationships.
Incorporating a remote camera system into wildlife monitoring programs allows for a more
comprehensive examination of demography, while fostering an opportunity to explore further questions
related to community-based monitoring and management.