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SITE NAME
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Karrak Lake, Queen Maud Gulf Bird Sanctuary, Nunavut, Canada
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| Contact
details (phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (306) 975-5509/975-4089(fax) // dana.kellett@ec.gc.ca // Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, 115 Perimeter Rd., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 0X4, Canada |
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PROJECT DETAILS
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Project name:
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Population ecology of waterfowl and arctic foxes at Karrak Lake, Nunavut, Canada |
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey:
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Team
size:
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25.05 |
15.08 |
15 |
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WEATHER CONDITIONS
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| Season
phenology: |
average |
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Weather conditions: |
| Timing of spring thaw was average; high winds, low temperatures, and more precipitation on average experienced in June resulted in abandonment of nests by geese (Lesser Snow and Ross's) and lower than average breeding success. |
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
31 May |
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| Date of ice-break
on rivers: |
5 June |
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| Date of final loss
of snow: |
15 June |
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BIOTIC CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
average |
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Breeding conditions:
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Arctic foxes were relatively abundant in 2001 with 7.5 foxes seen per 100 km traveled in 2001 compared to 3.3 foxes seen per 100 km traveled in 2000. Arctic fox reproduction appeared to be moderate in 2001 with 3 reproducing dens per 100 km2 in 2001 compared to 6 reproducing dens per 100 km2 in 2000. There was higher density of reproducing dens in the geese colony than there was outside of the colony: 8 dens per 100 sq. km compared to 4 dens per 100 sq. km in 2000 and 4 dens per 100 sq. km compared to 2 dens per 100 sq. km in 2001. The majority of foods taken by arctic foxes at Karrak Lake were eggs (87%) whereas lemmings, goose-carcasess, and unknown foods made up only a small portion of the foods taken (13%). Arctic foxes took, on average, 15 eggs per hour during the nesting season in 2000 and 14 eggs per hour during the nesting season in 2001. Most of these eggs (93%) were cached for later use whereas most lemmings (86%) were brought back to den sites (only 14% of the lemmings were cached).
Mean nest initiation date for geese in 2001 was average. Nest success for geese was 66 percent in 2001, 12 percent lower than the ten-year average, likely due to poor weather conditions during incubation, but King Eider nest success was about average. Due to the large size and synchronous nesting of the colony depredation by Arctic Foxes, gulls and skuas on geese was minimal, and this factor does not appear to fluctuate much annually. |
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Lemmings and voles were relatively abundant in 2001 with 2.2 small-mammals per 100 trap-nights in 2001 compared to 3.5 small-mammals per 100 trap-nights in 2000 (the small-mammal index in 2000 was the highest recorded at Karrak Lake since the start of monitoring small-mammal abundance 1994).
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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