Forest fire's influence on yellow hedysarum habitat and its use by grizzly bears in Banff National Park, Alberta

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (10) ◽  
pp. 1513-1520 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hamer
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
National Park ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Fibre Content ◽  
Grizzly Bears ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Prescribed Burns ◽  
Banff National Park ◽  
Root Quality

Hedysarum (Hedysarum spp.) roots are a primary food of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. I studied the effects of recent forest fire on yellow hedysarum (H. sulphurescens) habitat by comparing root density, mass, fibre content, ease of digging, and use by grizzly bears in and adjacent to two prescribed burns that were conducted in Banff National Park, Alberta, in 1986 (Cascade Valley) and 1990 (Panther Valley). Digging was 12-14% easier in burned than in forested habitat. In the Cascade burn, yellow hedysarum roots were significantly more abundant and heavier than in the adjacent forest. This burn was intensively dug by grizzly bears between 1995 and 1997, but no diggings were found in the adjacent forest. In the Panther burn, no significant differences in root quality or mass were found. Bears dug few roots in the burn and did not dig in the adjacent forest. Their use of these two burns demonstrates prescribed fire's potential to create important yellow hedysarum digging habitat for grizzly bears in Banff National Park.

Use of Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) seeds by GPS-collared Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) in Banff National Park, Alberta

2021 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
David Hamer
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Grizzly Bears ◽  
Pinus Albicaulis ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
Gps Collars ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Banff National Park

Seeds of Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) are a major food for Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) in the Yellowstone ecosystem. In Canada, Grizzly Bears are known to eat Whitebark Pine seeds, but little additional information, such as the extent of such use and habitat characteristics of feeding sites, is available. Because Grizzly Bears almost always obtain Whitebark Pine seeds by excavating cones from persistent caching sites (middens) made by Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), it is possible to infer Whitebark Pine feeding when bears are located near excavated middens in Whitebark Pine stands. During 2013–2018, I conducted a retrospective study in Banff National Park using data from 23 Grizzly Bears equipped by Parks Canada staff with global positioning system (GPS) collars. My objectives were to use GPS fixes to determine the percentage of these bears that had been located in close proximity to excavated middens containing Whitebark Pine seeds and to describe the habitat at these excavated middens. I linked 15 bears (65%) to excavated middens and, by inference, consumption of Whitebark Pine seeds. Excavated middens occurred on high-elevation (mean 2103 ± 101 [SD] m), steep (mean 26° ± 8°) slopes facing mostly (96%) north through west (0–270°). Use of Whitebark Pine seeds by at least 65% of the 23 studied Grizzly Bears suggests that conservation of Whitebark Pine in Banff National Park would concomitantly benefit the at-risk population of Grizzly Bears.

scholarly journals Dendroglaciological investigations at Hilda Creek rock glacier, Banff National Park, Canadian Rocky Mountains

2002 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rae Carter ◽  
Sean LeRoy ◽  
Trisalyn Nelson ◽  
Colin P. Laroque ◽  
Dan J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
National Park ◽  
Ground Surface ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Tree Ring Chronology ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Engelmann Spruce ◽  
Banff National Park

Abstract Dendroglaciological techniques are used to provide evidence of historical rock glacier activity at Hilda Creek rock glacier in the Canadian Rockies. The research focuses on the sedimentary apron of the outermost morainal deposit, where excavations in 1997 uncovered six buried tree boles that had been pushed over and entombed by distally spilled debris. Cross-sectional samples cross- dated with a local Engelmann spruce tree-ring chronology were shown to have been killed sometime after 1856. Based on the extent of the excavation, the data indicate that Hilda Creek rock glacier has continued to advance along the present ground surface at a rate exceeding 1 cm/year.

Evidence for a Neoglacial advance of the Boundary Glacier, Banff National Park, Alberta

1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 1753-1755 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Gardner ◽  
Norman K. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
National Park ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Banff National Park

Direct evidence for an early Neoglacial advance in the Canadian Rocky Mountains is presented. Radiocarbon dates from buried peat and tree remains at Boundary Glacier suggest limiting dates for this advance of between 3800 and 4200 years BP. These data from Boundary Glacier are consistent with previously published dates for the onset of the Neoglacial and an early Neoglacial advance.

scholarly journals Genetic connectivity for two bear species at wildlife crossing structures in Banff National Park

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1780) ◽  
pp. 20131705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Sawaya ◽  
Steven T. Kalinowski ◽  
Anthony P. Clevenger
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
National Park ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Black Bears ◽  
Genetic Connectivity ◽  
Genetic Admixture ◽  
Grizzly Bears ◽  
Banff National Park ◽  
Crossing Structures ◽  
Wildlife Crossing Structures

Roads can fragment and isolate wildlife populations, which will eventually decrease genetic diversity within populations. Wildlife crossing structures may counteract these impacts, but most crossings are relatively new, and there is little evidence that they facilitate gene flow. We conducted a three-year research project in Banff National Park, Alberta, to evaluate the effectiveness of wildlife crossings to provide genetic connectivity. Our main objective was to determine how the Trans-Canada Highway and crossing structures along it affect gene flow in grizzly ( Ursus arctos ) and black bears ( Ursus americanus ). We compared genetic data generated from wildlife crossings with data collected from greater bear populations. We detected a genetic discontinuity at the highway in grizzly bears but not in black bears. We assigned grizzly bears that used crossings to populations north and south of the highway, providing evidence of bidirectional gene flow and genetic admixture. Parentage tests showed that 47% of black bears and 27% of grizzly bears that used crossings successfully bred, including multiple males and females of both species. Differentiating between dispersal and gene flow is difficult, but we documented gene flow by showing migration, reproduction and genetic admixture. We conclude that wildlife crossings allow sufficient gene flow to prevent genetic isolation.

Dendrogeomorphological assessment of movement at hilda rock glacier, banff national park, canadian rocky mountains

2004 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor Bachrach ◽  
Kaj Jakobsen ◽  
Jacquie Kinney ◽  
Peter Nishimura ◽  
Alberto Reyes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
National Park ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Banff National Park

scholarly journals Characteristics of the Bergschrund of an Avalanche-Cone Glacier in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

1983 ◽  
Vol 29 (101) ◽  
pp. 55-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Osborn
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
National Park ◽  
Rotational Flow ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Void Space ◽  
Banff National Park ◽  
Shallow Part

AbstractField study of the bergschrund of a small avalanche-cone glacier at the base of Mt Chephren, in Banff National Park, has been carried out as part of a general exploratory study of glacier-head crevasses in the Canadian Rockies. The bergschrund consists of a wide, shallow, partly bedrock-floored gap, underneath which extends a nearly verticalRandkluft, and a small, offset, subsidiary crevasse (or crevasses). The following observations regarding the behavior of the bergschrund and ice adjacent to it are of particular interest: (1) topography of the subglacial bedrock is a control on the location of the main bergschrund and subsidiary crevasses, (2) the main bergschrund and subsidiary crevasse(s) are connected by subglacial gaps between bedrock and ice; the gaps are part of the “bergschrund system”, (3) snow/ice immediately down-glacier of the bergschrund system moves nearly vertically downward in response to rotational flow of the glacier, allowing the bergschrund components to keep the same location and size from year to year, (4) an independent accumulation, flow, and ablation system exists in the snow/ice up-glacier of the bergschrund system. (5) most of the void space in the bergschrund system is maintained through the winter, although the wide, shallow part of the main bergschrund fills up with snow, (6) some mass transfer of snow/ice occurs across the bergschrund system, (7) displacement across the bergschrund due to flow of the main glacier body results in significantly more snow being deposited each winter down-glacier of the bergschrund than up-glacier of it.

Courtship and use of mating areas by grizzly bears in the Front Ranges of Banff National Park, Alberta

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 2695-2697 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hamer ◽  
Stephen Herrero
Keyword(s):  
Food Intake ◽  
National Park ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Grizzly Bears ◽  
Grizzly Bear ◽  
Single Observation ◽  
Banff National Park ◽  
Feeding Habitat ◽  
Male Vigour

In five of six observations of courting grizzly (brown) bears (Ursus arctos), pairs were isolated on a summit or upper-elevation ridge where the male repeatedly blocked the female's descent. These observations substantiate an earlier single observation of this mating behaviour. Similar isolation of mating grizzly bears on summits or ridges has not been reported elsewhere in North America. The habitat of the mating areas is described. The areas were not grizzly bear feeding habitat. Food intake evidently was reduced during the period of isolation. These observations are interpreted as male sequestering of an oestrus female and female testing of male vigour.

Magnetites from a new unidentified tephra source, Banff National Park, Alberta

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1294-1297 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. Brewster ◽  
R. L. Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Titanium Oxide ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Electron Microprobe ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
National Park ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Banff National Park

Electron microprobe examination of glass-encased magnetites present within surficial volcanic ash deposits located in Banff and Jasper National Parks revealed five distinct magnetite populations. Three of the magnetite populations represented the Mazama, St. Helens Y, and Bridge River volcanic units previously identified in this area of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The remaining two magnetite groups are characterized by glass-encased magnetites which have titanium oxide concentrations of 11.59 and 10.33%, values considerably higher than those characteristic of either Mazama, St. Helens Y, or Bridge River volcanic units. The high-titanium magnetites are of unknown provenance, and although the section provided no means for dating these volcanic groups, their distribution within the section suggests that they are older than Bridge River, and one group may predate Mazama.

scholarly journals Characteristics of the Bergschrund of an Avalanche-Cone Glacier in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

1983 ◽  
Vol 29 (101) ◽  
pp. 55-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Osborn
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
National Park ◽  
Rotational Flow ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Void Space ◽  
Banff National Park ◽  
Shallow Part

AbstractField study of the bergschrund of a small avalanche-cone glacier at the base of Mt Chephren, in Banff National Park, has been carried out as part of a general exploratory study of glacier-head crevasses in the Canadian Rockies. The bergschrund consists of a wide, shallow, partly bedrock-floored gap, underneath which extends a nearly vertical Randkluft, and a small, offset, subsidiary crevasse (or crevasses). The following observations regarding the behavior of the bergschrund and ice adjacent to it are of particular interest: (1) topography of the subglacial bedrock is a control on the location of the main bergschrund and subsidiary crevasses, (2) the main bergschrund and subsidiary crevasse(s) are connected by subglacial gaps between bedrock and ice; the gaps are part of the “bergschrund system”, (3) snow/ice immediately down-glacier of the bergschrund system moves nearly vertically downward in response to rotational flow of the glacier, allowing the bergschrund components to keep the same location and size from year to year, (4) an independent accumulation, flow, and ablation system exists in the snow/ice up-glacier of the bergschrund system. (5) most of the void space in the bergschrund system is maintained through the winter, although the wide, shallow part of the main bergschrund fills up with snow, (6) some mass transfer of snow/ice occurs across the bergschrund system, (7) displacement across the bergschrund due to flow of the main glacier body results in significantly more snow being deposited each winter down-glacier of the bergschrund than up-glacier of it.

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