Drought, Predation and the Decline of the Migratory Clark's Fork Elk herd

Arthur Middleton of the Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Wyoming, will give a talk titled, "Drought, Predation, and the Decline of Migratory Clark's Fork Elk" TONIGHT, Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 6:30, Teton County Library.

About the Presentation: Migration probably evolved in ungulates, including elk, as a winning strategy to benefit from variation in vegetation green-up and large carnivore predation across large landscapes. Concern over declines in ungulate migration typically focuses on habitat loss, with less attention given to potential changes in the classic benefits of migration. In this public presentation, Arthur Middleton – a Ph.D. student at the University of Wyoming and a researcher on the Absaroka Elk Ecology Project – will discuss a partially-migratory elk herd in northwest Wyoming whose migratory portion has been declining in spite of relatively intact seasonal habitats and migration routes. He will first compare long-term population trends of migratory versus nonmigratory Clarks Fork elk, then he will describe emerging findings from three years of intensive research on the annual body fat and reproductive cycling of these elk. Because these comparisons call into question the expected benefits of migration for these elk, he will next discuss long-term patterns in summer vegetation conditions, climate, and carnivore densities that might help answer why. Finally, he will describe some upcoming analyses that are planned for the Absaroka Elk Project, a collaboration of university, state, and federal biologists designed to address pressing wildlife ecology and management questions in the region.