Where do Feral Horses in the Southern Alberta Foothills Roam?
Figure 1: Harem in cutblock
Tisa Bevan -- M.Sc Student
Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Science
University of Alberta
Contact Informtation: [email protected]
Welcome to my website on habitat preferences of feral horses in the Alberta Foothills. This website has been composed for a university course and contains preliminary results that have not been peer-reviewed. The results may not reflect the views of the researchers involved.
Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Science
University of Alberta
Contact Informtation: [email protected]
Welcome to my website on habitat preferences of feral horses in the Alberta Foothills. This website has been composed for a university course and contains preliminary results that have not been peer-reviewed. The results may not reflect the views of the researchers involved.
Summary
The objective of this study is to determine the habitats that feral horses (Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4) occupy in the Southern Alberta Foothills. The geographical range of current horse populations in this study area is experiencing high use from multiple sources. The study area includes uses such as all-terrain recreational vehicle (ATV) activity, logging, cattle grazing, and providing habitat for wildlife and feral horses. This diversity of uses is likely to affect the condition of different vegetation types (grasslands, shrublands, conifer and mixedwood forests, and cutblocks). Finding ways to quantify these effects is important for land managers to develop strategies to maintain the health (ie. productivity and diversity) of these ecosystems and the continuation of different uses. For example, if there is a rangeland (ie. grassland) that is demonstrating overuse (overgrazing), and there is limited evidence of other users besides the horses, then it might be necessary to implement a population management program in this area.
To determine where feral horses are spending their time, global positioning system (GPS) collars have been attached to mares in different free-ranging harems. These collars record the location of each horse every hour so that we can determine which habitats horses are in at the time. Combined with resource maps of the area we will develop a resource selection function to determine what habitats horses are likely to be in, and identify what landscape features (roads, trails, etc.) may influence these choices. Preliminary results indicate that horses prefer grassland and cutblock areas, while avoiding coniferous forests.
To determine where feral horses are spending their time, global positioning system (GPS) collars have been attached to mares in different free-ranging harems. These collars record the location of each horse every hour so that we can determine which habitats horses are in at the time. Combined with resource maps of the area we will develop a resource selection function to determine what habitats horses are likely to be in, and identify what landscape features (roads, trails, etc.) may influence these choices. Preliminary results indicate that horses prefer grassland and cutblock areas, while avoiding coniferous forests.
Figure 2: Stallion and mare in cutblock
Figure 3: Mare in grassland
Figure 4: Harem in mixed wood forest
