OH DEER!

Round

4th Period Deer

Population

1 10

2 10

3 12

4 8

5 14

6 7

7 18

8 26

• After round 6, there was a massive migration to join another herd of deer

• Graph your data making note of that event.

OH DEER!

Round

6th Period Deer

Population

1 10

2 16

3 13

4 15

5 8

• What happened after round 4 to affect the population?

QUESTIONS• What were the 3 main factors we addressed in our

activity? Label each as biotic or abiotic.• What other factors might affect the deer? Label these as

biotic or abiotic.• Why doesn’t the deer population just keep growing and

growing in times of good weather and where they are protected?

• What does the term “carrying capacity” mean? Look up in your book if you don’t know.

• What happens to the carrying capacity when the available resources change?

REINDEER OF ST. PAUL ISLAND

GUIDELINES FOR GRAPHING1. Use as much of the graph paper as you can.2. Draw your axes on your graph paper leaving room for your labels.3. Decide what will go on each axis & label them – include units in parentheses!4. Choose the appropriate type of graph – ex. bar, line graph5. Add a Title – it should define what you are showing on both axes. 6. For your X-axis: Choose the appropriate interval or how much each square is

worth. Each square must be worth the same amount.1. Determine your maximum and minimum values. Subtract (maximum –

minimum)2. Divide by the number of squares available, and round up. This is the smallest

interval you should use. 3. Choose a number that is easy to count by (it can be larger than your answer

above).

7. Do the same for your Y-axis. It does NOT need to be the same interval as your X-axis.1. Label your axis with these numbers.

SO WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

• The large population quickly overgrazed and trampled the island’s food supply of lichens (the multicolored, flaky growths you see on trees and rocks).

• Lichens grow slowly in the cold climate of the Pribilofs, so the reindeer’s food supply could not recover from overconsumption.

• Short of food and unable to leave the island, the reindeer starved. By 1950, only eight reindeer were left on St. Paul Island.

• The reindeer population did not die out, however. It began to grow again after 1950 and has now reached a size of about 800.

THEN WHAT?• The reindeer population did not die out, however.

• It began to grow again after 1950 and reached a size of about 800.

• I emailed the Island’s Tribal leadership and received this response:

• In 2007, there were 600 reindeer.

• They did not do anything (feeding the reindeer, etc) to help them recover.

• Hunting of the reindeer is allowed now.

• There are no introduced predators.

• There are still completely wild and feed only on the available lichen.

• There are about 470 people on the island and have been since the 1700s.

• David Swanson

HTTP://DOCS.LIB.NOAA.GOV/NOAA_DOCUMENTS/NOS/ORR/TM_NOS_ORR/TM_NOS-ORR_17/HTML/PRIBILOF_HTML/PAGES/RESOURCES_LAND_MAMMALS.HTM

• James Judge and Dr. Warren Evermann of the Bureau of Fisheries, with the cooperation of the Bureau of Education and the Revenue Cutter Service, introduced twenty-five reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) on St. Paul Island and fifteen on St. George Island in 1911 (Hanna 2008, 196).

• By 1921, there were 250 reindeer on St. Paul Island and 160 reindeer on St. George Island (Preble and McAtee 1923, 115), and by 1938, there were about 2,000 reindeer on St. Paul Island (Thompson 1954).

• Poaching, harsh winter weather and starvation due to overgrazing of the tundra caused the St. Paul herd to become severely depleted in the 1940s (Scheffer 1951, 356–362; Olson 1951, Thompson 1954).

• In 1950, only eight reindeer remained at St. Paul Island.

• Then in 1951, thirty-one reindeer were brought to the island from Nunivak Island (Thompson 1954). The herd died out at St. George by 1953.

• Several attempts to restock St. George failed until 1980 when at least ten reindeer imported from Umnak Island led to several fawns in 1981.

• In 2007, several hundred reindeer roam St. Paul and St. George Islands. The reindeer are hunted by permit. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service, with federal, state, and local assistance, has developed a plan for reindeer management on St. Paul Island (USDA undated, ca. 2001).