Université de Sherbrooke
M.Sc. candidate
Supervisor: Fanie Pelletier
Marco Festa Bianchet
Start: 2016-08-31
End: 2019-01-01

Project

Effects of habitat quality on horn growth in bighorn sheep
I will explore the links between habitat quality and horn growth of bighorn rams. We recently showed that horn size of rams has declined in the last 40 years in Alberta. Part of this decline is due to trophy hunting but some could be explained by changes in habitat quality. Thus, we want to combine GIS maps of the Canadian Rockies with data on harvested rams to evaluate whether the decline in horn size is associated with declines in range quality.