> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://intelligence.wildlandseco.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# A caribou's loyalty to home can become a liability after disturbance
- URL: https://intelligence.wildlandseco.com/2026-10-23-caribou-site-fidelity-disturbance/
- Published: 2026-10-23T13:39:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T13:39:41.000Z
- Description: Tracking 331 boreal caribou links site fidelity with survival—but the direction depends on forest disturbance.
- Author: Benjamin Worlund
- Tags: caribou, site fidelity, forest harvest, disturbance, Wildlife, Land, Climate, Methods, #ecological-intelligence, #brief-2026-10-23, #priority-read, #peer-reviewed, #geo-north-america, #edition-lead

Evidence

Peer-reviewed

Geography

Canadian boreal forest

System

Boreal forest / caribou home ranges / fire and harvest

## WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

GPS records from 331 boreal caribou across 667,000 square kilometres show that fidelity to familiar low-disturbance ranges was associated with lower mortality. Remaining faithful to severely disturbed ranges, especially regenerating harvest areas, was instead associated with increased mortality; recent forest disturbance also prompted range shifts.

## WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

Conservation needs to consider the possibility that past habitat familiarity can become a liability. A caribou range remains mapped as occupied even while its function as a safe home deteriorates; connected refuges matter alongside static protection maps.

## CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

An observational survival and telemetry analysis cannot establish every mortality mechanism or prove that inducing dispersal improves survival.

## SOURCE

Landscape Ecology — caribou telemetry research (2026)  
[View original evidence ↗](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-026-02472-2?ref=intelligence.wildlandseco.com)

From the Morning Brief · 2026-10-23

[Read the full Morning Brief →](https://intelligence.wildlandseco.com/morning-brief-2026-10-23/)