influence du climat et de la prédation sur l'utilisation de l'habitat et la ...

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al. ( 1999). The experience gained by practicing conservationists must be repo11ed and made
wide1y available for the field to progress (Sutherland 2006).
During our seven-year study of porcupines, we used most handling techniques described
in the literature and developed new ones to increase efficiency of field work, to mark
individuals durably, and to fUl1her minimize animal discomfort. Building on Hale and Fuller
(1996), we also developed methods to find, mark, and radiocollar juveniles. The objectives of
this paper are 1) to detail known methods to search for, capture, and mark porcupines,
currently poorly described in the literature, 2) to present new techniques (including
techniques suitable for working with juveniles and in the winter season), 3) to evaluate the
success rate of aIl the methods we used, and 4) to suggest possible ways to fUlther increase
efficiency of existing methods.
2.3. Material and methods
Studyarea
We worked in Parc National du Bic (68°46'W, 48°21 'N) on the south shore of the St.
Lawrence River estuary, Québec, Canada. The study area is characterized by a rugged
topography and belongs to the eastern bals am fir-yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.)
ecological domain, in the mid-Appalachian hills ecological region (Grondin et al. 1999).
Open fields, left in fallow or used for growing barley and oats, occupy the center of the study
area (see Morin et al. 2005 for details and a map).
Sem'ching
Porcupines foraged in fields, especially in May after snow had melted but tree leaves
were not yet available. We patrolled fields at night, using portable spotlights (Model Q-Beam
Max Million, The Brinkmann Corporation, Dallas, TX) to locate porcupines. We also used
spotlights to search for porcupines in trees. We monitored searching effort (person-hours
spent patrolling) and recorded the number of porcupines captured and observed each ni ght.
We used snow tracking in winter to find occupied dens. When porcupine densities were
low, chances to find tracks were reduced, so we fitted animais with radio collars (see below)
at the end of summer, in order to locate them easily in winter.