Mapping out a future for ungulate migrations

Abstract

Wildebeest, 1.3 million strong, plod across the Serengeti plains, chasing the recent rains.Hundreds of thousands of caribou crisscross the Arctic, their hooves pounding across the vast tundra. A mule deer pauses along her two-month march to nibble the green grass of spring before rejoining a well-worn trail through the sagebrush. The migrations of ungulates (hooved mammals) are some of the most impressive phenomena in the natural world. And while journeys such as the wildebeest migration have been witnessed by millions of people, animal tracking studies are now discovering new ungulate migrations that surprise scientists and the public alike. Ungulate migration is a fundamental ecological process that promotes abundant herds, whose effects cascade up and down terrestrial food webs. Migratory ungulates provide the prey base that maintains large carnivore and scavenger populations and underpins terrestrial biodiversity. When ungulates move in large aggregations, their hooves, feces and urine create conditions that facilitate unique biotic communities. The migrations of ungulates have also sustained humans for thousands of years, forming tight cultural links among indigenous people and local communities. The cultural traditions and identity of the Inuit and Tlicho, for example, are based on livelihoods that depend on migratory caribou (1). Nevertheless, ungulate migrations are disappearing at an alarming rate (2). Efforts by wildlife managers and conservationists are thwarted by a singular challenge: Most ungulate migrations have never been mapped in sufficient detail to guide effective conservation. Without a strategic and collaborative effort, many of the world´s great migrations will continue to be truncated, severed, or lost in the coming decades. Fortunately, a combination of animal tracking datasets, historical records, and local and indigenous knowledge can provide the information necessary to conserve ungulate migration. Our collective efforts to study the world´s ungulate migrations highlight the urgent need for a global atlas of known migrations, designed to support conservation action and policy at local, national, and international levels.