Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Postdoctoral fellow candidate
Supervisor: Gabriel Pigeon
Hugo Asselin
Start: 2024-06-01
End: 2025-09-11

Project

Habitat selection of Canada lynx in the Quebec boreal forest
This project aims to determine the home range size and habitat selection of the Canada lynx in Quebec. To date, only one study (Noiseux and Doucet, 1987) has estimated lynx home ranges in the province, reporting values significantly smaller (15 km²) than those generally found in the scientific literature (70-200 km²). However, they are closer to some studies conducted in eastern North America (25-55 km² in Maine, Vashon et al., 2008). The objective is to understand whether this small size reflects an exceptional situation (optimal habitat, high hare abundance, absence of trapping) or if it is representative of lynx populations in Quebec. Additionally, no studies have yet explored lynx habitat selection in Quebec’s forests, despite its habitat often being associated with that of the snowshoe hare, its primary prey. A better understanding of home range size will help estimate population density and adjust the survey grid for future monitoring. Furthermore, identifying the lynx's preferred habitats will support the stratification of population monitoring efforts based on habitat quality.

Keywords

Behaviour , habitat selection, wildlife ecology, Boreal forest

Publications

1- Synthèse des connaissances relatives aux impacts des routes sur l’écologie du caribou
St-Laurent, Martin-Hugues, Limoilou-Amélie Renaud, Mathieu Leblond, David Beauchesne
2012 Le Naturaliste canadien

2- Milk composition in a wild mammal: a physiological signature of phenological changes
Renaud, Limoilou-A., F. Rousseu, F. Guillaume Blanchet, Alan A. Cohen, Marco Festa-Bianchet, Fanie Pelletier
2020 Oecologia

3- Spatiotemporal variation in pup abundance and preweaning survival of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada
Renaud, Limoilou-Amélie, Gabriel Pigeon, Joanie Van de Walle, Xavier Bordeleau, Mike O. Hammill, Fanie Pelletier
2023 Canadian Journal of Zoology

4- Phenotypic plasticity in bighorn sheep reproductive phenology: from individual to population
Renaud, Limoilou-Amelie, Gabriel Pigeon, Marco Festa-Bianchet, Fanie Pelletier
2019 Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

5- Testing the match–mismatch hypothesis in bighorn sheep in the context of climate change
Renaud, Limoilou‐Amélie, Marco Festa‐Bianchet, Fanie Pelletier
2021 Global Change Biology

6- Estimating pregnancy rate from blubber progesterone levels of a blindly biopsied beluga population poses methodological, analytical and statistical challenges
Renaud, L -A, X Bordeleau, N M Kellar, G Pigeon, R Michaud, Y Morin, S Lair, A Therien, V Lesage,
2023 Conservation Physiology

7- Causes and short‐term consequences of variation in milk composition in wild sheep
Renaud, Limoilou‐Amelie, F. Guillaume Blanchet, Alan A. Cohen, Fanie Pelletier,
2019 Journal of Animal Ecology