Pierre Drapeau Dr. Pierre Drapeau obtained a Bachelor’s (1979), a Master’s (1982) and
a PhD (1993) in Biological Sciences from the Université de Montréal. The
subject of his thesis was bird community structure of the southern
deciduous forest of Québec. From 1992 to 1994, he worked as a scientific
coordinator for a program on ecosystem management of the Division of
Regional Parks of the Montréal Urban Community. From 1994 to 1996, he did
a postdoctoral training with the Interuniversity Research Group in forest
Ecology (GREFi). He worked with collaborators of the GREfi on the issue of
forest cover change in boreal forest and its effect on biodiversity using
birds and small mammals as indicators. From 1996 to 1998, he coordinated
many projects as an associate professor of the GREFi. He also participated
in the demand for the Industrial Chair on Sustainable Forest Management,
which was granted to both UQAM and UQAT in 1998. Since the creation of the
Chair, Dr. Drapeau became a professor “sous-octroi” for the Department of
Biological Sciences of the Université du Québec à Montréal. He is
interested in wildlife-habitat relationships; effect of landscape
structure on wildlife distribution, and on a more applied level; wildlife
integration into forest ecosystem management.
Research orientation
Wildlife-habitat relationships in forest environment
Habitat characteristics are among the most important ecological factors
responsible for the distribution of animal communities and species
population in forest ecosystems. Our research aims at a better
understanding of wildlife distribution inside different habitat components
of the boreal forest mosaic. We study the relationship between local
characteristics of habitat (stand type, vertical and horizontal vegetation
structure, dead trees volume and density) and distribution of species,
functional species groups and animal communities. Even though small
mammals and insects are part of many projects, we concentrated on forest
birds. Field work is done in naturally disturbed forests (fire and insect
outbreak) as well as in managed forests. Effects of landscape structure on wildlife distribution
This topic is related to the first one. It has become common knowledge
that habitat use by wildlife isn’t based solely on local scale ecological
factors. Composition and configuration of adjacent habitats can influence
animal species abundance and presence (for a given set of habitat
conditions). At a forest mosaic scale, landscape components are taken into
account when evaluating cumulative effects of natural and anthropic
disturbances on wildlife. Historically, boreal landscape has been modified
on large areas by natural disturbance such as fire and insect outbreak.
However, during the last few decades, industrial timber harvest became the
dominant disturbance in many regions of the boreal forest. This study aims
at evaluating how forest management differs from natural disturbance in
terms of wildlife response to composition and configuration changes in the
boreal forest mosaics. Field work is done in black spruce forest as well
as in mixedwood forest. The study is done in collaboration with
researchers of the Sustainable Forest Management Network, which brings
together contributors from numerous Canadian universities.
Wildlife integration in forest ecosystem management
Traditionally, forest management was centered on one preoccupation:
timber supply. Recent developments in terms of sustainable forest
management – where all forest ecosystems components and uses has to be
taken into consideration – lead to a significant change in forest
practices. This research orientation emphasizes both the integration of
knowledge on ecological factors responsible for wildlife distribution when
managing forest areas and the planning of forest operations. The study
aims at developing new approaches and tools that can be applied to managed
forest areas and is based upon the principles and values of the Canadian
Council of Forest Ministers on criteria and indicators for a sustainable
forest management. Specifically, we wish to develop an ecological
evaluation tool of species diversity in managed forest mosaics. This
management tool will combine two knowledge units: a predicting unit of
forest bird distribution in their habitat and a unit defining natural
forest mosaic diversity inside forest areas. The integration of the two
units will give a better picture of forest bird species diversity in
natural forest mosaic, which is considered the mosaic of reference. Email : drapeau.pierre[at]uqam.ca Publications : (see complete list) - Dominique Fauteux, Louis Imbeau, Pierre Drapeau, Marc Mazerolle, 2012. Small mammal responses to coarse woody debris distribution at different spatial scales in managed and unmanaged boreal forests. For. Ecol. Manage. 266:194-205
    - Tyler Rudolph, Pierre Drapeau, 2012. Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou. Rangifer Special Issue 32(2):295-307
- Tyler Rudolph, Pierre Drapeau, Martin-Hugues Saint-Laurent, Louis Imbeau, 2012. STATUS of WOODLAND CARIBOU (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in the JAMES BAY REGION of NORTHERN QUEBEC Report presented to the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune u Québec and the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) 72 p.
- Tyler Rudolph, Pierre Drapeau, Martin-Hugues Saint-Laurent, Louis Imbeau, 2012. Situation du Caribou forestier (Rangifer tarandus caribou) sur le territoire de la Baie-James dans la région du Nord-du-Québec. Rapport présenté au Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune du Québec et au Grand conseil des Cris (Eeyou Istchee) 77 p.
- Caroline Trudeau, Louis Imbeau, Pierre Drapeau, Marc Mazerolle, 2012. Winter site occupancy patterns of the northern flying squirrel in boreal mixedwood forests. Mammalian Biology 77(4):258-263 DOI:10.1016/j.mambio.2012.02.006
- Virginie-Arielle Angers, Yves Bergeron, Pierre Drapeau, 2012. Morphological attributes and snag classification of four North American boreal tree species: Relationships with time since death and wood density. For. Ecol. Manage. 263(1):138-147 DOI:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.09.004
- Virginie-Arielle Angers, Pierre Drapeau, Yves Bergeron, 2012. Mineralization rates and factors influencing snag decay in four North American boreal tree species. Can. J. For. Res. DOI:10.1139/X11-167
- Ugo Ouelet-Lapointe, Pierre Drapeau, Philippe Cadieux, Louis Imbeau, 2012. Woodpecker excavations suitability for and occupancy by cavity users in the boreal mixedwood forest of eastern Canada Ecoscience 19(4):391-397
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