There is an obvious need for further research on the requirements of 

 aquatic species to provide a basis for the selection of suitable planting sites. 



Big Game Project 



The work on deer and moose was considerably reduced during the year 

 owing to a reduction in staff. However, it was possible to continue the annual 

 snow survey in co-operation with the districts, and to begin the analysis of the 

 data from the intensive investigation in Algonquin Park of the effects of snow on 

 the movements of deer carried out in the winter of 1953-54 and 1954-55. The 

 study of the factors affecting productivity of deer in South Canonto Township was 

 continued by means of a browse survey and the collection, during the hunting 

 season, of the vital statistics of the harvest. A study of the ovary of the deer 

 as an index to reproductive rate is being conducted in co-operation with the 

 Department of Zoology, University of Toronto. 



Between the middle of February and the end of March, an experimental 

 study of methods for censusing moose from the air was carried out in the White 

 River and Gogama Forest Districts. The general procedure was to check 

 census figures secured from Beaver aircraft against what were believed to be 

 more accurate counts made from a helicopter. The results of this investigation 

 emphasized the difficulties of censusing moose, especially in the denser forest 

 types. The basis was laid for further experiments and for the improvement of 

 aerial censusing methods now in use across the province. 



Studies of Diseases of Wildlife 

 The general survey of parasites and diseases of wildlife in birds and 

 mammals was continued on a less extensive scale than previously. The survey 

 work so far completed has, as was intended, revealed several profitable areas 

 of research which are being attacked on a more intensive scale. An intensive 

 survey of parasites and diseases of beaver, recently initiated, is an example. 

 In the autumn of 1955, an investigation of a die-off of muskrat in the Walpole 



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