Aligning population models with data: Adaptive management for big game harvests

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorNagy-Reis, Mariana
dc.contributor.authorReimer, Jody R.
dc.contributor.authorLewis, Mark A.
dc.contributor.authorJensen, William F.
dc.contributor.authorBoyce, Mark S.
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-15T19:22:07Z
dc.date.available2025-04-15T19:22:07Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractModels of population dynamics are a central piece for harvest management, allowing managers to evaluate alternative strategies and to identify uncertainty. Here we present a density-dependent population dynamics model that can be used in conjunction with adaptive management to optimize big game management, designed to use data commonly collected by state and provincial wildlife agencies. We review a case study for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in North Dakota, USA, where we evaluate how harvest composition and monitoring frequency affect the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). Data were obtained from winter aerial surveys and hunter questionnaires over six years between 2009 and 2019. Harvest composition moderately skewed towards antlered individuals (37.5% antlerless deer and 62.5% antlered deer, i.e., antlerless:antlered harvest ratio = 0.6) resulted in a harvest rate of 0.2, which translates to a long-term harvest that is more than double that obtained if the harvest composition matched the population composition. However, given environmental uncertainty, we recommend that managers adopt a harvest strategy that is at least 10–15% lower than the maximum sustainable yield to buffer against environmental variability. Despite the fact that contrasting monitoring schemes resulted in similar optimal harvest rates, we illustrated how adopting an adaptive harvest strategy (i.e., where harvests change with population size) affords lower risks of overexploitation than a static strategy in which populations are assessed only occasionally. An adaptive harvest strategy features resilience allowing harvested populations to return to equilibrium even after substantial perturbation events.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.description.sponsorshipOur study was funded by North Dakota Game and Fish Department, United States, Federal Aid Project W-67-R, and the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Restoration funds, United States, CFDA #15.611.
dc.identifier.citationNagy-Reis, M., Reimer, J. R., Lewis, M. A., Jensen, W. F., & Boyce, M. S. (2021). Aligning population models with data: Adaptive management for big game harvests. Global Ecology and Conservation, 26, e01501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01501
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01501
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/21930
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherGlobal Ecology and Conservation
dc.rightsCC BY-NC-ND 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectadaptive management
dc.subjectaerial survey
dc.subjectharvesting
dc.subjectodocoileus virginianus
dc.subjectpopulation dynamics
dc.subjectresilience
dc.subjectwhite-tailed deer
dc.titleAligning population models with data: Adaptive management for big game harvests
dc.typeArticle

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
nagyReis_mariana_GlobEcolConserv_2021.pdf
Size:
1.05 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Faculty Publications (BioMed Central & Faculty of Science)
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.