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| Caro, T.M.; Young, C.R.; Cauldwell, A.E.; Brown, D.D.E. | |
| Animal breeding systems and big game hunting: Models and application | |
| 2009 Biological Conservation (142): 909-929 | |
We apply an age- and stage-structured model incorporating varying harem sizes, paternal care and infanticide to examine the effect of hunting on sustainability of populations. Compared to standard carnivore and herbivore models, these models produce different outcomes for sustainable offtake when either adults, or adult males are harvested. Larger harem size increases sustainable offtake whereas paternal care and infanticide lowers it. Where males are monogamous, populations are vulnerable to male offtake, regardless of paternal care. Surprisingly, an incidental take of 10% of other age-sex-classes has very little effect on these findings. Indiscriminate (subsistence) hunting of all age-sex classes has a dramatic effect on certain populations. Applying these behavior-sensitive models to tourist hunting in the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania, we find that across the Reserve hunting quotas were generally set at sustainable rates except for leopard (_Panthera pardus_). In certain hunting blocks within the Reserve, however, quotas for eland (_Taurotragus oryx_), hartebeest (_Alcelaphus buselaphus_), lion (_Panthera leo_), reedbuck (_Redunca arundinum_), sable antelope (_Hippotragus niger_), warthog (_Phacochoerus aethiopicus_) and waterbuck (_Kobus ellipsiprymnus_) are set at unsustainably high rates. Moreover, particular blocks are consistently awarded high quotas. Behaviorally sensitive models refine predictions for population viability, specify data required to make predictions robust, and demonstrate the necessity of incorporating behavioral ecological knowledge in conservation and management. |
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