Raw counts from aerial surveys make no correction for undetected animals and provide no estimate of precision with which to judge the utility of the counts. Sightability modeling and double‐observer (DO) modeling are 2 commonly used approaches to account for detection bias and to estimate precision in aerial surveys. We developed a hybrid DO sightability model (model MH) that uses the strength of each approach to overcome the weakness in the other, for aerial surveys of elk (Cervus elaphus). The hybrid approach uses detection patterns of 2 independent observer pairs in a helicopter and telemetry‐based detections of collared elk groups. Candidate MH models reflected hypotheses about effects of recorded covariates and unmodeled heterogeneity on the separate front‐seat observer pair and back‐seat observer pair detection probabilities. Group size and concealing vegetation cover strongly influenced detection probabilities. The pilot's previous experience participating in aerial surveys influenced detection by the front pair of observers if the elk group was on the pilot's side of the helicopter flight path. In 9 surveys in Mount Rainier National Park, the raw number of elk counted was approximately 80–93% of the abundance estimated by model MH. Uncorrected ratios of bulls per 100 cows generally were low compared to estimates adjusted for detection bias, but ratios of calves per 100 cows were comparable whether based on raw survey counts or adjusted estimates. The hybrid method was an improvement over commonly used alternatives, with improved precision compared to sightability modeling and reduced bias compared to DO modeling. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.

A full understanding of population dynamics of wide‐ranging animals should account for the effects that movement and habitat use have on individual contributions to population growth or decline. Quantifying the per‐capita, habitat‐specific contribution to population growth can clarify the value of different patch types, and help to differentiate population sources from population sinks. Snowshoe hares, Lepus americanus, routinely use various habitat types in the landscapes they inhabit in the contiguous US, where managing forests for high snowshoe hare density is a priority for conservation of Canada lynx, Lynx canadensis. We estimated density and demographic rates via mark–recapture live trapping and radio‐telemetry within four forest stand structure (FSS) types at three study areas within heterogeneous managed forests in western Montana. We found support for known fate survival models with time‐varying individual covariates representing the proportion of locations in each of the FSS types, with survival rates decreasing as use of open young and open mature FSS types increased. The per‐capita contribution to overall population growth increased with use of the dense mature or dense young FSS types and decreased with use of the open young or open mature FSS types, and relatively high levels of immigration appear to be necessary to sustain hares in the open FSS types. Our results support a conceptual model for snowshoe hares in the southern range in which sink habitats (open areas) prevent the buildup of high hare densities. More broadly, we use this system to develop a novel approach to quantify demographic sources and sinks for animals making routine movements through complex fragmented landscapes.

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Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) undergo remarkable cycles and are the primary prey base of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), a carnivore recently listed as threatened in the contiguous United States. Efforts to evaluate hare densities using pellets have traditionally been based on regression equations developed in the Yukon, Canada. In western Montana, we evaluated whether or not local regression equations performed better than the most recent Yukon equation and assessed whether there was concordance between pellet‐based predictions and mark‐recapture density estimates of hares. We developed local Montana regression equations based on 224 data points consisting of mark‐recapture estimates and pellet counts, derived from 38 sites in 2 different areas sampled for 1 to 5 years using 2 different pellet plot shapes. We evaluated concordance between estimated density and predicted density based on pellet counts coupled with regression equations at 436 site‐area‐season combinations different from those used to develop the regression equations. At densities below 0.3 hares/ha, predicted density based on pellets tended to be greater than for mark‐recapture; the difference was usually <1 hare per ha on an absolute scale, but at low densities this translated to proportional differences of 1,000% or greater. At densities above 0.7 hares/ha, pellet regressions tended to predict lower density than mark‐recapture. Because local regression equations did not outperform the Yukon equation, we see little merit in further development of local regression equations unless a study is to be conducted in a formal double‐sampling framework. We recommend that widespread pellet sampling be used to identify areas with very low hare densities; subsequent surveys using mark‐recapture methodology can then focus on higher density areas where density inferences are more reliable.

Management of young forests is not often considered in conservation plans, but young forests provide habitat for some species of conservation concern. Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), critical prey of forest carnivores including the United States federally threatened Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), can be abundant in young montane and subalpine forests with densely spaced saplings and shrub cover. Precommercial thinning (PCT) is a silvicultural technique that reduces sapling and shrub density on young forest stands. We tested for effects of PCT on snowshoe hare abundance for 2 years after experimental treatment at 3 replicate study areas. We also tested the effectiveness of a precommercial thinning with reserves (PCT‐R) prescription, where 20% of the total stand was retained in uncut quarter‐hectare patches. All stands were in montane—subalpine coniferous forests of western Montana, USA, where there is a persistent population of Canada lynx. Posttreatment changes in abundance were strongly negative on stands treated with standard PCT prescriptions (100% of the stand was treated), relative to both controls and stands treated with PCT‐R. Trapping, snowtrack, and winter fecal‐pellet indices indicated that snowshoe hares used the quarter‐ha retention patches more than thinned portions of the PCT‐R‐treated stands in winter. We suggest that managing forest landscapes for high snowshoe hare abundance will require adoption of silvicultural techniques like PCT‐R for stands that will be thinned, in addition to conservation of structurally valuable early and late‐successional forest stands.