Death from anthropogenic causes is partially compensatory in recovering wolf populations

Murray, Dennis L.; Smith, Douglas W.; Bangs, Edward E.; Mack, Curt M.; Oakleaf, John K.; Fontaine, Joe; Boyd, Diane K.; Jiminez, Michael D.; Niemeyer, Carter C.; Meier, Thomas J.; Stahler, Daniel R.; Holyan, James; Asher, Valpha J.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.06.018

Cited by 97 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…the same question by assessing the human-carnivore interaction as a predator-prey relationship (Cooley et al, 2009;Creel and Rotella, 2010;Sparkman et al, 2011;Robinson et al, 2014); yet, only one of these studies has addressed the problem of sampling variance in competing mortality risks (Murray et al, 2010). By adopting a similar approach to that of Murray et al (2010) in cougars, a carnivore with a completely different social structure (i.e.…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kleinbaum and Klein, 2005) are appropriate for estimating survival trajectories when individual fates are known, which is often the case in radio-telemetry studies of wildlife (e.g. Murray et al, 2010). Various extensions to the non-parametric Kaplan-Meier (Kaplan and Meier, 1958) estimator, such as the semi-parametric Cox Proportional Hazard model (CPH; Cox, 1972), further allow identification of the measurable (observed) covariates associated with patterns in survival trajectories.…”

Section: Drivers Of Variation In Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, one could iteratively fit thousands of regressions to parameter estimates from each boot-strapped sample to more rigorously measure uncertainty of tests regarding the additive or compensatory hypotheses (see Murray et al, 2010). Alternatively, one could fit a complicated hierarchical model to the data in order to separate sampling covariance from process covariance (e.g.…”

Section: Testing Compensatory and Additive Mortality Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We then collapsed causes of mortality into harvest and non-harvest, or anthropogenic and natural categories, and estimated cause-specific mortality probabilities on an annual basis using the same methods as described above. Next, we used linear regression ('lm' function available from R library 'stats'; Chambers, 1992) to examine the relationship between cause-specific annual mortalities for either (i) human harvest versus all other causes of death, or (ii) overall anthropogenic mortality versus natural mortality after applying an arcsin-square-root transformation to each set of mortality estimates (Murray et al, 2010). We applied our analyses to each location separately, but had to exclude sex from the analysis because of limited sample size (see results) within years.…”

Section: Testing Compensatory and Additive Mortality Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, the spectrum of additive and compensatory mortality hypotheses per se have become the subject of active carnivore management research (e.g. Sparkman et al, 2011;Creel and Rotella, 2010;Murray et al, 2010;Robinson et al, 2014), but could benefit from insight on a number of issues being addressed in other taxa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is anthropogenic cougar mortality compensated by changes in natural mortality in Utah? Insight from long-term studies

Wolfe

Koons

Stoner

et al. 2015

Biological Conservation

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a b s t r a c tUnderstanding the interplay between exploitation and natural mortality is essential to guiding sustainable conservation of wildlife. Exploitation of carnivores by humans has long been thought to result in compensatory reductions of natural mortality among survivors. If rates of human exploitation exceed natural mortality, however, such actions will 'add' to overall mortality and could imperil the sustainability of such actions. We applied competing risk analyses to P16 years of data for heavily harvested and semi-protected cougar populations in Utah to test the additive and compensatory mortality hypotheses, while accounting for parameter uncertainty. We additionally tested for presence of the two primary mechanisms by which compensatory mortality can arise: density dependence and individual heterogeneity in mortality risks. Despite an opportunity for compensation in the heavily harvested population, we could not reject the additive mortality hypothesis when uncertainty in parameter estimates was accounted for. In the semi-protected population, however, we detected evidence for partial compensation of increased anthropogenic exploitation via reductions in natural mortality. As may be common in carnivore studies, we found that ignoring uncertainty in estimates of cause-specific mortality systematically led to biased conclusions regarding additive and compensatory mortality hypotheses. Efforts should be made to address and minimize this uncertainty in demographic studies of carnivores in order to avoid flawed management recommendations. To attain the necessary sample sizes for making sound inference, this may require that the spatial extent of management units be extended for territorial species with large home-range requirements.

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Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Drivers Of Variation In Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Testing Compensatory and Additive Mortality Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Testing Compensatory and Additive Mortality Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Is anthropogenic cougar mortality compensated by changes in natural mortality in Utah? Insight from long-term studies

Wolfe

Koons

Stoner

et al. 2015

Biological Conservation

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Spatially varying density dependence drives a shifting mosaic of survival in a recovering apex predator (Canis lupus)

O’Neil

Bump

Beyer

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Understanding landscape patterns in mortality risk is crucial for promoting recovery of threatened and endangered species. Humans affect mortality risk in large carnivores such as wolves (Canis lupus), but spatiotemporally varying density dependence can significantly influence the landscape of survival. This potentially occurs when density varies spatially and risk is unevenly distributed. We quantified spatiotemporal sources of variation in survival rates of gray wolves (C. lupus) during a 21‐year period of population recovery in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. We focused on mapping risk across time using Cox Proportional Hazards (CPH) models with time‐dependent covariates, thus exploring a shifting mosaic of survival. Extended CPH models and time‐dependent covariates revealed influences of seasonality, density dependence and experience, as well as individual‐level factors and landscape predictors of risk. We used results to predict the shifting landscape of risk at the beginning, middle, and end of the wolf recovery time series. Survival rates varied spatially and declined over time. Long‐term change was density‐dependent, with landscape predictors such as agricultural land cover and edge densities contributing negatively to survival. Survival also varied seasonally and depended on individual experience, sex, and resident versus transient status. The shifting landscape of survival suggested that increasing density contributed to greater potential for human conflict and wolf mortality risk. Long‐term spatial variation in key population vital rates is largely unquantified in many threatened, endangered, and recovering species. Variation in risk may indicate potential for source‐sink population dynamics, especially where individuals preemptively occupy suitable territories, which forces new individuals into riskier habitat types as density increases. We encourage managers to explore relationships between adult survival and localized changes in population density. Density‐dependent risk maps can identify increasing conflict areas or potential habitat sinks which may persist due to high recruitment in adjacent habitats.

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Differences in boldness between Eurasian and American wolves (Canis lupus) might be based on adaptive mechanisms

Tebelmann,

Ganslosser

2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Boldness – defined as the propensity of individuals to take risks – is a key research area within animal behavioural studies, significantly affecting adaptive strategies, habitat selection, foraging behaviour, reproduction, dispersal, and other crucial survival behaviours. Despite the extensive study of personality traits like extraversion and curiosity across various animal species, data on wolves (Canis lupus), particularly on the subspecies level, remains sparse. This study aims to bridge this gap by examining boldness and its associated personality traits in different wolf subspecies (Canis lupus lupus, Canis lupus arctos, Canis lupus lycaon) (n = 23), and wolf‐dog hybrids (n = 10), utilising novel object interaction tests and validated questionnaires previously applied to wild canids. Our results show significant differences in boldness as well as in related personality traits between taxa, both between pure wolves and wolf hybrids, with significantly higher boldness of North American subspecies. The inter‐subspecies differences were more significant than the differences between groups or at the individual level, suggesting that subspecies ecology and historical selection pressure in subspecies history might have caused long‐lasting adaptations in Canis lupus ssp.

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Death from anthropogenic causes is partially compensatory in recovering wolf populations

Cited by 97 publications

References 20 publications

Is anthropogenic cougar mortality compensated by changes in natural mortality in Utah? Insight from long-term studies

Is anthropogenic cougar mortality compensated by changes in natural mortality in Utah? Insight from long-term studies

Spatially varying density dependence drives a shifting mosaic of survival in a recovering apex predator (Canis lupus)

Differences in boldness between Eurasian and American wolves (Canis lupus) might be based on adaptive mechanisms

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