Harvesting as a potential selective pressure on behavioural traits

Abstract

1. Human activities are a major evolutionary force affecting wild populations. Selective pressure from harvest has mainly been documented for life-history and morphological traits. The probability for an individual to be harvested, however, may also depend on its behaviour. 2. We report empirical studies that examined whether harvesting can exert selective pressures on behavioural traits. 3. We show that harvest-induced selection on behavioural traits is not specific to a particular harvest method and can occur throughout the animal kingdom. 4. Synthesis and applications. Managers need to recognize that artificial selection caused by harvesting is possible. More empirical studies integrating physiological, behavioural, and lifehistory traits should be carried out to test specific predictions of the potential for harvestinduced selection on heritable traits using models developed in fisheries. To limit selective pressure on behaviour imposed by harvesting, managers could reduce harvest quotas or vary harvest regulations over time and/or space to reduce the strength of selection on a particular phenotype.

Incorporating non-equilibrium dynamics into demographic history inferences of a migratory marine species

“…As our estimate of recent gene flow in SRW does not appear to be asymmetric, the change in migration rate could also reflect hunting's impact on behavioural processes across populations. Hunting appears to effect the timing of migratory events in sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerca) (Quinn et al 2007), as well as characteristics such as boldness (Leclerc et al 2017) that could influence exploratory behaviour (although this is controversial; Mueller et al 2014;Rollins et al 2015). Disruption to breeding behaviour or aggregations could also have precipitate increased dispersal during or subsequent to the whaling era.…”

Hunting regulation favors slow life histories in a large carnivore

“…This acceleration in the pace of life has been documented in several harvested populations, which suggests that harvest should lead to r-selection 2 , 13 , 16 , 18 . Moreover, even in the absence of any harvest preferences, individuals can differ in vulnerability to harvest, depending on behavior, harvest methods, and regulations 16 , 19 – 21 . Indeed, in several sport hunting systems, the killing of females with dependent offspring is either illegal, discouraged, or avoided by hunters to protect the female segment of the population or because of the potentially lowered survival of orphaned offspring that can cause ethical, as well as demographic, issues 22 – 25 .…”

Evolutionary effects of fishing gear on foraging behavior and life‐history traits

“…Because fishing gears are designed to exploit the natural behaviors of fish, the concern that fishing may cause evolution of behavioral traits has been receiving increasing attention (Arlinghaus et al, 2017;Biro & Stamps, 2008;Cooke, Suski, Ostrand, Wahl, & Philipp, 2007;Diaz Pauli & Sih, 2017;Leclerc, Zedrosser, & Pelletier, 2017;Uusi-Heikkilä, 2008;Wilson, Clark, Coleman, & Dearstyne, 1994). A key concept in behavioral studies is boldness, defined by placing an individual's level of risk acceptance during behaviors such as foraging, exploration, and defense along a boldness-shyness continuum (Budaev, 1997;Sih, Bell, Johnson, & Ziemba, 2004;Wilson, 1998;Wilson et al, 1994).…”