Investigating population dynamics in ungulates: Do hunting statistics make up a good index of population abundance?

Imperio, Simona; Ferrante, M.; Grignetti, A.; Santini, Giacomo; Focardi, Stefano

doi:10.2981/08-051

Cited by 77 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Population density estimates are obtained from the data base of bag records described by Imperio et al (2010). Data are available for the period 1878 to 1986 (records are missing in nine out of 109 years, mostly during the two World Wars, thereafter WWI and WWII) and are shown in Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Density estimates ( N t ) were computed as the number of specimens killed during hunting drives, per km 2 of driven area. The quality of collected data and their validity for the assessment of population density are discussed by Imperio et al (2010), which showed no relevant bias due to hunting.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is well known that hunting data cannot be used as a proxy for population density without any previous assessment of their validity (Ranta et al 2008). However, the time series of Castelporziano hunting data on ungulates show a good agreement with count data and are not affected by hunter's habitat selection (Imperio et al 2010). Even so, observation error can be still present, thus we Kalman‐filtered the original time series using a linear state‐space approach (Dennis et al 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

“…In this paper, we investigated the population dynamics of four ungulate species inhabiting a Mediterranean environment by the analysis of long‐term time series, obtained from bag records collected in the Castelporziano Preserve, near Rome, Italy (Imperio et al 2010). The peculiarity of wildlife management in the Preserve and the detailed hunting records allowed us to reconstruct the densities of all ungulate species for a period of 109 years (1878–1986), as well as the hunting effort.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Population dynamics in a guild of four Mediterranean ungulates: density‐dependence, environmental effects and inter‐specific interactions

Imperio

Focardi

Santini

et al. 2011

Oikos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Population fluctuations in ungulates are driven by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Available information, however, mainly refers to arctic, temperate and African ungulate populations, while the dynamics of Mediterranean species, exposed to a milder climate, is known to a much lesser extent. Here we studied the population dynamics of four wild ungulate species in the Castelporziano Preserve near Rome, Italy, as obtained from detailed bag counts from hunting drives during the period 1878–1986: the Italian roe deer Capreolus capreolus italicus, the Maremma wild boar Sus scrofa majori (both endemic to Italy), the native red deer Cervus elaphus, and the alien fallow deer Dama dama. We also considered the effects of the presence of another alien ungulate, the nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus. This ungulate community experienced an accidental ‘removal experiment’ when, during World War II, red deer and nilgai were exterminated. This event and the length of the time series allowed us to test two main hypotheses: 1) that the complexity level of the ungulate community affects the strength of intra‐ and inter‐specific competition; and 2) that in Mediterranean environments intra‐ and inter‐specific interactions are stronger than climate forcing. Statistical methods ranged from state‐space‐modelling, GLM analysis and structural equation models. The results indicated that direct intra‐specific density dependence played a relevant role for all species, and was stronger after the removal. A complex pattern of species interactions was however revealed; fallow deer had a negative effect on roe deer population, while roe deer had an apparent positive effect on red deer and wild boar, possibly mediated by environmental factors. Nilgai appeared to facilitate all deer species. The results of the analysis also confirmed that at present climate appears to play a minor role with respect to density dependence; however, the increasing aridity of the Mediterranean area could change this picture in coming decades.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 93%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Population dynamics in a guild of four Mediterranean ungulates: density‐dependence, environmental effects and inter‐specific interactions

Imperio

Focardi

Santini

et al. 2011

Oikos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In Italy, hunting statistics were widely explored by Boitani et al (1995), and subsequently, they were used to investigate long time-trend series of wild boar (Imperio et al 2010). weather, food availability and population density), and (4) variability due to non-hunted populations in urban and protected areas.…”

Section: Hunting Bag Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Guidance on estimation of wild boar population abundance and density: methods, challenges, possibilities

Keuling¹,

Sange²,

Acevedo³

et al. 2018

EFS3

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this guidance is to assess the accuracy and reliability of the methods for estimation of density (i.e. population size per area unit) and relative abundance (i.e. relative representation of a species in a particular ecosystem, a kind of proxy of the density) of wild boar and to provide indications for calculating reliable and accurate estimates of those parameters using comparable methods. For this purpose eighteen methods were reviewed and evaluated. Since counting wild boar on a large regional scale is unfeasible, estimations of density and abundance are reliable only at local scale in specific habitats. Three methods (camera trapping, drive counts, and distance sampling with thermography) were recommended to estimate wild boar density on a local scale, and guidelines for their implementation was provided. In particular camera trapping is a method that can be conducted everywhere, irrespective of the habitat specificities and at any time to generate comparable data. Wild boar demographic data obtained by different methods cannot directly be combined by simple equations but spatial models are needed to determine abundance and predicted densities that are reliable at larger scales. On a large spatial scale and to describe long-term trends, high quality hunting data statistics (collected on a fine spatial scale) have the highest availability and potential comparability potential across Europe, and these can be used in predictive spatial modelling of wild boar relative abundance and density. There is need for compiling and validating wild boar abundance data at different spatial scales: hunting bag data alone are not sufficient because a calibration with more accurate density estimation methods conducted at local scale is required. The latter are also required for evaluating predictive models for large areas and converting predicted relative abundances into densities.

show abstract

Using animal–vehicle collision data for wildlife population monitoring

Lind Hansen,

Sunde,

Skovbjerg Balsby

et al. 2024

Ecosphere

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Globally, collisions with vehicles result in millions of animal deaths every year, representing a major issue for wildlife conservation and management. Consequently, and importantly, much research has focused on understanding patterns of animal–vehicle collisions with the aim to reduce roadkill of wildlife. However, existing data on animal–vehicle collisions might also represent a novel opportunity to monitor wildlife populations. For this purpose, we compared data of >1.2 million hunter‐shot deer and >40,000 deer–vehicle collisions collected over 11 years in Denmark. We show that deer–vehicle collision data can be useful for population monitoring of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), fallow deer (Dama dama), and red deer (Cervus elaphus). Roe deer was the most numerous species, representing 90% of observations based both on deer–vehicle collisions and on hunting bag statistics. After accounting for factors related to road infrastructure (road length and density, traffic volume), local (municipality) deer–vehicle collisions were highly correlated with hunting bag data for roe and red deer (Pearson's r > 0.7) but not fallow deer, likely due to biases in hunting bags. Moreover, we used deer–vehicle collision data to map spatiotemporal changes in the distribution of fallow and red deer, and demographic changes in all species. Combined, our results suggest that animal–vehicle collision data can be a useful tool to supplement existing methods for monitoring wildlife populations, which will be relevant for the management of these populations. We point to important shortcomings in both animal–vehicle collision and hunting bag data and provide recommendations on how to improve their accuracy in the future, to be applicable for a broader range of species.

show abstract

Investigating population dynamics in ungulates: Do hunting statistics make up a good index of population abundance?

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 77 publications

References 23 publications

Population dynamics in a guild of four Mediterranean ungulates: density‐dependence, environmental effects and inter‐specific interactions

Population dynamics in a guild of four Mediterranean ungulates: density‐dependence, environmental effects and inter‐specific interactions

Guidance on estimation of wild boar population abundance and density: methods, challenges, possibilities

Using animal–vehicle collision data for wildlife population monitoring

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About