Spatial variation in mink and muskrat interactions in Canada

Erb, John D.; Boyce, Mark S.; Stenseth, Nils Chr.

doi:10.1034/j.1600-0706.2001.930302.x

Cited by 29 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Mink were more likely to be observed at farms visited by otters, indicating that otter impact on mink was insignificant in pond culture areas (see also Jędrzejewska et al 2001), but mink was also believed to decrease at some farms visited by otters. Also, the present results confirm that mink may be an agent of muskrat decline (Erb et al 2001;Brzeziński et al 2009). The observations and accompanying complaints about great white egret, a species absent from Poland for over a century, but recently rapidly expanding (Tomiałojć and Stawarczyk 2003), may portend an emerging conflict.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Human–wildlife conflicts at pond fisheries in eastern Poland: perceptions and management of wildlife damage

Kloskowski¹

2010

Eur J Wildl Res

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Wildlife occurring at aquacultural sites can ignite conflicts over resources managed by humans. A telephone survey concerning nuisance wildlife occurrence, perceptions of inflicted damage, and use of preventive measures at pond fisheries was conducted in 2003-2004 in eastern Poland. Significant economic losses to wildlife were reported by 80% of the respondents, with 41% claiming severe losses to more than one species. Serious damage was attributed primarily to otters Lutra lutra (56% of farms), cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo (26%), grey herons Ardea cinerea (23%), and beavers Castor fiber (21%). Two alien species, mink Neovison vison and muskrat Ondatra zibethicus, were widespread, but rarely blamed for causing substantial harm. Lethal controls were the most popular means of damage reduction and were more likely to be deployed at fish farms reporting significant losses. Cormorants, shot at half of the farms visited, were the most widely persecuted. Both otters and beavers were culled, notwithstanding their protection status and compensation payments available for beaver damage to ponds. The survey indicated poor cooperation between conservation authorities and fish farmers in managing wildlife concerns. Monitoring conflict interactions, i.e., wildlife occurrence and alleged damage at fish farms vs damage management processes, is an essential step toward conflict alleviation. Considering the wide range of species interacting with fisheries, adoption of more flexible policies to address the conflicts than a singlespecies conservation approach is recommended.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Human–wildlife conflicts at pond fisheries in eastern Poland: perceptions and management of wildlife damage

Kloskowski¹

2010

Eur J Wildl Res

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“…Cycles in muskrat harvests have been reported since 1927 (Elton and Nicholson 1942;Innis 1927) and harvests of both muskrats and minks oscillate approximately every 8-9 years throughout most of Canada's boreal region (Erb et al 2001;Viljugrein et al 2001). Although linking the abundance of muskrats and minks to the well-known snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus)-lynx cycle is tempting (via the alternative prey hypothesis -Lack 1954), such a link is unlikely (Elton and Nicholson 1942).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fur returns from western Canada HBC posts show the strongest interactions between minks and muskrats and periodic oscillations in mink harvests lag 2-3 years behind oscillations of muskrat harvests. As a result, Erb et al (2001) argued that specialization on muskrats by minks is highest in the west, particularly the northwest, due to low prey diversity near highlatitude HBC posts. Erb et al (2001) ascribed the dependencies in central Canada to intermediate trophic interactions, with mink harvest numbers lagging behind muskrat numbers by 1 year.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, Erb et al (2001) argued that specialization on muskrats by minks is highest in the west, particularly the northwest, due to low prey diversity near highlatitude HBC posts. Erb et al (2001) ascribed the dependencies in central Canada to intermediate trophic interactions, with mink harvest numbers lagging behind muskrat numbers by 1 year. Specialization by minks on muskrats appears to be weakest at eastern posts, where no lag between the 2 harvest time series exists.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on fur-return data from the HBC, fluctuations of mink and muskrat harvest returns are best grouped into 3 geographical zones (Yao et al 2000) with different numerical dependencies between the 2 species (Erb et al 2001). Fur returns from western Canada HBC posts show the strongest interactions between minks and muskrats and periodic oscillations in mink harvests lag 2-3 years behind oscillations of muskrat harvests.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Mink Prey Diversity Correlates with Mink–muskrat Dynamics

Shier

Boyce

2009

Journal of Mammalogy

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Historic fur returns from Hudson's Bay Company posts in northwestern Canada reveal periodic oscillations in mink (Neovision vision) harvests lagging 2-3 years behind oscillations in muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) harvests, as would be expected in a predator-prey interaction. Toward central and eastern Canada, the strength of the interaction between time series of harvests of minks and muskrats weakens and the lag between fluctuations of these 2 species decreases to 1 and 0 years, respectively. We tested the hypothesis that this gradient in minkmuskrat interactions is the result of decreased dependency of minks on muskrats in areas where minks have access to more alternate prey. We tested 2 predictions: species richness of mink prey is greatest in eastern Canada and decreases to the west, and percent muskrats in the diets of minks decreases as species richness of mink prey increases. Contrary to the 1st prediction, we found that species richness of mink prey in Canada is highest in southcentral Canada. Consistent with the 2nd prediction, percent occurrence of muskrats in the diets of minks was much lower in areas with greater species richness of mink prey. Local species richness of mink prey therefore could influence the degree of specialization of minks on muskrats, but may be insufficient to explain the geographic pattern in the lag between muskrat and mink harvests in eastern Canada.

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Ecological forecasts reveal limitations of common model selection methods: predicting changes in beaver colony densities

Johnson‐Bice

Ferguson

Erb

et al. 2020

Ecological Applications

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Over the past two decades, there have been numerous calls to make ecology a more predictive science through direct empirical assessments of ecological models and predictions. While the widespread use of model selection using information criteria has pushed ecology toward placing a higher emphasis on prediction, few attempts have been made to validate the ability of information criteria to correctly identify the most parsimonious model with the greatest predictive accuracy. Here, we used an ecological forecasting framework to test the ability of information criteria to accurately predict the relative contribution of density dependence and density-independent factors (forage availability, harvest, weather, wolf [Canis lupus] density) on inter-annual fluctuations in beaver (Castor canadensis) colony densities. We modeled changes in colony densities using a discrete-time Gompertz model, and assessed the performance of four models using information criteria values: density-independent models with (1) and without (2) environmental covariates; and density-dependent models with (3) and without (4) environmental covariates. We then evaluated the forecasting accuracy of each model by withholding the final one-third of observations from each population and compared observed vs. predicted densities. Information criteria and our forecasting accuracy metrics both provided strong evidence of compensatory density dependence in the annual dynamics of beaver colony densities. However, despite strong within-sample performance by the most complex model (density-dependent with covariates) as determined using information criteria, hindcasts of colony densities revealed that the much simpler density-dependent model without covariates performed nearly as well predicting out-of-sample colony densities. The hindcast results indicated that the complex model over-fit our data, suggesting that parameters identified by information criteria as important predictor variables are only marginally valuable for predicting landscapescale beaver colony dynamics. Our study demonstrates the importance of evaluating ecological models and predictions with long-term data and revealed how a known limitation of information criteria (over-fitting of complex models) can affect our interpretation of ecological dynamics. While incorporating knowledge of the factors that influence animal population dynamics can improve population forecasts, we suggest that comparing forecast performance metrics can likewise improve our knowledge of the factors driving population dynamics.

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Spatial variation in mink and muskrat interactions in Canada

Cited by 29 publications

References 49 publications

Human–wildlife conflicts at pond fisheries in eastern Poland: perceptions and management of wildlife damage

Human–wildlife conflicts at pond fisheries in eastern Poland: perceptions and management of wildlife damage

Mink Prey Diversity Correlates with Mink–muskrat Dynamics

Ecological forecasts reveal limitations of common model selection methods: predicting changes in beaver colony densities

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