The tragedy of the commons: unsustainable population structure of Iberian red deer in hunting estates

Torres-Porras, Jerónimo; Carranza, Juan; Pérez‐González, Javier; Martín, Concha Mateos; Alarcos, Susana

doi:10.1007/s10344-013-0793-9

Cited by 45 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Classic theory predicts that the sex experiencing a higher rate of extrinsic mortality evolves faster aging and reduces its longevity 71 . Regardless of an insufficient number of generations under current conditions, our results may seem paradoxical with this prediction, since males of LC populations experience very high near-random age-specific mortality rates due to hunting, thus resembling a case of strong extrinsic mortality for males below their prime age 33 . The maintenance of such conditions in exploited animal populations has led to advanced age at first reproduction and earlier senescence 49,[72][73][74] .…”

Section: Random Effectscontrasting

confidence: 60%

“…(2020) 10:9234 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65578-w www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Managers may provide supplementary food to these red deer populations, which might introduce confounding effects if supplementation was associated with one of the social environments. However, feed supplementation is occasional, only provided in summer during drought periods and usually in both types of populations 32,33 . In any case, if environmental conditions differed between populations in our study, either due to natural food resources or management practises, we would expect body condition to respond in LC and HC populations in a similar fashion in both males and females, which was not the case.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social environment modulates investment in sex trait versus lifespan: red deer produce bigger antlers when facing more rivalry

Carranza

Pérez‐Barbería

Martín

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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theory predicts that the plastic expression of sex-traits should be modulated not only by their production costs but also by the benefits derived from the presence of rivals and mates, yet there is a paucity of evidence for an adaptive response of sex-trait expression to social environment. We studied antler size, a costly and plastic sex trait, and tooth wear, a trait related to food intake and longevity, in over 4,000 male Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) from 56 wild populations characterized by two contrasting management practices that affect male age structure and adult sex-ratio. As a consequence, these populations exhibit high and low levels of male-male competition for mating opportunities. We hypothesized that males under conditions of low intra-sexual competition would develop smaller antlers, after controlling for body size and age, than males under conditions of high intra-sexual competition, thus reducing energy demands (i.e. reducing intake and food comminution), and as a consequence, leading to less tooth wear and a concomitant longer potential lifespan. our results supported these predictions. to reject possible uncontrolled factors that may have occurred in the wild populations, we carried out an experimental design on red deer in captivity, placing males in separate plots with females or with rival males during the period of antler growth. Males living with rivals grew larger antlers than males living in a female environment, which corroborates the results found in the wild populations. As far as we know, these results show, for the first time, the modulation of a sexual trait and its costs on longevity conditional upon the level of intra-sexual competition. The expression of many sex-traits is plastic and responds to individual-and population-specific reaction norms 1-6. There is evidence for many species that environmental factors (e.g. resource availability) affect body condition and the expression of sex-traits, such as signals and weapons 1,7-11. Condition-dependence theory relies on the relative value of energy costs, because costs of producing traits are expected to be lower for individuals in good condition as compared to those in poor condition 12-15. But also, in a sexual selection context, rivals and potential mates in the social environment strongly influence the benefits associated with trait expression, so that trait investment should respond in a trade-off fashion depending on the costs but also on the benefits of trait development. One example of this in the inter-sexual selection context is that male zebra finches invest more in coloring their beaks when there are females to receive the signal 16. For intra-sexual competition, the challenge hypothesis 2 applied this idea to testosterone production relative to the probability of winning contests, which may be related

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Section: Random Effectscontrasting

confidence: 60%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social environment modulates investment in sex trait versus lifespan: red deer produce bigger antlers when facing more rivalry

Carranza

Pérez‐Barbería

Martín

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…where Hp = estimated host population size, Hb = number of animals hunted in a given year, and P hunt = estimated proportion of the population hunted annually, based on published data for wild boar [43][44][45][46], and deer [47][48][49]. The proportion of infected individuals by species and the ratio of TB-infected non-bovine hosts to cattle were estimated in a Bayesian framework from the posterior distribution of the number of infected animals.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of the Animal Tuberculosis Multi-Host Community Offers Insights for Control

et al. 2020

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Animal tuberculosis (TB) is a multi-host zoonotic disease whose prevalence in cattle herds in Europe has been increasing, despite a huge investment in eradication. The composition of the host community is a fundamental driver of pathogen transmission, and yet this has not been formally quantified for animal TB in Europe. We quantified multi-host communities of animal TB, using stochastic models to estimate the number of infected domestic and wild hosts in three regions: officially TB-free Central–Western Europe, and two largely TB-endemic regions, the Iberian Peninsula and Britain and Ireland. We show that the estimated number of infected animals in the three regions was 290,059–1,605,612 and the numbers of infected non-bovine domestic and wild hosts always exceeded those of infected cattle, with ratios ranging from 3.3 (1.3–19.6):1 in Britain and Ireland to 84.3 (20.5–864):1 in the Iberian Peninsula. Our results illustrate for the first time the extent to which animal TB systems in some regions of Europe are dominated by non-bovine domestic and wild species. These findings highlight the need to adapt current strategies for effective future control of the disease.

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“…Wildlife cropping can also provide extra food subsidies from selective elimination of certain classes (e.g. females, juveniles) and handicapped animals to regulate ungulate populations (Torres-Porras et al, 2014). Hunting remains are thus likely exerting a noticeable impact on ecosystems (Wilmers et al, 2003;Selva & Fortuna, 2007;Mateo-Tom as & Olea, 2010;Oro et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From regional to global patterns in vertebrate scavenger communities subsidized by big game hunting

Mateo‐Tomás

Olea

Moleón

et al. 2015

Diversity and Distributions

123

138

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Aim Anthropogenic food subsidies are increasingly present in ecosystems, but their impacts remain poorly understood. Big game hunting is a growing activity that annually subsidizes ecosystems with tonnes of carrion world-wide. By feeding on carrion, scavengers support key ecosystem functions and services, becoming key vectors to transfer the impacts of human-mediated food subsidies across ecosystems. We characterize and compare the structure of vertebrate communities feeding on these subsidies, namely big game hunting remains, at a global scale.Location Global.Methods We collected data from a countrywide field study in Spain and broadened it up to nine regions in four continents by reviewing scientific literature. We analysed the structure of the scavenger communities considering species composition, richness and scavenging frequency.Results Seventy-nine vertebrate species, 19% globally threatened, scavenged food subsidies from big game hunting world-wide. Scavenger richness (2.0-11.0% of vertebrates/region) positively correlated with total vertebrate richness. Although scavenger communities at hunting remains varied among regions, we describe a general structural pattern. Birds and mammals dominate consumption, with birds scavenging twice more frequently than mammals -but more mammal species scavenge compared to birds. Generalists dominate scavenging globally, especially where the presence of obligate scavengers (vultures) and apex predators (e.g. wolves, hyenas, eagles) is low.Main conclusions Anthropogenic food from hunting subsidizes many vertebrate species from different trophic levels and conservation status and thus is expected to affect from populations to ecosystems. Obligate scavengers and apex predators seem to play a key role structuring the scavenger community through top-down mechanisms. The general structure of scavenger communities we describe here provides a benchmark for comparisons of subsidized and non-subsidized communities. More data on the spatio-temporal availability of anthropogenic food subsidies and their consumption by scavengers world-wide are needed to efficiently preserve biodiversity, and the associated ecological functions and services, in increasingly subsidized ecosystems.

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The tragedy of the commons: unsustainable population structure of Iberian red deer in hunting estates

Cited by 45 publications

References 56 publications

Social environment modulates investment in sex trait versus lifespan: red deer produce bigger antlers when facing more rivalry

Social environment modulates investment in sex trait versus lifespan: red deer produce bigger antlers when facing more rivalry

Quantification of the Animal Tuberculosis Multi-Host Community Offers Insights for Control

From regional to global patterns in vertebrate scavenger communities subsidized by big game hunting

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