1
|
Felton AM, Spitzer R, Raubenheimer D, Hedwall PO, Felton A, Nichols RV, O'Connell BL, Malmsten J, Löfmarck E, Wam HK. Increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates. Ecology 2024; 105:e4377. [PMID: 39046431 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2024] [Accepted: 05/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/25/2024]
Abstract
Animals representing a wide range of taxonomic groups are known to select specific food combinations to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet. The nutrient balancing hypothesis suggests that, when given the opportunity, animals select foods to achieve a particular target nutrient balance, and that balancing occurs between meals and between days. For wild ruminants who inhabit landscapes dominated by human land use, nutritionally imbalanced diets can result from ingesting agricultural crops rich in starch and sugar (nonstructural carbohydrates [NCs]), which can be provided to them by people as supplementary feeds. Here, we test the nutrient balancing hypothesis by assessing potential effects that the ingestion of such crops by Alces alces (moose) may have on forage intake. We predicted that moose compensate for an imbalanced intake of excess NC by selecting tree forage with macro-nutritional content better suited for their rumen microbiome during wintertime. We applied DNA metabarcoding to identify plants in fecal and rumen content from the same moose during winter in Sweden. We found that the concentration of NC-rich crops in feces predicted the presence of Picea abies (Norway spruce) in rumen samples. The finding is consistent with the prediction that moose use tree forage as a nutritionally complementary resource to balance their intake of NC-rich foods, and that they ingested P. abies in particular (normally a forage rarely eaten by moose) because it was the most readily available tree. Our finding sheds new light on the foraging behavior of a model species in herbivore ecology, and on how habitat alterations by humans may change the behavior of wildlife.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Annika M Felton
- Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lomma, Sweden
| | - Robert Spitzer
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
| | - David Raubenheimer
- Charles Perkins Centre and School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Per-Ola Hedwall
- Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lomma, Sweden
| | - Adam Felton
- Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lomma, Sweden
| | - Ruth V Nichols
- Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Brendan L O'Connell
- Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Jonas Malmsten
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Erik Löfmarck
- School of Humanities, Örebro University School of Business, Örebro, Sweden
| | - Hilde K Wam
- Division of Forestry and Forest Resources, NIBIO, Ås, Norway
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Carpio Camargo AJ, Barasona J, Acevedo P, Fierro Y, Gortazar C, Vigal C, Moreno Á, Vicente J. Assessing red deer hunting management in the Iberian Peninsula: the importance of longitudinal studies. PeerJ 2021; 9:e10872. [PMID: 33604198 PMCID: PMC7869667 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 01/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the dynamics of a wildlife population in relation to hunting strategies is essential to achieve sustainable management. We used monitoring data over 25 years from two red deer (Cervus elaphus) populations with different management (with and without supplemental feeding) in South Central Spain to: (i) characterise the density dependence of population dynamics under contrasted management, and (ii) provide the basis for sustainable extraction by considering the theoretical maximum sustainable yield (MSYt) as the reference. The red deer population displayed a typical management reactive culling approach ('saw-tooth-like' curves), with occasional strong annual harvests but not occurring on a regular basis. Interestingly, we found reduced population growth at high densities in both populations, indicating that density-mediated factors determined population growth even when artificial feeding was provided. However, no effects of sex not age class of the extracted population on the population growth rate were determined. The total number of animals hunted was only slightly above those predicted by MSYt (i.e. K 50%) in both populations, despite high densities close to theoretical K, being consistent throughout the study period. The extraction rates (30.3 and 34.0%, for supplemented and unsupplemented populations, respectively) were 13.3% and 10.2% lower compared to the MSYt situation in the unsupplemented and supplemented populations, respectively. Long term population monitoring data provided feasible and suitable baseline values to optimise the sustainable exploitation of red deer populations in the Mediterranean ecosystem under these contrasting management scenarios. Adaptive management, involving objective-driven decision making informed by data on red deer population dynamic, can contribute (i) to maximising the total extraction over the long term while (ii) reducing the ecological impact of high population densities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Antonio José Carpio Camargo
- Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain.,SaBio, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ciudad Real, Spain
| | - Jose Barasona
- VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre, Department of Animal Health, Veterinary School, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pelayo Acevedo
- SaBio, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ciudad Real, Spain
| | | | - Christian Gortazar
- SaBio, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ciudad Real, Spain
| | - Carlos Vigal
- Los Quintos de Mora, Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales, Toledo, Spain
| | - Ángel Moreno
- Los Quintos de Mora, Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales, Toledo, Spain
| | - Joaquin Vicente
- SaBio, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ciudad Real, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
van Beeck Calkoen STS, Mühlbauer L, Andrén H, Apollonio M, Balčiauskas L, Belotti E, Carranza J, Cottam J, Filli F, Gatiso TT, Hetherington D, Karamanlidis AA, Krofel M, Kuehl HS, Linnell JDC, Müller J, Ozolins J, Premier J, Ranc N, Schmidt K, Zlatanova D, Bachmann M, Fonseca C, Lonescu O, Nyman M, Šprem N, Sunde P, Tannik M, Heurich M. Ungulate management in European national parks: Why a more integrated European policy is needed. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2020; 260:110068. [PMID: 32090812 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2019] [Revised: 11/09/2019] [Accepted: 01/02/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
1. Primary objectives of national parks usually include both, the protection of natural processes and species conservation. When these objectives conflict, as occurs because of the cascading effects of large mammals (i.e., ungulates and large carnivores) on lower trophic levels, park managers have to decide upon the appropriate management while considering various local circumstances. 2. To analyse if ungulate management strategies are in accordance with the objectives defined for protected areas, we assessed the current status of ungulate management across European national parks using the naturalness concept and identified the variables that influence the management. 3. We collected data on ungulate management from 209 European national parks in 29 countries by means of a large-scale questionnaire survey. Ungulate management in the parks was compared by creating two naturalness scores. The first score reflects ungulate and large carnivore species compositions, and the second evaluates human intervention on ungulate populations. We then tested whether the two naturalness score categories are influenced by the management objectives, park size, years since establishment, percentage of government-owned land, and human impact on the environment (human influence index) using two generalized additive mixed models. 4. In 67.9% of the national parks, wildlife is regulated by culling (40.2%) or hunting (10.5%) or both (17.2%). Artificial feeding occurred in 81.3% of the national parks and only 28.5% of the national parks had a non-intervention zone covering at least 75% of the area. Furthermore, ungulate management differed greatly among the different countries, likely because of differences in hunting traditions and cultural and political backgrounds. Ungulate management was also influenced by park size, human impact on the landscape, and national park objectives, but after removing these variables from the full model the reduced models only showed a small change in the deviance explained. In areas with higher anthropogenic pressure, wildlife diversity tended to be lower and a higher number of domesticated species tended to be present. Human intervention (culling and artificial feeding) was lower in smaller national parks and when park objectives followed those set by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 5. Our study shows that many European national parks do not fulfil the aims of protected area management as set by IUCN guidelines. In contrast to the USA and Canada, Europe currently has no common ungulate management policy within national parks. This lack of a common policy together with differences in species composition, hunting traditions, and cultural or political context has led to differences in ungulate management among European countries. To fulfil the aims and objectives of national parks and to develop ungulate management strategies further, we highlight the importance of creating a more integrated European ungulate management policy to meet the aims of national parks.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Suzanne T S van Beeck Calkoen
- Department of Visitor Management and National Park Monitoring, Bavarian Forest National Park, Freyunger Straβe 2, 94481, Grafenau, Germany; Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Tennenbacher Straβe 4, 79106, Freiburg, Germany.
| | - Lisa Mühlbauer
- Department of Forestry, Hochschule Weihenstephan-Triesdorf, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 3, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Henrik Andrén
- Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 73091, Riddarhyttan, Sweden
| | - Marco Apollonio
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy
| | | | - Elisa Belotti
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 1176, 16521, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Research and Nature Protection, Šumava National Park and PLA Administration, Sušická 399, 34192, Kašperské Hory, Czech Republic
| | - Juan Carranza
- Ungulate Research Unit, Cátedra de Recursos Cinegéticos y Piscícolas (CRCP), Universidad de Córdoba, 14071, Córdoba, Spain
| | - Jamie Cottam
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Flurin Filli
- Swiss National Park, Chastè Planta-Wildenberg, 7530, Zernez, Switzerland
| | - Tsegaye T Gatiso
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - David Hetherington
- Cairngorms National Park Authority, 14 The Square, Grantown on Spey, PH26 3HG, UK
| | - Alexandros A Karamanlidis
- ARCTUROS, Civil Society for the Protection and Management of Wildlife and the Natural Environment, Aetos, 53075, Florina, Greece; Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Universiteitstunet 3, 1433, Ås, Norway
| | - Miha Krofel
- Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Hjalmar S Kuehl
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - John D C Linnell
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, PO Box 5685 Torgard, 7485, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Jörg Müller
- Department of Conservation and Research, Bavarian Forest National Park, Freyunger Straβe 2, 94481, Grafenau, Germany; Chair of Zoology III, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Janis Ozolins
- Latvian State Forest Research Institute SILAVA, Rīgas iela 111, 2169, Salaspils, Latvia
| | - Joseph Premier
- Department of Visitor Management and National Park Monitoring, Bavarian Forest National Park, Freyunger Straβe 2, 94481, Grafenau, Germany; Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Tennenbacher Straβe 4, 79106, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Nathan Ranc
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA; Department of Biodiversity and Molecular Ecology, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Via Edmund Mach 1, 38010, San Michele all'Adige, Italy
| | - Krzysztof Schmidt
- Mammal Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences, Stoczek 1, 17-230, Białowieża, Poland
| | - Diana Zlatanova
- Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, bul. Tsar Osvoboditel 15, 1164, Sofia, Bulgaria
| | - Mona Bachmann
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Geography, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Humboldt University, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany
| | - Carlos Fonseca
- Department of Biology & CESAM, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Ovidiu Lonescu
- Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Transilvania University, 1 Beethoven Lane, 500123, Brașov, Romania; Forest Research Institute (ICAS), Bulevardul Eroilor Number 128, Voluntari, Ilfov, 077190, Romania
| | - Madeleine Nyman
- Metsähallitus, Parks and Wildlife Finland, Lars Sonckin kaari 14, 02600, Espoo, Finland
| | - Nikica Šprem
- Department of Fisheries, Beekeeping, Game Management and Special Zoology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Peter Sunde
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Kalø, Grenåvej 14, 8410, Rønde, Denmark
| | - Margo Tannik
- The Environmental Board, Narva maantee 7a, 15172, Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Marco Heurich
- Department of Visitor Management and National Park Monitoring, Bavarian Forest National Park, Freyunger Straβe 2, 94481, Grafenau, Germany; Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Tennenbacher Straβe 4, 79106, Freiburg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
DeYoung CA, Fulbright TE, Hewitt DG, Wester DB, Draeger DA, DeYoung CA, Fulbright TE, Hewitt DG, Wester DB, Draeger DA, Gann KR, Folks DJ, Hewitt DG, DeYoung CA, Fulbright TE, Wester DB, Draeger DA, Darr RL, Williamson KM, Garver LW, Hewitt DG, DeYoung CA, Fulbright TE, Gann KR, Wester DB, Draeger DA, Gann WJ, Fulbright TE, Hewitt DG, DeYoung CA, Grahmann ED, Wester DB, Felts BL, Phillips LM, Gage RT, Draeger DA, Cook NS, Donohue RN, DeYoung CA, Hewitt DG, Fulbright TE, Wester DB, Draeger DA, DeYoung CA, Hewitt DG, Fulbright TE, Wester DB, Draeger DA. Linking White‐Tailed Deer Density, Nutrition, and Vegetation in a Stochastic Environment. WILDLIFE MONOGRAPHS 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/wmon.1040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
|