We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
USING KNOWLEDGE OF RECRUITMENT TO MANAGE HARVESTING.
- Authors
Haydon, Daniel T.; Fryxell, John
- Abstract
Numerous field studies show that changing environmental conditions and ecological interactions within complex food webs can influence the dynamics of populations. Nonetheless, the potential benefit of understanding and predicting this variation to manage harvesting rarely has been considered. Here we develop analytic approximations to explore the relationship between the proportion of variation in annual recruitment that can be predicted and the expected annual harvest yield arising from fixed escapement harvesting methods. Simulations suggest that these approximations are reliable, provided that the unpredicted variance in recruitment is not large and the escapement threshold is set below carrying capacity. As an example of how these approximations may be applied, we use demographic and environmental data from a trapped population of martens (Martes americana) in Ontario to evaluate the effect on harvest yield of improvements in prediction of recruitment based on fluctuations in its prey base. We conclude that realistic improvements in forecasting of recruitment lead to only a modest increase in the average annual harvest and increase the variation in realized harvests, but could substantially reduce the risk of over-harvesting when escapement levels are set low.
- Subjects
HARVESTING; VEGETATION management; AGRICULTURAL productivity; CROP yields &; the environment; POPULATION biology; DEMOGRAPHIC change
- Publication
Ecology, 2004, Vol 85, Issue 1, p78
- ISSN
0012-9658
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1890/02-8001