Abstract
Hunting quotas are used to manage populations of game species in order to ensure sustainable exploitation. However, unpredictable climatic events may interact with hunting. We established a population model for European hares (Lepus europaeus) in Lower Austria. We compared the sustainability of voluntary quotas used by hunters—which are derived from hare-specific guidelines—with the actual numbers of hares shot and our recommended quotas for hares, which have been derived from climate and population modeling. We used population modeling based on vital rates and densities to adjust our recommended quotas in order to achieve sustainable harvest. The survival of age classes 1 and 3 had the highest impact on the population growth rate. Population viability analysis showed that a recommended quota with a harvest rate of 10% was sustainable for population densities of 45 hares/km2, and that the threshold for hunting should be raised from 10 hares/km2 so that hare populations with <15 hares/km2 are not hunted. The recommended quota outperformed the voluntary hunting quota, since more hares could be harvested sustainably. Age Class 1 survival was strongly linked with weather: a single year with unfavorable weather conditions (low precipitation) negatively affected population densities. Game species, including the European hare, face increasingly frequent weather extremes due to climate change, so hunting quotas need to be sensitive to frequent population fluctuations.
Highlights
Hunting in Europe has a long tradition
Population viability analysis showed that a recommended quota with a harvest rate of 10% was sustainable for population densities of 45 hares/km2, and that the threshold for hunting should be raised from 10 hares/km2 so that hare populations with
Further assumptions were made in order to model population dynamics in hunting grounds of high hare density in Lower Austria: spotlight counts provide true estimates of population density, as structured habitats are rare in the hunting grounds in spring and autumn [45]; the hunting bag derived from the hunting type “Vorstehtreiben” represents the true age structure of the population [36]; and no significant migration takes place in that area, as was observed by one decade of capturing and marking animals in the four hunting grounds (SSH and KH, unpublished data)
Summary
Today, hunting is driven by a variety of motivations, including consumption (the use of meat, hides, furs and/or trophies), recreation, and the management of game populations [1]. Hunting regulations are used throughout Europe either to protect game species of conservation concern, or to limit the impacts of conflict species that may have damaging effects on other species, ecosystems, or human land use [1,2]. While game densities and recruitment can be assessed by various monitoring schemes [5], information on sustainable harvest rates is often missing. Where species are exposed to variable environmental conditions (e.g., climate, land use), there is a need for models that simulate the fate of populations in response to the variation [6,7,8]
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