Abstract
Harvest indices are commonly used as proxies to direct population monitoring but sources of variability, including harvest effort and factors influencing detectability of animals to hunters, are rarely considered. Harvest indices may further be influenced by selective harvesting with regulatory differences in harvest effort across sex and age‐classes. To evaluate how sex and age‐specific harvests vary as proxies of abundance under selective harvesting, we assessed harvest–abundance relationships (H–A) for moose Alces alces bulls, cows and calves across 58 wildlife management units (WMUs) in Ontario, Canada. Selective harvesting in our study area resulted in more regulated harvest of bulls and cows than calves. We therefore predicted more proportional H–A for calves than bulls and cows, with variability in H–A influenced by harvest effort, in addition to weather and landscape features that may influence moose detectability to hunters. In contrast to our expectation, we found that H–A was more proportional for adult moose than calves. Additionally, we found harvest was proportionally highest for bulls, despite greater harvest effort for calves. A positive effect of harvest effort on harvest as moose abundance increased helped to explain proportional H–A for adult moose. However, the effect of harvest effort on harvest was curvilinear at high effort levels, indicating that harvest will underestimate abundance when effort by hunters is high. Additionally, we found evidence of lower harvest in relation to abundance in WMUs with higher levels of recent disturbance from wildfire burns and clear‐cuts. We demonstrate that the relationship between harvest and abundance can vary across selectively harvested sex and age‐classes, while variability in H–A can be attributed to spatial variability in harvest effort and the landscape. We caution that sources of variability in H–A, both across and among sex and age‐classes, should not be ignored when using harvest indices, especially for selectively harvested species.
Highlights
BioOne Complete is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses
We demonstrate that the relationship between harvest and abundance can vary across selectively harvested sex and age-classes, while variability in harvest–abundance relationships (H–A) can be attributed to spatial variability in harvest effort and the landscape
There was greater proportionally found between harvest and abundance for adult moose, we identified that harvest is likely to underestimate abundance in wildlife management units (WMUs) with highest harvest effort
Summary
BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Complete website, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/terms-of-use. To evaluate how sex and age-specific harvests vary as proxies of abundance under selective harvesting, we assessed harvest–abundance relationships (H–A) for moose Alces alces bulls, cows and calves across 58 wildlife management units (WMUs) in Ontario, Canada. We caution that sources of variability in H–A, both across and among sex and age-classes, should not be ignored when using harvest indices, especially for selectively harvested species
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