An Integrated Population Model for Harvest Management of Atlantic Brant
ABSTRACT Atlantic brant ( Branta bernicla hrota ) are important game birds in the Atlantic Flyway and several long‐term monitoring data sets could assist with harvest management, including a count‐based survey and demographic data. Considering their relative strengths and weaknesses, integrated anal...
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crwiley:10.1002/jwmg.22037 2024-06-23T07:51:50+00:00 An Integrated Population Model for Harvest Management of Atlantic Brant Roberts, Anthony J. Dooley, Joshua L. Ross, Beth E. Nichols, Theodore C. Leafloor, James O. Dufour, Kevin W. 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22037 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jwmg.22037 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/jwmg.22037 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor The Journal of Wildlife Management volume 85, issue 5, page 897-908 ISSN 0022-541X 1937-2817 journal-article 2021 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22037 2024-05-31T08:13:14Z ABSTRACT Atlantic brant ( Branta bernicla hrota ) are important game birds in the Atlantic Flyway and several long‐term monitoring data sets could assist with harvest management, including a count‐based survey and demographic data. Considering their relative strengths and weaknesses, integrated analysis to these data would likely improve harvest management, but tools for integration have not yet been developed. Managers currently use an aerial count survey on the wintering grounds, the mid‐winter survey, to set harvest regulations. We developed an integrated population model (IPM) for Atlantic brant that uses multiple data sources to simultaneously estimate population abundance, survival, and productivity. The IPM abundance estimates for data from 1975–2018 were less variable than annual mid‐winter survey counts or Lincoln estimates, presumably reflecting better accounting for observer error and incorporation of demographic estimates by the IPM. Posterior estimates of adult survival were high (0.77–0.87), and harvest rates of adults and juveniles were positively correlated with more liberal hunting regulations (i.e., hunting days and the daily bag limit). Productivity was variable, with the percent of juveniles in the winter population ranging from 1% to >40%. We found no evidence for environmental relationships with productivity. Using IPM‐predicted population abundances rather than mid‐winter survey counts alone would have meant fewer annual changes to hunting regulations since 2004. Use of the IPM could improve harvest management for Atlantic brant by providing the ability to predict abundance before annual hunting regulations are set, and by providing more stable hunting regulations, with fewer annual changes. © 2021 The Wildlife Society. Article in Journal/Newspaper Branta bernicla Wiley Online Library The Journal of Wildlife Management 85 5 897 908 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT Atlantic brant ( Branta bernicla hrota ) are important game birds in the Atlantic Flyway and several long‐term monitoring data sets could assist with harvest management, including a count‐based survey and demographic data. Considering their relative strengths and weaknesses, integrated analysis to these data would likely improve harvest management, but tools for integration have not yet been developed. Managers currently use an aerial count survey on the wintering grounds, the mid‐winter survey, to set harvest regulations. We developed an integrated population model (IPM) for Atlantic brant that uses multiple data sources to simultaneously estimate population abundance, survival, and productivity. The IPM abundance estimates for data from 1975–2018 were less variable than annual mid‐winter survey counts or Lincoln estimates, presumably reflecting better accounting for observer error and incorporation of demographic estimates by the IPM. Posterior estimates of adult survival were high (0.77–0.87), and harvest rates of adults and juveniles were positively correlated with more liberal hunting regulations (i.e., hunting days and the daily bag limit). Productivity was variable, with the percent of juveniles in the winter population ranging from 1% to >40%. We found no evidence for environmental relationships with productivity. Using IPM‐predicted population abundances rather than mid‐winter survey counts alone would have meant fewer annual changes to hunting regulations since 2004. Use of the IPM could improve harvest management for Atlantic brant by providing the ability to predict abundance before annual hunting regulations are set, and by providing more stable hunting regulations, with fewer annual changes. © 2021 The Wildlife Society. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Roberts, Anthony J. Dooley, Joshua L. Ross, Beth E. Nichols, Theodore C. Leafloor, James O. Dufour, Kevin W. |
spellingShingle |
Roberts, Anthony J. Dooley, Joshua L. Ross, Beth E. Nichols, Theodore C. Leafloor, James O. Dufour, Kevin W. An Integrated Population Model for Harvest Management of Atlantic Brant |
author_facet |
Roberts, Anthony J. Dooley, Joshua L. Ross, Beth E. Nichols, Theodore C. Leafloor, James O. Dufour, Kevin W. |
author_sort |
Roberts, Anthony J. |
title |
An Integrated Population Model for Harvest Management of Atlantic Brant |
title_short |
An Integrated Population Model for Harvest Management of Atlantic Brant |
title_full |
An Integrated Population Model for Harvest Management of Atlantic Brant |
title_fullStr |
An Integrated Population Model for Harvest Management of Atlantic Brant |
title_full_unstemmed |
An Integrated Population Model for Harvest Management of Atlantic Brant |
title_sort |
integrated population model for harvest management of atlantic brant |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22037 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jwmg.22037 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/jwmg.22037 |
genre |
Branta bernicla |
genre_facet |
Branta bernicla |
op_source |
The Journal of Wildlife Management volume 85, issue 5, page 897-908 ISSN 0022-541X 1937-2817 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22037 |
container_title |
The Journal of Wildlife Management |
container_volume |
85 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
897 |
op_container_end_page |
908 |
_version_ |
1802642976552255488 |