Survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose Alces alces in Sweden
Abstract We need to monitor wildlife populations to determine whether management goals are achieved and to improve future decisions. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the cost and accuracy of monitoring strategies in the context of management. Using a computer simulation of a harvested populati...
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crwiley:10.2981/10-052 2024-09-15T17:36:13+00:00 Survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose Alces alces in Sweden Månsson, Johan Hauser, Cindy E. Andrén, Henrik Possingham, Hugh P. Australian Research Council 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/10-052 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/10-052 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/10-052 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Wildlife Biology volume 17, issue 2, page 176-190 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X journal-article 2011 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2981/10-052 2024-08-13T04:13:19Z Abstract We need to monitor wildlife populations to determine whether management goals are achieved and to improve future decisions. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the cost and accuracy of monitoring strategies in the context of management. Using a computer simulation of a harvested population, we tested the relative performance of three survey methods: aerial survey, pellet‐group counts and hunters' observations, to inform about the management of Swedish moose Alces alces populations. Where more than one survey method was used in a single year, we used Bayes' theorem to combine information and estimate population size. We used two measures of performance: the fraction of time in which the population had an ‘undesirable’ size and inter‐annual variation in harvest. Furthermore, we traded these performance measures against their cost. An annual aerial survey was the most costly monitoring method (27,000€) and maintained the population within the desired range 72% of the time. The least expensive monitoring strategy (hunters' observations; 1,600€) maintained the population within a desired range of 66% of the time. A combination of two relatively inexpensive survey methods (i.e. pellet‐group counts and hunters' observations; at an expense of 10,000€) maintained the population within the desired range in 76% of the simulated years. Thus, a combination of annual pellet‐group counts and hunters' observations performed better than annual aerial surveys, but was considerably less expensive. Furthermore, the annual combination of pellet‐group counts and hunters' observations also performed best regarding the inter‐annual harvest variation. Management actions only maintained the population within the desired range 81% of the time, even when population size was observed without error, mainly due to variable net growth rates. In wildlife management systems, where a variety of monitoring methods are used, the overall performance generally improves with monitoring expenditure, but very few studies explicitly account ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Wiley Online Library Wildlife Biology 17 2 176 190 |
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description |
Abstract We need to monitor wildlife populations to determine whether management goals are achieved and to improve future decisions. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the cost and accuracy of monitoring strategies in the context of management. Using a computer simulation of a harvested population, we tested the relative performance of three survey methods: aerial survey, pellet‐group counts and hunters' observations, to inform about the management of Swedish moose Alces alces populations. Where more than one survey method was used in a single year, we used Bayes' theorem to combine information and estimate population size. We used two measures of performance: the fraction of time in which the population had an ‘undesirable’ size and inter‐annual variation in harvest. Furthermore, we traded these performance measures against their cost. An annual aerial survey was the most costly monitoring method (27,000€) and maintained the population within the desired range 72% of the time. The least expensive monitoring strategy (hunters' observations; 1,600€) maintained the population within a desired range of 66% of the time. A combination of two relatively inexpensive survey methods (i.e. pellet‐group counts and hunters' observations; at an expense of 10,000€) maintained the population within the desired range in 76% of the simulated years. Thus, a combination of annual pellet‐group counts and hunters' observations performed better than annual aerial surveys, but was considerably less expensive. Furthermore, the annual combination of pellet‐group counts and hunters' observations also performed best regarding the inter‐annual harvest variation. Management actions only maintained the population within the desired range 81% of the time, even when population size was observed without error, mainly due to variable net growth rates. In wildlife management systems, where a variety of monitoring methods are used, the overall performance generally improves with monitoring expenditure, but very few studies explicitly account ... |
author2 |
Australian Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Månsson, Johan Hauser, Cindy E. Andrén, Henrik Possingham, Hugh P. |
spellingShingle |
Månsson, Johan Hauser, Cindy E. Andrén, Henrik Possingham, Hugh P. Survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose Alces alces in Sweden |
author_facet |
Månsson, Johan Hauser, Cindy E. Andrén, Henrik Possingham, Hugh P. |
author_sort |
Månsson, Johan |
title |
Survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose Alces alces in Sweden |
title_short |
Survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose Alces alces in Sweden |
title_full |
Survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose Alces alces in Sweden |
title_fullStr |
Survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose Alces alces in Sweden |
title_full_unstemmed |
Survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose Alces alces in Sweden |
title_sort |
survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose alces alces in sweden |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/10-052 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/10-052 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/10-052 |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_source |
Wildlife Biology volume 17, issue 2, page 176-190 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2981/10-052 |
container_title |
Wildlife Biology |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
176 |
op_container_end_page |
190 |
_version_ |
1810487965756948480 |