The strong and the hungry: bias in capture methods for mountain hares Lepus timidus
Abstract Estimating density, age and sex structure of wild populations is a key objective in wildlife management. Live trapping is frequently used to collect data on populations of small and medium‐sized mammals. Ideally, sampling mammal populations by live capturing of individuals provides a random...
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crwiley:10.2981/10-133 2023-12-03T10:25:34+01:00 The strong and the hungry: bias in capture methods for mountain hares Lepus timidus Bisi, Francesco Newey, Scott Nodari, Mosè Wauters, Lucas A. Harrison, Annabel Thirgood, Simon Martinoli, Adriano 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/10-133 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/10-133 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/10-133 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Wildlife Biology volume 17, issue 3, page 311-316 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2011 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2981/10-133 2023-11-09T14:24:01Z Abstract Estimating density, age and sex structure of wild populations is a key objective in wildlife management. Live trapping is frequently used to collect data on populations of small and medium‐sized mammals. Ideally, sampling mammal populations by live capturing of individuals provides a random and representative sample of the target population. Trapping data may, however, be biased. We used live‐capture data from mountain hares Lepus timidus in Scotland to assess sampling bias between two different capture methods. We captured hares using baited cage traps and long nets on five study areas in the Scottish Highlands. After controlling for the effects of body size, individuals caught in traps were lighter than individuals caught using long nets, suggesting that the body condition of hares differed between the capture methods. This tendency may reflect an increased risk‐taking of individuals in poorer body condition and less aversion to entering traps in order to benefit from eating bait. Overall, we caught more adult hares than juveniles and more female hares than males. Our results show that estimates of density and population structure of mountain hares using live‐capture data could be affected by the capture method used. We suggest that live‐capture studies employ more than one capture method and test for heterogeneity in capture probability to minimise potential bias and achieve reliable estimates of population parameters. Article in Journal/Newspaper Lepus timidus Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Wildlife Biology 17 3 311 316 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
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Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Bisi, Francesco Newey, Scott Nodari, Mosè Wauters, Lucas A. Harrison, Annabel Thirgood, Simon Martinoli, Adriano The strong and the hungry: bias in capture methods for mountain hares Lepus timidus |
topic_facet |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Estimating density, age and sex structure of wild populations is a key objective in wildlife management. Live trapping is frequently used to collect data on populations of small and medium‐sized mammals. Ideally, sampling mammal populations by live capturing of individuals provides a random and representative sample of the target population. Trapping data may, however, be biased. We used live‐capture data from mountain hares Lepus timidus in Scotland to assess sampling bias between two different capture methods. We captured hares using baited cage traps and long nets on five study areas in the Scottish Highlands. After controlling for the effects of body size, individuals caught in traps were lighter than individuals caught using long nets, suggesting that the body condition of hares differed between the capture methods. This tendency may reflect an increased risk‐taking of individuals in poorer body condition and less aversion to entering traps in order to benefit from eating bait. Overall, we caught more adult hares than juveniles and more female hares than males. Our results show that estimates of density and population structure of mountain hares using live‐capture data could be affected by the capture method used. We suggest that live‐capture studies employ more than one capture method and test for heterogeneity in capture probability to minimise potential bias and achieve reliable estimates of population parameters. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bisi, Francesco Newey, Scott Nodari, Mosè Wauters, Lucas A. Harrison, Annabel Thirgood, Simon Martinoli, Adriano |
author_facet |
Bisi, Francesco Newey, Scott Nodari, Mosè Wauters, Lucas A. Harrison, Annabel Thirgood, Simon Martinoli, Adriano |
author_sort |
Bisi, Francesco |
title |
The strong and the hungry: bias in capture methods for mountain hares Lepus timidus |
title_short |
The strong and the hungry: bias in capture methods for mountain hares Lepus timidus |
title_full |
The strong and the hungry: bias in capture methods for mountain hares Lepus timidus |
title_fullStr |
The strong and the hungry: bias in capture methods for mountain hares Lepus timidus |
title_full_unstemmed |
The strong and the hungry: bias in capture methods for mountain hares Lepus timidus |
title_sort |
strong and the hungry: bias in capture methods for mountain hares lepus timidus |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/10-133 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/10-133 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/10-133 |
genre |
Lepus timidus |
genre_facet |
Lepus timidus |
op_source |
Wildlife Biology volume 17, issue 3, page 311-316 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2981/10-133 |
container_title |
Wildlife Biology |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
311 |
op_container_end_page |
316 |
_version_ |
1784274511543140352 |