Age‐specific harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alcespopulation

The annual age‐ and sex‐specific patterns of harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alces population during a period of 17 years for females and 24 years for males were estimated using cohort analysis. In males the harvest mortality increased with age, whereas in females the pattern was U‐shap...

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Published in:Wildlife Biology
Main Authors: Solberg, Erling Johan, Loison, Anne, Sæther, Bernt‐Erik, Strand, Olav
Other Authors: Norges Forskningsråd
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2000
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2000.036
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.2000.036
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.2000.036
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spelling crwiley:10.2981/wlb.2000.036 2024-09-15T17:36:17+00:00 Age‐specific harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alcespopulation Solberg, Erling Johan Loison, Anne Sæther, Bernt‐Erik Strand, Olav Norges Forskningsråd 2000 http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2000.036 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.2000.036 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.2000.036 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Wildlife Biology volume 6, issue 1, page 41-52 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X journal-article 2000 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2000.036 2024-08-09T04:21:31Z The annual age‐ and sex‐specific patterns of harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alces population during a period of 17 years for females and 24 years for males were estimated using cohort analysis. In males the harvest mortality increased with age, whereas in females the pattern was U‐shaped with higher harvest mortality of less fecund young (1–3 year) and old (≥ 10 years) age classes, and lower harvest mortality of prime age (4–9 years old) females. In both sexes, the calf harvest mortality was low, although it increased with increasing calf quotas following a change from an indiscriminate to a sex‐ and age‐specific hunting system during the study period. In adult males, the mortality pattern was opposite of what was expected based on the previously reported higher susceptibility to hunting of young than old males, indicating that hunter selectivity for large (old) males affected the pattern. Moreover, the selectivity of the hunters decreased as the hunting pressure increased, suggesting that the hunters became less selective when the mean time available per moose in the quota decreased. Among adult female age groups, the variation in harvest mortality increased with the proportion of calves per female in the population prior to hunting. This was mainly because of relatively higher mortality of post‐prime females, supporting our expectation that hunters avoid shooting females with calves and thus increase the harvest of less fecund age groups during high recruitment years. The observed selectivity led to harvest mortality that differed significantly from patterns of natural mortality, even where the mortality is mainly due to wolves Canis lupus and bears Ursus arctos. This may have consequences for the life history evolution of both male and female moose. The potential ecological, evolutionary and management implications of the results are discussed. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Canis lupus Ursus arctos Wiley Online Library Wildlife Biology 6 1 41 52
institution Open Polar
collection Wiley Online Library
op_collection_id crwiley
language English
description The annual age‐ and sex‐specific patterns of harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alces population during a period of 17 years for females and 24 years for males were estimated using cohort analysis. In males the harvest mortality increased with age, whereas in females the pattern was U‐shaped with higher harvest mortality of less fecund young (1–3 year) and old (≥ 10 years) age classes, and lower harvest mortality of prime age (4–9 years old) females. In both sexes, the calf harvest mortality was low, although it increased with increasing calf quotas following a change from an indiscriminate to a sex‐ and age‐specific hunting system during the study period. In adult males, the mortality pattern was opposite of what was expected based on the previously reported higher susceptibility to hunting of young than old males, indicating that hunter selectivity for large (old) males affected the pattern. Moreover, the selectivity of the hunters decreased as the hunting pressure increased, suggesting that the hunters became less selective when the mean time available per moose in the quota decreased. Among adult female age groups, the variation in harvest mortality increased with the proportion of calves per female in the population prior to hunting. This was mainly because of relatively higher mortality of post‐prime females, supporting our expectation that hunters avoid shooting females with calves and thus increase the harvest of less fecund age groups during high recruitment years. The observed selectivity led to harvest mortality that differed significantly from patterns of natural mortality, even where the mortality is mainly due to wolves Canis lupus and bears Ursus arctos. This may have consequences for the life history evolution of both male and female moose. The potential ecological, evolutionary and management implications of the results are discussed.
author2 Norges Forskningsråd
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Solberg, Erling Johan
Loison, Anne
Sæther, Bernt‐Erik
Strand, Olav
spellingShingle Solberg, Erling Johan
Loison, Anne
Sæther, Bernt‐Erik
Strand, Olav
Age‐specific harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alcespopulation
author_facet Solberg, Erling Johan
Loison, Anne
Sæther, Bernt‐Erik
Strand, Olav
author_sort Solberg, Erling Johan
title Age‐specific harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alcespopulation
title_short Age‐specific harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alcespopulation
title_full Age‐specific harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alcespopulation
title_fullStr Age‐specific harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alcespopulation
title_full_unstemmed Age‐specific harvest mortality in a Norwegian moose Alces alcespopulation
title_sort age‐specific harvest mortality in a norwegian moose alces alcespopulation
publisher Wiley
publishDate 2000
url http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2000.036
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.2000.036
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.2000.036
genre Alces alces
Canis lupus
Ursus arctos
genre_facet Alces alces
Canis lupus
Ursus arctos
op_source Wildlife Biology
volume 6, issue 1, page 41-52
ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X
op_rights http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
op_doi https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2000.036
container_title Wildlife Biology
container_volume 6
container_issue 1
container_start_page 41
op_container_end_page 52
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