Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses?
Large carnivore populations are recovering in many parts of the world and this generates conflicts with humans, notably in terms of livestock depredation. Governmental programs of mitigation measures and compensation for losses are often implemented to reduce conflicts, but the factors affecting los...
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Language: | English |
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Ecological Society of America
2015
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ftoslouniv:oai:www.duo.uio.no:10852/65823 2023-05-15T15:51:09+02:00 Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses? ENEngelskEnglishSheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses? Mabille, Geraldine Stien, Audun Tveraa, Torkild Mysterud, Atle Brøseth, Henrik Linnell, John Durrus 2015-06-02T13:01:26Z http://hdl.handle.net/10852/65823 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-68233 https://doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00444.1 EN eng Ecological Society of America ANDRE/Rovdata ANDRE/The Norwegian Environmental Agency NFR/xxxxxx NFR/179569 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-68233 Mabille, Geraldine Stien, Audun Tveraa, Torkild Mysterud, Atle Brøseth, Henrik Linnell, John Durrus . Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses?. Ecosphere. 2015, 6(5), 1-17 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/65823 1245864 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Ecosphere&rft.volume=6&rft.spage=1&rft.date=2015 Ecosphere 6 5 1 17 http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00444.1 URN:NBN:no-68233 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/65823/1/Mabille%2BSheep-Ecosphere%2B6%2B2015.pdf Attribution 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY 2150-8925 VDP::Samfunnsgeografi: 290 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed PublishedVersion 2015 ftoslouniv https://doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00444.1 2020-06-21T08:52:22Z Large carnivore populations are recovering in many parts of the world and this generates conflicts with humans, notably in terms of livestock depredation. Governmental programs of mitigation measures and compensation for losses are often implemented to reduce conflicts, but the factors affecting losses are poorly understood. We used 11 years of data on domestic sheep (Ovis aries) claimed, and confirmed, to have been killed by predators in Norway to evaluate how predator density, flock management, and other environmental or habitat‐related variables are related to losses. The percentage of animals claimed as lost that was found and confirmed to have been killed by large predators (i.e., the detection rate) was low, especially for sheep claimed as killed by Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), wolverine (Gulo gulo) and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Still, we generally found that similar factors predicted the number of claims and number of carcasses found across predator species. Predator density was strongly associated with losses, especially for sheep claimed as killed by brown bears (Ursus arctos), lynx and wolverines. Percentage of forest in the pastures, average slaughter weight of the lambs (an indicator of the forage conditions during summer) and vegetation characteristics in the spring also predicted the number of sheep claimed and found killed by lynx, wolverines and eagles. Factors related to losses due to wolves (Canis lupus) were harder to ascertain, possibly because of the severity of mitigation measures (e.g., electric fences) taken to protect sheep in wolf territories, a factor we were not able to include in our large scale analyses. Patrolling of the grazing area and early gathering of sheep in the autumn were not associated with a substantial reduction in losses. However, our dataset was not well suited to evaluate the efficiency of those mitigation strategies. Our findings could help develop new mitigation strategies as alternatives to predator removal where large carnivore conservation is a concern. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Gulo gulo Ursus arctos Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle Lynx Lynx lynx lynx Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) Norway Slaughter ENVELOPE(-85.633,-85.633,-78.617,-78.617) Ecosphere 6 5 art82 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) |
op_collection_id |
ftoslouniv |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Samfunnsgeografi: 290 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Samfunnsgeografi: 290 Mabille, Geraldine Stien, Audun Tveraa, Torkild Mysterud, Atle Brøseth, Henrik Linnell, John Durrus Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses? |
topic_facet |
VDP::Samfunnsgeografi: 290 |
description |
Large carnivore populations are recovering in many parts of the world and this generates conflicts with humans, notably in terms of livestock depredation. Governmental programs of mitigation measures and compensation for losses are often implemented to reduce conflicts, but the factors affecting losses are poorly understood. We used 11 years of data on domestic sheep (Ovis aries) claimed, and confirmed, to have been killed by predators in Norway to evaluate how predator density, flock management, and other environmental or habitat‐related variables are related to losses. The percentage of animals claimed as lost that was found and confirmed to have been killed by large predators (i.e., the detection rate) was low, especially for sheep claimed as killed by Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), wolverine (Gulo gulo) and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Still, we generally found that similar factors predicted the number of claims and number of carcasses found across predator species. Predator density was strongly associated with losses, especially for sheep claimed as killed by brown bears (Ursus arctos), lynx and wolverines. Percentage of forest in the pastures, average slaughter weight of the lambs (an indicator of the forage conditions during summer) and vegetation characteristics in the spring also predicted the number of sheep claimed and found killed by lynx, wolverines and eagles. Factors related to losses due to wolves (Canis lupus) were harder to ascertain, possibly because of the severity of mitigation measures (e.g., electric fences) taken to protect sheep in wolf territories, a factor we were not able to include in our large scale analyses. Patrolling of the grazing area and early gathering of sheep in the autumn were not associated with a substantial reduction in losses. However, our dataset was not well suited to evaluate the efficiency of those mitigation strategies. Our findings could help develop new mitigation strategies as alternatives to predator removal where large carnivore conservation is a concern. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mabille, Geraldine Stien, Audun Tveraa, Torkild Mysterud, Atle Brøseth, Henrik Linnell, John Durrus |
author_facet |
Mabille, Geraldine Stien, Audun Tveraa, Torkild Mysterud, Atle Brøseth, Henrik Linnell, John Durrus |
author_sort |
Mabille, Geraldine |
title |
Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses? |
title_short |
Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses? |
title_full |
Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses? |
title_fullStr |
Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses? |
title_sort |
sheep farming and large carnivores: what are the factors influencing claimed losses? |
publisher |
Ecological Society of America |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10852/65823 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-68233 https://doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00444.1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-85.633,-85.633,-78.617,-78.617) |
geographic |
Norway Slaughter |
geographic_facet |
Norway Slaughter |
genre |
Canis lupus Gulo gulo Ursus arctos Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle Lynx Lynx lynx lynx |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus Gulo gulo Ursus arctos Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle Lynx Lynx lynx lynx |
op_source |
2150-8925 |
op_relation |
ANDRE/Rovdata ANDRE/The Norwegian Environmental Agency NFR/xxxxxx NFR/179569 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-68233 Mabille, Geraldine Stien, Audun Tveraa, Torkild Mysterud, Atle Brøseth, Henrik Linnell, John Durrus . Sheep farming and large carnivores: What are the factors influencing claimed losses?. Ecosphere. 2015, 6(5), 1-17 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/65823 1245864 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Ecosphere&rft.volume=6&rft.spage=1&rft.date=2015 Ecosphere 6 5 1 17 http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00444.1 URN:NBN:no-68233 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/65823/1/Mabille%2BSheep-Ecosphere%2B6%2B2015.pdf |
op_rights |
Attribution 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00444.1 |
container_title |
Ecosphere |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
art82 |
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1766386205798170624 |