GPS collars have an apparent positive effect on the survival of a large carnivore
Are instrumented animals representative of the population, given the potential bias caused by selective sampling and the influence of capture, handling and wearing bio-loggers? The answer is elusive owing to the challenges of obtaining comparable data from individuals with and without bio-loggers. U...
| Published in: | Biology Letters |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2763083 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0128 |
| Summary: | Are instrumented animals representative of the population, given the potential bias caused by selective sampling and the influence of capture, handling and wearing bio-loggers? The answer is elusive owing to the challenges of obtaining comparable data from individuals with and without bio-loggers. Using non-invasive genetic data of a large carnivore, the wolverine (Gulo gulo) in Scandinavia, and an open-population spatial capture–recapture model, we found a 16 (credible interval: 4–30) percentage points lower mortality probability for GPS-collared individuals compared with individuals without GPS collars. While the risk of dying from legal culling was comparable for collared and non-collared wolverines, the former experienced lower probability of mortality due to causes other than legal culling. The aforementioned effect was pronounced despite a potentially lower age—and therefore likely higher natural mortality—of collared individuals. Reports of positive effects of bio-loggers on the survival of individuals are uncommon and we argue that GPS collars could shield animals from poaching. Our results highlight the challenges of drawing population-level inferences for populations subjected to poaching when using data from instrumented individuals. ecology, population level, representativeness, population dynamics publishedVersion |
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