Journal of Wildlife Management最新文献

Within governance agencies, academia, and communities alike, there are increasing calls to recognize the value and importance of culture within social-ecological systems and to better implement Indigenous sciences in research, policy, and management. Efforts thus far have raised questions about the best ethical practices to do so. Engaging with plural worldviews and perspectives on their own terms reflects cultural evolutionary processes driving paradigm shifts in 3 fundamental areas of natural resource management: conceptualizations of natural resources and ecosystems, processes of public participation and governance, and relationships with Indigenous Peoples and communities with differing worldviews. We broadly describe evolution toward these paradigm shifts in fish and wildlife management. We then use 3 case studies to illustrate the ongoing cultural evolution of relationships between wildlife management and Indigenous practices within specific historical and social-ecological contexts and reflect on common barriers to appropriately engaging with Indigenous paradigms and lifeways. Our case studies highlight 3 priorities that can assist the field of wildlife management in achieving the changes necessary to bridge incommensurable worldviews: acknowledging and reconciling historical legacies and their continued power dynamics as part of social-ecological systems, establishing governance arrangements that move beyond attempts to extract cultural information from communities to integrate Indigenous Knowledges into dominant management paradigms, and engaging in critical reflexivity and reciprocal, accountable relationship building. Implementing these changes will take time and a commitment to processes that may initially feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar but have potential to be transformative. Ethical and culturally appropriate methods to include plural and multivocal perspectives and worldviews on their own terms are needed to transform wildlife management to achieve more effective and just management outcomes for all.

Learning and resolving uncertainty should be important components of management decisions, but not every type of uncertainty is equally important to resolve. For rare, threatened, and endangered species, information may be limited and there is often great urgency to halt potential population declines. Therefore, the most important uncertainties are those that would lead to different decisions intended to improve outcomes for species of interest. The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis) is an endemic species to the northeastern United States and is listed as a species of special concern, threatened, or endangered in all states in its current range. States within the historical New England cottontail range have made substantial investments in habitat management, captive breeding, and research, but considerable demographic, management, and monitoring uncertainties remain. Connecticut is the geographic core of the current range of the species and therefore has been the focus of many management efforts, including improving habitat, creating new habitat patches, removing eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus), and releasing captive-bred New England cottontails. We used a value of information analysis to identify the optimal management decision given current uncertainty and to evaluate how sources of uncertainty might lead to changes in management decisions. Given the current understanding of the New England cottontail in Connecticut, we identified the optimal management decision as improving existing habitat patches without monitoring for the species and managers could expect a 3.4% increase in populations if decision-making uncertainty could be fully resolved. Multiple sources of uncertainty influenced results, but variation in New England cottontail density and the response of the species to the removal of eastern cottontails were most likely to result in changes to management decisions. At lower New England cottontail densities, releasing captive-bred individuals competed with improving habitat as the optimal management action. Accounting for the value of information benefits New England cottontail management by guiding research efforts toward information that is most beneficial for decision-makers and providing insights into parameter thresholds that would lead to changes in management decisions.

Oil and gas exploration and development is expanding across the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) of Alaska, USA. To examine the effects of industrial development on greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons), we monitored nests and nesting behavior within a 4-km² study area within 4 km of gravel roads and pads during pre-development, construction, and operation activities at a new oil development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in 2013−2019. We examined distribution, incubation constancy, and nest survival in relation to distance to gravel roads or pads, year and status of development, presence of an ice road the previous winter, and land cover type. Nest density increased throughout the study period, which was consistent with surveys of this species in other regions of the ACP. There was no direct evidence that oil extraction infrastructure and the associated human activity adversely influenced the abundance, distribution, or daily nest survival of greater white-fronted goose nests. Geese avoided nesting in the alignments of ice roads from the previous winter, and land cover type influenced their nest distribution. Nest age and incubation constancy were important predictors of daily nest survival. The incubation constancy of successful nesters (98.5 ± 0.1% [SE]) was significantly greater than for failed nesters (94.7 ± 0.6%) for all years combined and tended to be greater during the pre-construction and construction years of 2014 and 2015, compared to when oilfield operations began in 2017 and 2019. Greater-white fronted geese appear to be tolerant of some levels of industrial activities and the presence of gravel roads did not have a significant effect on nest distribution, incubation constancy, or nest survival. We recommend, however, that indirect effects from ice roads should be explicitly considered in impact assessments because white-fronted geese avoid nesting in the footprints of the previous winter's ice roads and pads.

Hunting triggers behavioral responses in wildlife that may have important consequences for conservation and wildlife management. We studied movement and habitat selection in 51 global positioning system-collared red deer (Cervus elaphus) in response to 63 large-scale (x̄ = 18.8 km²) drive hunts conducted in 2015-2022 on a military training area in southern Germany. The drive hunts were characterized by a low density of beaters and dogs to avoid rapid and long-distance displacement of red deer. We determined if red deer spatial responses to drive hunts differed in various forest covers, between sexes, and in relation to the individual position prior to the hunt. On the hunting days, red deer increased their hourly displacement rates and shifted their preference for forest versus open habitats from early morning to late morning hours. Individuals initially located within the boundaries of the hunted areas exhibited longer maximum net displacements, had a greater probability of leaving their home ranges, and spent longer times outside of their home ranges than individuals outside the hunted areas. All these parameters were greater in the more forested site than in the less forested site. Males displayed shorter net displacements than females. Red deer moved away (i.e., fled) from their initial positions for variable periods, either only during the hunt or until the next day. The probability of prolonged flight was greater in the more forested site and more likely if the individuals were deeper in the forest in the less forested site. The prolonged flight behavior was desired from the hunters' perspective because red deer displaying this type of response were less likely to leave the hunted area during the hunt. Prolonged flight was associated with greater costs for the red deer, such as greater movement distances after the hunt and longer times outside of home ranges. Wildlife managers should consider that drive hunts may cause prolonged behavioral responses in game that occur both inside and outside the hunted areas. These responses depend on habitat characteristics and may be stronger in more forested landscapes.

Current grassland restoration strategies aim to recreate grassland vegetation communities, and often rely on high-diversity native seeding to promote vegetation diversity. Questions remain concerning the influence of vegetation richness and diversity on grassland fauna. Small-mammal communities are integral parts of grassland ecosystems, but their responses to restoration are often mixed or overlooked. During July 2014 to 2016, we used Sherman live traps to survey grassland small-mammal communities of 24 study sites in northeastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota, USA, to better understand their responses to vegetation cover type, diversity, richness, and site-specific vegetation structure. Sites represented a vegetation species richness gradient and 3 vegetation cover types including low-diversity restorations planted with dense nesting cover (DNC) seed mix, high-diversity seeded restorations, and unseeded reference grasslands. Small-mammal abundance was highest at low-diversity DNC restoration sites and lowest in reference grassland. Small-mammal diversity was highest at high-diversity restoration sites and lowest at low-diversity DNC restoration sites. Models assessing the influence of vegetation structure on the abundance of focal taxa differed. Deer mice (Peromyscus spp.) were negatively influenced by percent native vegetation cover, and voles (Microtus spp.) showed yearly variation and were influenced positively by litter depth and negatively by vegetation richness. Small-mammal communities of low-diversity DNC restorations differed from reference sites, but high-diversity restorations were not different from reference or low-diversity DNC sites. Thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) abundance was higher at reference and high-diversity restored sites, while low-diversity DNC sites had higher deer mice abundance. Results indicate small mammals are unlikely to respond uniformly to vegetation characteristics, and diversity of seed mixes used in grassland restoration is likely to influence grassland small-mammal communities.

The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa manages for sustainable subsistence harvests of moose (mooz; Alces alces) and white-tailed deer (waawaashkeshi; Odocoileus virginianus). Moose populations in northern Minnesota, USA, are declining, which may necessitate alterations to Indigenous subsistence practices. Moose and deer exhibit seasonal behaviors such as altered space use and movement strategies, to which gray wolves (ma'iingan; Canis lupus) and humans may adapt, resulting in seasonal mortality patterns. Identifying periods of increased moose and deer vulnerability is important for achieving tribal conservation objectives. We assessed seasonal cause-specific mortality of adult moose (2010–2021) and deer (2016–2022) fitted with global positioning system collars on and near the Grand Portage Indian Reservation (Gichi Onigaming; GPIR) in Minnesota and hypothesized mortality risk would be influenced by species-specific space use patterns and weather. We estimated survival rates and mortality risk using time-to-event models. We recorded 42 moose mortalities (17 health issues, 8 predations, 4 subsistence harvests, 13 unknown causes) and 49 deer mortalities (26 predations, 13 harvests, 4 other causes, 6 unknown causes). Mean annual moose survival was 83.2%, and mortality risk peaked during late winter (~25 April) and fall (~8 October). Mean annual deer survival was 48.0%, and mortality risk peaked during late winter (~25 March) and during their fall migration period (~11 November). Mortality timing coincided with transitions between space use states (i.e., periods of spatial stability), suggesting ungulates are at greater risk during these transitional periods, though movement strategy (i.e., resident vs. migratory) did not influence mortality risk. Further, increased winter severity corresponded with increased deer mortality. We observed similar temporal peaks in mortality risk when harvest mortalities were censored, suggesting our observed seasonal mortality peaks occur naturally despite harvest comprising most fall deer mortality. Our results can inform population models and harvest regulations by identifying periods of mortality risk on GPIR under Anishinaabe principles of seventh-generation conservation planning.

When selecting a nest site, mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) balance differing habitat requirements for the nesting and brood-rearing periods, such that the juxtaposition of these habitats in the landscape may influence the female's reproductive strategy and reproductive success. Mallard populations in the northeastern United States have declined since the mid-1990s, and increasing urban development in this region may pose risks to broods and cause high duckling mortality. We assessed mallard brood and duckling survival in the urbanized landscapes of Connecticut, USA, and evaluated whether differences in brood movements, home ranges, and habitat use in urbanized areas influence brood survival. We monitored 32 mallard broods from females with global positioning system (GPS) transmitters in Connecticut in 2021 and 2022. Apparent brood survival to 30 days (0.48, n = 29 broods) was comparable to previous estimates in the Northeast (range = 0.21–0.72), but individual duckling survival (0.18, n = 257 ducklings) was lower than many previous estimates for this region (range = 0.14–0.44), suggesting this parameter warrants continued evaluation because it may be contributing to population declines in Connecticut and the greater Northeast region. Mallard females demonstrated different reproductive strategies and seemed to prioritize either high-quality nesting habitat or proximity to high-quality brood-rearing habitat. High-quality nesting habitat is not necessarily near high-quality brood-rearing habitat, and 61% (17/28) of females moved their ducklings an average of 1.1 ± 0.9 km (SD) shortly after hatch to a brood-rearing site, often traveling along small streams. A similar proportion of successful (9/12) and failed (7/13) broods moved. We provide evidence of limited availability of brood-rearing habitat, as females moved long distances to brood-rearing wetlands and only 1 brood made additional inter-wetland moves. Management actions that create or modify nesting and brood-rearing habitat should consider connectivity between these sites; females may choose to nest away from wetlands to minimize exposure to predators but may depend on small streams for travel to brood-rearing wetlands.