Assessing Shifts in the Reproductive Output, Behavior and Physiology of Harvested Wildlife

贾斯汀·S Brashares，IOS-0818185评估野生动物繁殖产量、行为和生理的变化对野生动物的不可持续的捕捞威胁着全球的生物多样性和人类生计，并呼吁制定保护野生动物免于灭绝的野生动物利用政策。对于防止过度捕捞的资源使用政策，它们必须考虑到被捕捞物种的生物特征，特别是种群自我繁殖的速度。传统的野生动物管理理论假设，随着收获从给定的种群中移除个体，对资源的竞争减少，繁殖率和生存率增加。与这一观点相反，最近对捕食者-被捕食者系统的研究表明，捕食者不仅通过直接移除个体来影响猎物种群，而且还通过改变逃避捕食的动物的行为来影响猎物种群。然而，很少有研究探讨人类对野生动物的捕食是否对猎物物种产生同样深远的影响。本研究将评估狩猎（法律的和非法的）如何影响东非大草原生态系统中三种羚羊的行为和繁殖。研究选择了三个明显不同的物种，即羚羊（5-7公斤）、黑斑羚（60-80公斤）和非洲布法罗（700-900公斤），因为它们代表了生态和行为的自然范围。这项研究将在坦桑尼亚中部的一个地区进行，那里的经济与野生动物的利用密切相关，因此，实现可持续的收获被认为是当地和区域的优先事项。这项研究的结果将揭示，增加收获是否会像传统收获理论所假设的那样促进更高的生殖产出，或者收获活动是否会损害生殖健康，导致意外的人口下降。通过将生殖健康信息纳入可持续收获决策，本研究旨在改善非洲野生动物种群管理工作，同时开发有利于世界各地收获工作的工具。该研究还将为美国和坦桑尼亚的本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员提供实地和实验室培训。 该奖项由NSF国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

Justin S. Brashares, IOS-0818185 Assessing shifts in the reproductive output, behavior and physiology of harvested wildlifeThe unsustainable harvest of wildlife threatens biodiversity and human livelihoods worldwide and calls for wildlife-use policies that safeguard animals from extinction. For resource use policies to prevent over-harvest they must account for the biological characteristics of harvested species, particularly the rate at which a population replenishes itself. Traditional wildlife management theory assumes that as harvest removes individuals from a given population, competition for resources is reduced and rates of reproduction and survival increase. In contrast to this idea, recent studies focusing on predator-prey systems suggest that predators not only impact prey populations by directly removing individuals, but also by changing the behavior of animals that escape predation. However, few studies have examined if predation by humans on wildlife has similarly profound effects on prey species. This study will evaluate how hunting (legal and illegal) affects the behavior and reproduction of three species of antelope in an East African savanna ecosystem. Three distinctly different species were chosen for the study, the dik-dik (5-7 kg), the impala (60-80 kg) and the African buffalo (700-900 kg), because they represent a natural range of ecology and behavior. The research will be conducted in an area of central Tanzania where economies are closely tied to wildlife use and, thus, achieving sustainable harvests is considered a local and regional priority. Findings of the study will reveal if increased harvesting promotes higher reproductive output, as assumed by conventional harvest theory, or if harvest activities compromise reproductive health, leading to unexpected population declines. By incorporating information on reproductive health into sustainable harvest decision-making, this study aims to improve efforts to manage wildlife populations in Africa while developing tools that will benefit harvesting efforts around the world. The study also will provide field and laboratory training to U.S. and Tanzanian undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. This award is co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering.