Effects of male targeted harvest regime on sexual segregation in mountain lion
| Autor: | Mark E. Swanson, Benjamin T. Maletzke, Jon R. Keehner, Robert B. Wielgus |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
genetic structures Population Zoology Biology 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Predation Mountain lion Puma concolor education Sexually selected infanticide Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation Excess mortality education.field_of_study Ecology 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology Trophy hunting Sexual habitat segregation Prey switching biology.organism_classification Sexual dimorphism Habitat Carnivores Threatened species human activities |
| Zdroj: | Biological Conservation. :42-47 |
| ISSN: | 0006-3207 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.biocon.2015.09.005 |
| Popis: | Male targeted harvest regimes of carnivores are now widely accepted to result in increased sexually selected infanticide (SSI). Male targeted harvest regimes of males should therefore result in increased sexually segregated habitat use in infanticidal carnivores. We tested the effects of low and high levels of male hunting mortality and associated SSI on sexually segregated habitat use in mountain lions. The “no effect of hunting” hypothesis predicts that no sexual segregation would occur or that all female mountain lions would segregate from males because of sexual dimorphism. The “hunting effect” hypothesis predicts that females with kittens would segregate from younger immigrant males in the heavily hunted population during summer when kittens are vulnerable to SSI. We rejected the “no effect” hypothesis and accepted the “hunting effect” hypothesis for mountain lions. Females with kittens avoided immigrant males in the heavily hunted population during summer—others did not. This sexual segregation corresponded with females with kittens selecting for food-poor, high elevations in the heavily hunted population but not in the lightly hunted population. Avoidance of males and selection for high elevations resulted in prey switching by females with kittens from abundant primary prey in lower elevations to rare, sensitive and threatened secondary prey at higher elevations. It appears that remedial sport hunting of mountain lions to reduce predation on declining prey actually caused sexual segregation and increased predation on declining prey. We suggest that excess mortality of male carnivores could result in unanticipated cascade effects including sexual segregation and prey switching to declining prey. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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