Skip to main content

Can sacrificial feeding areas protect aquatic plants from herbivore grazing? Using behavioural ecology to inform wildlife management.

Wood, K.A., Stillman, R. A., Daunt, F. and O'Hare, M.T., 2014. Can sacrificial feeding areas protect aquatic plants from herbivore grazing? Using behavioural ecology to inform wildlife management. PLoS One, 9 (7), e104034 - .

Full text available as:

[img]
Preview
PDF (Open Access CC AL)
Wood et al 2014 - Sacrificial feeding areas PLoS ONE.pdf - Published Version

369kB

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104034

Abstract

Effective wildlife management is needed for conservation, economic and human well-being objectives. However, traditional population control methods are frequently ineffective, unpopular with stakeholders, may affect non-target species, and can be both expensive and impractical to implement. New methods which address these issues and offer effective wildlife management are required. We used an individual-based model to predict the efficacy of a sacrificial feeding area in preventing grazing damage by mute swans (Cygnus olor) to adjacent river vegetation of high conservation and economic value. The accuracy of model predictions was assessed by a comparison with observed field data, whilst prediction robustness was evaluated using a sensitivity analysis. We used repeated simulations to evaluate how the efficacy of the sacrificial feeding area was regulated by (i) food quantity, (ii) food quality, and (iii) the functional response of the forager. Our model gave accurate predictions of aquatic plant biomass, carrying capacity, swan mortality, swan foraging effort, and river use. Our model predicted that increased sacrificial feeding area food quantity and quality would prevent the depletion of aquatic plant biomass by swans. When the functional response for vegetation in the sacrificial feeding area was increased, the food quantity and quality in the sacrificial feeding area required to protect adjacent aquatic plants were reduced. Our study demonstrates how the insights of behavioural ecology can be used to inform wildlife management. The principles that underpin our model predictions are likely to be valid across a range of different resource-consumer interactions, emphasising the generality of our approach to the evaluation of strategies for resolving wildlife management problems.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:1932-6203
Uncontrolled Keywords:Individual-based models ; Wildlife management ; Conservation ; Ecology ; Mute swans ; Chalk streams ; Aquatic plants ; Sacrificial fields ; Diversionary feeding ; Foraging behaviour ; Behavioural ecology
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:21363
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:04 Aug 2014 10:51
Last Modified:14 Mar 2022 13:49

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

More statistics for this item...
Repository Staff Only -