Can Sacrificial Feeding Areas Protect Aquatic Plants from Herbivore Grazing? Using Behavioural Ecology to Inform Wildlife Management
Authored by Kevin A Wood, Richard A Stillman, Francis Daunt, Matthew T O'Hare
Date Published: 2014
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104034
Sponsors:
No sponsors listed
Platforms:
MORPH
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
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.
Tags
conflict
Conservation
Energy
Populations
White-fronted geese
Swans cygnus-olor
Food supplementation
Reduce
predation
Standing crop
Duck nests