Department of Animal and Poultry Science, College of Agriculture and Bioresources, University of Saskatchewan 51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada.
Ecol Evol. 2013 Oct;3(12):4265-77. doi: 10.1002/ece3.788. Epub 2013 Oct 1.
Endemic and emerging diseases are rarely uniform in their spatial distribution or prevalence among cohorts of wildlife. Spatial models that quantify risk-driven differences in resource selection and hunter mortality of animals at fine spatial scales can assist disease management by identifying high-risk areas and individuals. We used resource selection functions (RSFs) and selection ratios (SRs) to quantify sex- and age-specific resource selection patterns of collared (n = 67) and hunter-killed (n = 796) nonmigratory elk (Cervus canadensis manitobensis) during the hunting season between 2002 and 2012, in southwestern Manitoba, Canada. Distance to protected area was the most important covariate influencing resource selection and hunter-kill sites of elk (AICw = 1.00). Collared adult males (which are most likely to be infected with bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) and chronic wasting disease) rarely selected for sites outside of parks during the hunting season in contrast to adult females and juvenile males. The RSFs showed selection by adult females and juvenile males to be negatively associated with landscape-level forest cover, high road density, and water cover, whereas hunter-kill sites of these cohorts were positively associated with landscape-level forest cover and increasing distance to streams and negatively associated with high road density. Local-level forest was positively associated with collared animal locations and hunter-kill sites; however, selection was stronger for collared juvenile males and hunter-killed adult females. In instances where disease infects a metapopulation and eradication is infeasible, a principle goal of management is to limit the spread of disease among infected animals. We map high-risk areas that are regularly used by potentially infectious hosts but currently underrepresented in the distribution of kill sites. We present a novel application of widely available data to target hunter distribution based on host resource selection and kill sites as a promising tool for applying selective hunting to the management of transmissible diseases in a game species.
地方性和新出现的疾病在野生动物群体中的空间分布或流行率上很少是一致的。在精细的空间尺度上，量化风险驱动的动物资源选择和猎人死亡率差异的空间模型可以通过确定高风险区域和个体来协助疾病管理。我们使用资源选择函数（RSF）和选择比（SR）来量化 2002 年至 2012 年期间在加拿大曼尼托巴省西南部狩猎季节中佩戴项圈（n = 67）和被猎人杀死（n = 796）的非迁徙麋鹿（Cervus canadensis manitobensis）的雌雄和年龄特异性资源选择模式。保护区距离是影响麋鹿资源选择和猎人捕杀地点的最重要协变量（AICw = 1.00）。与成年雌性和未成年雄性相比，在狩猎季节中，佩戴项圈的成年雄性（最有可能感染牛结核（Mycobacterium bovis）和慢性消耗性疾病）很少选择公园外的地点。雌性和未成年雄性的 RSF 显示出与景观水平森林覆盖率、高道路密度和水覆盖面积呈负相关，而这些群体的猎人捕杀地点则与景观水平森林覆盖率呈正相关，与溪流距离的增加呈负相关，与高道路密度呈负相关。局部森林与佩戴项圈的动物位置和猎人捕杀地点呈正相关；然而，对于佩戴项圈的未成年雄性和猎人捕杀的成年雌性而言，选择更为强烈。在疾病感染了一个复合种群并且根除不可行的情况下，管理的主要目标是限制感染动物之间疾病的传播。我们绘制了高风险区域，这些区域经常被潜在感染宿主使用，但在捕杀地点的分布中代表性不足。我们提出了一种广泛应用数据的新方法，根据宿主资源选择和捕杀地点来定位猎人分布，这是一种有前途的工具，可以将选择性狩猎应用于游戏物种中可传播疾病的管理。
