Département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K 2R1, Canada.
Centre for Northern Studies, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
Nat Commun. 2018 Mar 27;9(1):1100. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03506-3.
As an important extrinsic source of mortality, harvest should select for fast reproduction and accelerated life histories. However, if vulnerability to harvest depends upon female reproductive status, patterns of selectivity could diverge and favor alternative reproductive behaviors. Here, using more than 20 years of detailed data on survival and reproduction in a hunted large carnivore population, we show that protecting females with dependent young, a widespread hunting regulation, provides a survival benefit to females providing longer maternal care. This survival gain compensates for the females' reduced reproductive output, especially at high hunting pressure, where the fitness benefit of prolonged periods of maternal care outweighs that of shorter maternal care. Our study shows that hunting regulation can indirectly promote slower life histories by modulating the fitness benefit of maternal care tactics. We provide empirical evidence that harvest regulation can induce artificial selection on female life history traits and affect demographic processes.
作为导致死亡的一个重要外在因素，捕猎应该会选择那些繁殖速度快、生命周期短的物种。然而，如果易被捕猎的程度取决于雌性的繁殖状况，那么选择模式可能会出现差异，并有利于替代的繁殖行为。在这里，我们利用一个被猎食的大型肉食动物种群超过 20 年的详细生存和繁殖数据，表明保护有幼崽的雌性（一种广泛的狩猎法规）为那些提供更长时间母性照顾的雌性提供了生存优势。这种生存优势弥补了雌性繁殖力下降的问题，尤其是在高捕猎压力下，延长母性照顾的时间会带来比缩短母性照顾的时间更大的适应性收益。我们的研究表明，通过调节母性照顾策略的适应性收益，狩猎法规可以间接地促进更慢的生活史。我们提供了经验证据表明，狩猎法规可以诱导对雌性生活史特征的人工选择，并影响人口过程。
