The growth rate of a moose (Alces alces L.) population in early winter
Pages: 58-63.
Glushkov V.M., DSс in biology, leading researcher
Russian Research Institute of Game Management and Fur Farming, Kirov, Russia
E-mail: v.m.glushkov@yandex.ru
In practice of moose production planning estimates of the population size and the data on the magnitude of the increase are used (the number of embryos in pregnant females and number of females with calves), which are not accurate enough due to the large range of estimate of barrenness females (lim.: 5.2-72.1%), and unknown proportion of females in some populations. A large range of values of the proportion of calves in samples from 43 regions: 8.3-35.7% due to differences in habitat conditions and errors of observation. In our material the proportion of calves in the autumn herd was 16.8-24.3% and estimate juvenile mortality by November was 38.6-47.6% of that it less than published data (55-81%). The identity of estimates of the growth rate calculated from data of field observations and the parameters of survival and mortality has led to creation of method of calculation of average growth of livestock by the beginning of winter l using the number of calves (cj) in total sample (n) consisting of detected animals in the nature in October-November: λо = n / (n - cj). For example, a sample of 973 elk with calves c1 = 163 gives the value of the exponent of the growth rate of the population at the beginning of winter: λo = 973 / (973 – 163) = 1,2012; and the growth rate of r0 = ln 1.2012 = 0.183. The value r0 = 0.183 in the form of the lagged growth rate: h = 1 – e – 0.183 = 0.168 (16.8%) serves as a measure of the limit value for total mortality of this species during the winter period providing zero growth rate of population. Second equation makes it easy to obtain values of parameter 1: regression of growth value on the date of the observations: y = 1.6212 • X-0.1271; (R2 = 0.8754) improving availability of the indicator "growth rate at the beginning of winter" for the practice of calculation of quotas of moose extraction.
Keywords: population growth, age groups of moose, method of data collection, production planning
References
1. Nygren T., Pesonen M. The moose population and methods of moose management in Finland, 1975-1989. Finnish game research. Helsinki, 1993. pp. 46-53.
2. Danilkin A.A. Dinamika naseleniya dikikh kopytnykh Rossii: gipotezy, faktory, zakonomernosti. [Population dynamics of wild ungulates in Russia: hypotheses, factors, patterns]. Moscow: Tovarishchestvo nauchnykh izdaniy KMK, 2009. 310 p.
3. Yazan Yu. P. Plotnosti naseleniya i pokazateli plodovitosti losya pechorskoy taygi. [Population density and fertility rate of elk in Pechora taiga]. Biologiya i promysel losya. Vyp.1. Moscow, 1964. pp. 101-113.
4. Simkin D.W. Reproduction and productivity of moose in northwestern Ontario. J. Wildlife Manage. 1965. Vol. 29. no. 4. рp. 740-750.
5. Fryxell J.M., Mercer W.E., Gellately R.B. Population dynamics of Newfoundland moose using cohort analysis. J. Wildlife Manage. 1988. Vol. 52. no. 1. pp. 14-20.
6. Pimlott D.H. The ecology and management of moose in North America. Terre et vie. 1961. 108. no. 2-3. pp. 246-265.
7. Ballard W.B., Spraker T.H., Taylor K.P. Causes of neonatal moose calf mortality in south central Alaska. J. Wildlife Manag. 1981. 45. no. 2. pp. 335-342.
8. Larsen D.G., Gauthier D.A., Markel R.L. Causes and rate of moose mortality in the southwest Jukon. J.Wildlife Manag. 1989. 53. no. 3. pp. 548-557.
9. Glushkov V.M. Los'. Ekologiya i upravlenie populyatsiyami. [Moose. Ecology and management of populations]. Kirov: VNIIOZ RASKhN, 2001. 317 p.
10. Koli G. Analiz populyatsiy pozvonochnykh. [Analysis of vertebrate populations]. Moscow: Mir, 1979. 363 p.
