Estimating Sustainable Harvest Rates for European Hare (Lepus Europaeus) Populations

Hunting quotas are used to manage populations of game species in order to ensure sustainable exploitation. However, unpredictable climatic events may interact with hunting. We established a population model for European hares (Lepus europaeus) in Lower Austria. We compared the sustainability of voluntary quotas used by hunters—which are derived from hare-specific guidelines—with the actual numbers of hares shot and our recommended quotas for hares, which have been derived from climate and population modeling. We used population modeling based on vital rates and densities to adjust our recommended quotas in order to achieve sustainable harvest. The survival of age classes 1 and 3 had the highest impact on the population growth rate. Population viability analysis showed that a recommended quota with a harvest rate of 10% was sustainable for population densities of 45 hares/km2, and that the threshold for hunting should be raised from 10 hares/km2 so that hare populations with <15 hares/km2 are not hunted. The recommended quota outperformed the voluntary hunting quota, since more hares could be harvested sustainably. Age Class 1 survival was strongly linked with weather: a single year with unfavorable weather conditions (low precipitation) negatively affected population densities. Game species, including the European hare, face increasingly frequent weather extremes due to climate change, so hunting quotas need to be sensitive to frequent population fluctuations.

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Comparison of spotlighting monitoring data of European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) relative population densities with infrared thermography in agricultural landscapes in Northern Germany

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0254084 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (7) ◽

pp. e0254084

Author(s):

Katharina Sliwinski ◽

Egbert Strauß ◽

Klaus Jung ◽

Ursula Siebert

Keyword(s):

Coefficient Of Variation ◽

Distance Sampling ◽

Monitoring Data ◽

Lepus Europaeus ◽

Brown Hare ◽

Population Densities ◽

Northern Germany ◽

Game Species ◽

European Brown Hare ◽

Error Margin

A successful wildlife management requires monitoring. Including non-scientific volunteers into monitoring actions is a common way for obtaining long-term and comprehensive data. Hunters present a valuable target group as they are spread out nationwide in Germany and additionally, they provide a know-how regarding game species. Since 1990s, various German hunting associations established monitoring programs and motivated hunters to join, in order to record population sizes of huntable game species under standardized census methods. The aim of this study was to compare instructed hunters performed spotlight counts of European brown hares with thermography in three federal states (Lower-Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, North Rhine-Westphalia) in 2015–2018 in Northern Germany. Therefore, we modelled the number of hares counted by both methods with the associated observed area. Moreover, we performed repeated thermographic counts in selected areas and performed distance sampling to test the deviations of estimated population densities within a short time period. Repeated infrared thermographic counts on three consecutive nights show a coefficient of variation from 6.6% to 15.5% with deviations of 2.2–2.7 hares per 100 ha, while the method of distance sampling reveals minor deviations of 0.9–1.7 hares per 100 ha and a coefficient of variation from 3.1–7.4%. The coefficient of variation value between spotlight and infrared thermographic count lies between 0 to 21.4%. Our model confirmed no significant differences between the European brown hare density estimations based on a spotlight count and an infrared thermographic count on the following night. The results provide insight into the dimension of the error margin of density estimations performed by spotlight counts. Therefore, we recommend to take possible counting errors into account and to ideally perform repeated counts to assess the error margin for each counting site. This would help for example to quantify the uncertainty in the calculation of mortality rates. Additionally, our results show that monitoring data generated by instructed hunters can provide reliable and valid data, if implemented and conducted in a standardized scientific way.

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The German wildlife information system: population densities and development of European Hare (Lepus europaeus PALLAS) during 2002–2005 in Germany

European Journal of Wildlife Research ◽

10.1007/s10344-007-0112-4 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 142-147 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Egbert Strauß ◽

Andreas Grauer ◽

Martina Bartel ◽

Roland Klein ◽

Ludger Wenzelides ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Information System ◽

Lepus Europaeus ◽

Population Densities ◽

European Hare

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Integrated Population Modeling Provides the First Empirical Estimates of Vital Rates and Abundance for Polar Bears in the Chukchi Sea

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-018-34824-7 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Eric V. Regehr ◽

Nathan J. Hostetter ◽

Ryan R. Wilson ◽

Karyn D. Rode ◽

Michelle St. Martin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chukchi Sea ◽

Population Modeling ◽

Polar Bears ◽

Vital Rates ◽

Empirical Estimates

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Playing and aggressive behavior of the European hare (Lepus europaeus) against dogs (Canis familiaris)

Proceedings of the Theriological School ◽

10.15407/ptt2016.14.149 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 (14) ◽

pp. 149-151

Author(s):

Ihor Merzlikin ◽

Keyword(s):

Aggressive Behavior ◽

Canis Familiaris ◽

Lepus Europaeus ◽

European Hare

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Periodic catastrophes over human evolutionary history are necessary to explain the forager population paradox

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1902406116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (26) ◽

pp. 12758-12766 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Michael D. Gurven ◽

Raziel J. Davison

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary History ◽

Homo Sapiens ◽

Vital Rate ◽

Small Scale ◽

Human Populations ◽

Wild Chimpanzee ◽

Population Fluctuations ◽

Vital Rates ◽

Zero Population Growth ◽

Major Adjustment

The rapid growth of contemporary human foragers and steady decline of chimpanzees represent puzzling population paradoxes, as any species must exhibit near-stationary growth over much of their evolutionary history. We evaluate the conditions favoring zero population growth (ZPG) among 10 small-scale subsistence human populations and five wild chimpanzee groups according to four demographic scenarios: altered mean vital rates (i.e., fertility and mortality), vital rate stochasticity, vital rate covariance, and periodic catastrophes. Among most human populations, changing mean fertility or survivorship alone requires unprecedented alterations. Stochastic variance and covariance would similarly require major adjustment to achieve ZPG in most populations. Crashes could maintain ZPG in slow-growing populations but must be frequent and severe in fast-growing populations—more extreme than observed in the ethnographic record. A combination of vital rate alteration with catastrophes is the most realistic solution to the forager population paradox. ZPG in declining chimpanzees is more readily obtainable through reducing mortality and altering covariance. While some human populations may have hovered near ZPG under harsher conditions (e.g., violence or food shortage), modernHomo sapienswere equipped with the potential to rapidly colonize new habitats and likely experienced population fluctuations and local extinctions over evolutionary history.

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Lepus europaeus (Lagomorpha: Leporidae)

Mammalian Species ◽

10.1093/mspecies/seaa010 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 52 (997) ◽

pp. 125-142

Author(s):

Anni Bock

Keyword(s):

Natural Resources ◽

Lepus Europaeus ◽

European Hare ◽

International Union ◽

Declining Populations ◽

The 1960S

Abstract Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778, commonly called the European hare, is one of 32 species of Lepus. It is widely distributed in Europe and Asia where it was not native but introduced by humans for sport. L. europaeus does not burrow, nor hibernate, and gives birth to precocial young (leverets). It prefers open grassland, fields, agricultural farmland, and pastures with hedgerows and bushes. Declining populations in several countries since the 1960s led to increased research to investigate the reasons; L. europaeus is considered threatened in several countries, but of “Least Concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

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Impact of Microtus arvalis and Lepus europaeus on apple trees by trunk bark gnawing

Plant Protection Science ◽

10.17221/64/2018-pps ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 55 (No. 2) ◽

pp. 142-147

Author(s):

Josef Suchomel ◽

Jan Šipoš ◽

Ladislav Čepelka ◽

Marta Heroldová

Keyword(s):

Apple Tree ◽

Common Vole ◽

Apple Orchard ◽

Lepus Europaeus ◽

Microtus Arvalis ◽

European Hare ◽

Bark Damage ◽

Dead Trees ◽

Apple Cultivars ◽

Common Voles

A unique evaluation of the apple tree trunk bark damage caused by common vole and European hare was presented. Damage was found in an apple orchard under organic farming, in Central Moravia (Czech Republic), at 700 m a.s.l. There were two cultivated apple cultivars Red Spring and Melodie/Angold. Damage occurred in winter with the snow cover lasting from December to February. In total 1 012 trees and 95.7% of trees were damaged. The cv. Red Spring was damaged more than cv. Melodie/Angold. Almost 90% of the dead trees were killed by common voles. While hares damaged both cultivars equally, voles damaged the cv. Red Spring to a significantly greater extent (P = 0.04). The study confirms the need of further research on the development of methodologies for orchard protection from damage caused by small mammals.

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