10.5061/DRYAD.1NS1RN8RV
Mysterud, Atle
0000-0001-8993-7382
University of Oslo
Rauset, Geir
0000-0002-6345-3029
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Van Moorter, Bram
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Andersen, Roy
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Strand, Olav
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Rivrud, Inger
0000-0002-9778-7422
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
The last moves: the effect of hunting and culling on the risk of disease
spread from a population of reindeer
Dryad
dataset
2020
Disease ecology
disease management
host culling
Spatial Organisation
unintended side effects
FOS: Biological sciences
Norwegian Environment Agency*
Norwegian Environment Agency
https://ror.org/023jta124
2020-09-04T00:00:00Z
2020-09-04T00:00:00Z
en
10605320 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
1. Hunting and culling are frequently used to combat infectious wildlife
diseases. The aim is to markedly lower population density in order to
limit disease transmission or to eradicate the host. Massive host culling
can yield a trade-off when combating wildlife disease; it follows that
intrusive actions may have unintended behavioural side-effects, leading to
the geographic spread of disease. The manner in which such excessive
hunting and culling of hosts can affect the movement and dispersion of
cervids has not been studied. 2. In this study, we quantified the
behaviour (daily movements and habitat use) and dispersion of GPS-marked
reindeer (n = 24) before and during the eradication of an entire
population (>2000 reindeer) infected with chronic wasting disease
(CWD) in Norway. We compared behaviour and dispersion during 10 ordinary
hunting seasons (2007-16), an extended hunt in 2017 and marksmen culling
(2017/18). 3. Seasonality had a major impact on movements. Reindeer
movements during the early hunting season (20 August–20 September) did not
increase the overall movements compared to that in the pre-hunt season (20
July–19 August), while extended hunting into October (as in 2017) and
marksmen culling from November to February markedly increased daytime
movements relative to that normally observed in this time of the year.
Towards the end of the eradication, the remaining reindeer sought refuge
at restricted high-elevation areas with limited forage production.
Reindeer used novel areas towards the perimeter of the range, but active
herding during culling stopped one herd from leaving the CWD zone. 4.
Synthesis and applications: With emerging wildlife diseases, host culling
is becoming a more frequently used tool for managers in Europe. Our study
highlights the potential trade-off between combating disease transmission
within a population and the risk of geographic spread. Such insight is
important to design mitigation measures, such as perimeter fencing or
herding, to avoid the risk of the geographic spread of disease in cases of
severe and economically important wildlife diseases.
GPS-data used to calculate step length, elevation and home range size.
cfr. Readme file