Jungle Giants: Assessing Sustainable Harvesting...
Posted: February 27th, 2017, 1:56 pm
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/articl ... ne.0158397
Jungle Giants: Assessing Sustainable Harvesting in a Difficult-to-Survey Species (Python reticulatus)
Sustainability of wildlife harvests is critical but difficult to assess. Evaluations of sustainability
typically combine modelling with the measurement of underlying abundances. For many
taxa harvested in developing countries, however, abundances are near-impossible to survey
and a lack of detailed ecological information impedes the reliability of models. In such
cases, repeated surveys of the attributes of harvested individuals may provide more robust
information on sustainability. If the numbers, sizes and other demographic attributes of animals
taken for the commercial trade do not change over biologically significant time intervals
(decades), there is a prima facie case that the harvest is indeed sustainable. Here, we
report the results of examinations of > 4,200 reticulated pythons (Python reticulatus) taken
for the commercial leather industry in northern and southern Sumatra, Indonesia. The numbers,
mean body sizes, clutch sizes, sizes at maturity and proportion of giant specimens
have not decreased between our first surveys (1995) and repeat surveys (2015). Thus,
despite assumptions to the contrary, the harvest appears to be sustainable. We use our
data to inform the design of future monitoring programs for this species. Our study underpins
the need for robust science to inform wildlife trade policy and decision-making, and
urges wildlife managers to assess sustainability of difficult-to-survey terrestrial wildlife by
drawing inferences directly from the harvest itself.
Jungle Giants: Assessing Sustainable Harvesting in a Difficult-to-Survey Species (Python reticulatus)
Sustainability of wildlife harvests is critical but difficult to assess. Evaluations of sustainability
typically combine modelling with the measurement of underlying abundances. For many
taxa harvested in developing countries, however, abundances are near-impossible to survey
and a lack of detailed ecological information impedes the reliability of models. In such
cases, repeated surveys of the attributes of harvested individuals may provide more robust
information on sustainability. If the numbers, sizes and other demographic attributes of animals
taken for the commercial trade do not change over biologically significant time intervals
(decades), there is a prima facie case that the harvest is indeed sustainable. Here, we
report the results of examinations of > 4,200 reticulated pythons (Python reticulatus) taken
for the commercial leather industry in northern and southern Sumatra, Indonesia. The numbers,
mean body sizes, clutch sizes, sizes at maturity and proportion of giant specimens
have not decreased between our first surveys (1995) and repeat surveys (2015). Thus,
despite assumptions to the contrary, the harvest appears to be sustainable. We use our
data to inform the design of future monitoring programs for this species. Our study underpins
the need for robust science to inform wildlife trade policy and decision-making, and
urges wildlife managers to assess sustainability of difficult-to-survey terrestrial wildlife by
drawing inferences directly from the harvest itself.