Ericsson, Göran
- Department of Animal Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
We tested whether the ungulate moose (Alces a[ces) showed senescence in survival. Senescence, i.e., a progressive deterioration with age, may be obscured by multiple mortality causes in a wild population. Thus, we followed radio-marked individuals of known age to separate different mortality causes in adult moose. The risk of dying of causes not linked to humans increased with age. For females, the increase in natural mortality was first observable after age 10. Tooth wear was significantly related to age Lbr both sexes, but was stronger for males. It suggests that males would experience senescence in survival earlier than females in a non-hunted population The senescence in mortality observed for female moose may be a result of delayed cost of reproduction acting in concert with tooth wear due to a reduced ability to process food. We also found an increase in hunting mortality with age for both sexes, with males facing a higher risk of dying than females. The age-related hunting mortality may be ii result of selectivity by the human predator, or a change in moose behaviour with age.
Keywords
fitness; harvest; life history; mortality; moose; senescence; selection
Published in
Écoscience
2001, volume: 8, number: 2, pages: 157-163
Publisher: UNIVERSITE LAVAL
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2001.11682641
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/6293