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9 November 2018 Hunting and evolution: theory, evidence, and unknowns
Marco Festa-Bianchet, Atle Mysterud
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Intense selective harvest of large mammals who carry the largest weapons may lead to an evolutionary shrinkage of those weapons. Currently, evidence suggesting evolutionary effects of harvest is limited to a few species of Bovidae and only 1 study has obtained data indicating a genetic effect. To have an evolutionary impact, harvest must be intense, persistent over time, similar over a large area without an effective source of unselected immigrants, and remove large individuals before they have a chance to breed. Many current harvest schemes do not fulfill all of these requirements, and they are unlikely to cause evolution. Before changes in weapon size over time are attributed to evolution, potential environmental sources of change, mainly density and climate, must be considered. We suggest that the role of weapon size in determining reproductive success, especially in interaction with male age, will determine whether or not intensive selective harvests may have evolutionary consequences. Age at harvest is a very important variable to consider. Changes in age structure over time may reveal underlying changes in harvest pressure or selectivity. A lack of data hampers our ability to assess the potential evolutionary effects of selective hunting. We provide a list of research hypotheses required to advance our ability to assess the evolutionary sustainability of current management practices.

© 2018 American Society of Mammalogists, www.mammalogy.org
Marco Festa-Bianchet and Atle Mysterud "Hunting and evolution: theory, evidence, and unknowns," Journal of Mammalogy 99(6), 1281-1292, (9 November 2018). https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy138
Received: 3 May 2018; Accepted: 4 October 2018; Published: 9 November 2018
KEYWORDS
antlers
evolution
Horns
large herbivores
long-term monitoring
selective harvest
selective hunting
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