Can survival analyses detect hunting pressure in a highly connected species? Lessons from straw-coloured fruit bats.

ABSTRACT: Animal behaviour, social structure and population dynamics affect community structure, interspecific interactions, and a species' resilience to harvesting. Building on new life history information for the straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) from multiple localities across Africa, we used survival analyses based on tooth-cementum annuli data to test alternative hypotheses relating to hunting pressure, demography and population connectivity. The estimated annual survival probability across Africa was high (≥ 0.64), but was greatest in colonies with the highest proportion of males. This difference in sex survival, along with age and sex capture biases and out-of-phase breeding across the species' distribution, leads us to hypothesize that E. helvum has a complex social str

SUBMITTER: Hayman DT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4965785 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature