Population Dynamics of Mountain Goats in the Sawatch Range, Colorado
- 1 October 1982
- journal article
- research article
- Published by JSTOR in The Journal of Wildlife Management
- Vol. 46 (4) , 1003-1009
- https://doi.org/10.2307/3808233
Abstract
Growth of the introduced Sheep Mountain-Gladstone Ridge mountain goat (O. americanus) herd was simulated using field data and life history information. The simulated herd showed 4 phases of growth related to historic changes in harvest intensity. Annual herd increase was also sensitive to variation in reproductive success. Reproductive success, defined as kids per older animal in late summer, was negatively correlated with snow depth during each previous spring. Reproductive success decreased an average of 47% after 1975 when the simulated herd peaked at 150 animals, suggesting a density-dependent relationship. Comparison of harvest rates vs. simulated population changes indicated that 7% of the late summer population should be harvested to maintain the present herd size.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Graeme Caughley and the fundamentals of population ecology: a personal viewWildlife Research, 2009