Importance of harvest refuges for phenotypic rescue of trophy-hunted populations

What is it about?

This paper is about the importance of protected areas for phenotypic rescue of horn size in trophy-hunted bighorn sheep population in Alberta.

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Photo by Pete Nuij on Unsplash

Photo by Pete Nuij on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Sustainable exploitation must minimize its impact on the ecology and evolution of exploited wildlife. Intense phenotype‐based selective harvests can induce evolutionary change. Refuges could mitigate those evolutionary effects if individuals not subject to selective hunting in harvest refuges migrated and reproduced in hunted areas. The role of harvest refuges on phenotypic rescue of trophy‐hunted species, however, has rarely been tested.