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PRINT: ISSN 2221-1896
ONLINE : ISSN 2223-0343
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Analysis of wildlife population dynamics using a
connected scatter plot: Latvian wild animals as an example |
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Yukichika Kawata1*, Jānis Ozoliņš2 and Jānis
Baumanis2
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1Department
of Animal and Food Hygiene, Obihiro University of Agriculture and
Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan;
2Wildlife Management, Latvian State Forest Research Institute ‘Silava’,
Rigas iela 111, Salaspils, LV-2169, Latvia
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Abstract |
An easy way to calculate index
that summarizes population dynamics in a comparative manner may make it
easy for wildlife departments to detect species that should be given the
highest priority in management. The purpose of this study was to propose
one possible index and an associated scatter plot to make the conditions
of wild animal populations easy to compare. We developed a unit-free
index to make it possible to compare populations at different stages of
population expansion and/or populations of similar but different
species. We applied our index and scatter plot empirically for Latvian
game animals using data collected between 1922 and 2009 to verify the
usefulness of our method. Our index appropriately reflects changes
before and after the second independence and the accession to the EU. As
expected, our results suggest that the conditions of wild animals in Latvia
have been improving, particularly after accession to the EU.
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Keywords:
wildlife management; unit-free
index; connected scatter plot; carnivores |
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To cite this article:
Kawata Y, J Ozoliņš and J
Baumanis, 2013.
Analysis of wildlife population dynamics using a
connected scatter plot: Latvian wild animals as an example.
Res.
Opin. Anim. Vet. Sci., 3(2), 50-59. |
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