Range contraction enables harvesting to extinction
Abstract
Many threatened species including elephants, sturgeons, and bluefin tunas are harvested for high-value products. Species can be driven extinct if incentives to harvest do not diminish as populations decline; this occurs if harvest prices rise faster than costs with declining stock. Whereas recent conservation attention for these species has largely focused on market demand, we show—using a theoretical model and an empirical review—that contractions in species’ geographic ranges, which stabilize costs and may be especially common among terrestrial species, might often play a larger role in maintaining harvest incentives. Forces impacting ranges—such as patchy and declining habitats, schooling/herding behavior, and climate change—therefore merit greater attention in assessing overharvesting threats.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 28, 2017
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1607551114
Entities
People
- Alexa Fredston-Hermann
- Christopher Costello
- David Tilman
- Malin L. Pinsky
- Matthew G. Burgess
- Stephen Polasky
- Steven D. Gaines
Organizations
- Rutgers University
- United States Department of Defense
- University of California
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- University of Minnesota
- Waitt Foundation