Modeling effects of harvest on firefly population persistence

Carolyn M. Bauer, Gösta Nachman, Sara M. Lewis, Lynn F. Faust and J. Michael Reed

Ecological Modelling, 2013, vol. 256, issue C, 43-52

Abstract: North American fireflies in the genus Photinus are commercially harvested to extract the enzyme luciferase, despite the availability of a synthetic recombinant enzyme. Our goal was to examine the potential effects of harvesting on Photinus population persistence. Using estimated demographic parameters for Photinus, we developed a stochastic simulation population model to understand combined effects of demography, harvest rate, delayed larval development, and environmental stochasticity on population persistence of fireflies. With no harvest and low environmental stochasticity, modeled populations tended to reach carrying capacity. We found that average population size of adult fireflies decreased with increasing harvest rate and increasing environmental stochasticity. At the highest modeled growth rate (λ=2.8) the population failed to persist only when environmental stochasticity was high and harvest rate was ≥60%. Once harvest was introduced, only populations with high growth rates consistently persisted. Long-term, sustainable Photinus harvest rates based on survey data suggest that harvest rates >10% are acceptable only if λ>1.6. Our modeling results suggest that Photinus populations might tolerate low harvest levels, although in the absence of more precise data on vital rates and the amount of environmental stochasticity, the exact level is unknown. To further examine sustainability, harvest rates should be monitored and standardized surveys conducted to document firefly population changes.

Keywords: Firefly; Insect conservation; Luciferase; Overharvest; Population persistence; Population viability analysis; Wildlife exploitation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380013001051
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:256:y:2013:i:c:p:43-52

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.02.018

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath

More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().