E&E Seminar: “Ecology, Evolution and Expenses –Lessons from the Cayman Islands” by Jane Haakonsson (Dept. of Environment, Cayman Islands)
February 14, 2023
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Location
4289 SEL
Calendar
Download iCal FilePlease join us on Nov 29, 2022 for an E&E seminar featuring Jane Haakkonson (Dept. of Environment, Cayman Islands)
Host: Karin Nelson
Abstract: The highly invasive Green Iguana (Iguana iguana) was originally introduced as a food source and has established and become overabundant on Grand Cayman over the last 20 years. Due to the significant damage caused by this species a harvest management strategy was developed and implemented, and over 1.3 million Green Iguanas have been removed since October 2018. Distance sampling surveys are conducted annually to estimate abundance and these estimates are used to develop a Bayesian state-space logistic model, generate the posterior distributions of population and harvest management parameters, and make future predictions of abundance for August 2020–2030. Maximum population growth rate averages 1.552, carrying capacity averages 1,611,013, equilibrium abundance averages 805,506, maximum sustainable total harvest averages 628,491, and maximum sustainable harvest rate averages 0.776. Harvest mortality may have unforeseen outcomes due to the release from density dependence and overcompensation through high survival and fecundity rates. Because natural resource managers have partial control over harvesting and incomplete understanding of Green Iguana population dynamics, monitoring and modeling are essential to assess population response and guide harvest management decisions.
Date posted
May 12, 2022
Date updated
Jan 19, 2023