ArticleEvolutionary applications2016
Intense selective hunting leads to artificial evolution in horn size.
Article in Evolutionary applications, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evolutionary Footprint: A Systemic Indicator in Evolution, Ecology and Conservation.Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Recent Polygenic Adaptation in Heavily Fished Malawi Cichlids.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Tradeoffs Among Predator Control, Moose Harvests, and Trophy Antlers: Principles Pertinent to Managing Alaska's Wildlife.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Review
- Species-specific behaviour and environmental drivers of trap interactions in wild ornamental fishes.Journal of fish biology · 2025Article
- A Conceptual Disease Cycle Model to Link the Size of Past and Future Epidemics.Ecology and evolution · 2025Review
- Individual behaviour, growth, survival and vulnerability to hunting in a large mammal.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Genetic rescue from protected areas is modulated by migration, hunting rate, and timing of harvest.Evolutionary applications · 2023Article
- Effects of hunting on genetic diversity, inbreeding and dispersal in Finnish black grouse (Evolutionary applications · 2023Article
- The challenge of demonstrating contemporary natural selection on polygenic quantitative traits in the wild.Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- Different proxies, different stories? Imperfect correlations and different determinants of fitness in bighorn sheep.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Is hunting nonintentionally selective? A test using game bird capture-dead recoveries.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Using genomic prediction to detect microevolutionary change of a quantitative trait.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Ewe are what ewe wear: bigger horns, better ewes and the potential consequence of trophy hunting on female fitness in bighorn sheep.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Breeding migrations by bighorn sheep males are driven by mating opportunities.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- The interplay between hunting rate, hunting selectivity, and reproductive strategies shapes population dynamics of a large carnivore.Evolutionary applications · 2021Article
- Determinants and long-term costs of early reproduction in males of a long-lived polygynous mammal.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- The importance of genomic variation for biodiversity, ecosystems and people.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2021Review
- Marine protected areas rescue a sexually selected trait in European lobster.Evolutionary applications · 2020Article
- The Effects of Quantitative Trait Architecture on Detection Power in Short-Term Artificial Selection Experiments.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2020Article
- Stable body size of Alpine ungulates.Royal Society open science · 2020Article
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4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The potential for selective harvests to induce rapid evolutionary change is an important question for conservation and evolutionary biology, with numerous biological, social and economic implications. We analyze 39 years of phenotypic data on horn size in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) subject to intense trophy hunting for 23 years, after which harvests nearly ceased. Our analyses revealed a significant decline in genetic value for horn length of rams, consistent with an evolutionary response to artificial selection on this trait. The probability that the observed change in male horn length was due solely to drift is 9.9%. Female horn length and male horn base, traits genetically correlated to the trait under selection, showed weak declining trends. There was no temporal trend in genetic value for female horn base circumference, a trait not directly targeted by selective hunting and not genetically correlated with male horn length. The decline in genetic value for male horn length stopped, but was not reversed, when hunting pressure was drastically reduced. Our analysis provides support for the contention that selective hunting led to a reduction in horn length through evolutionary change. It also confirms that after artificial selection stops, recovery through natural selection is slow.
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