Harvest Mortality

For elephant-sized mammals, the model predicts an extinction-inducing pressure of 4.3 x 10^3 individuals per year per California-area without predation. Harvest-pressure estimates are minimum estimates because population growth and rebound are ignored during harvest. Harvest mortality is modeled as anthropogenic mortality subsidized by alternative resources and unconstrained by predator energetic requirements. Extinction-inducing harvest scales approximately with reproduction, so larger mammals require lower per-capita harvest rates to collapse. Small additional harvest mortality can collapse megafaunal populations when predation is included.