Is hidden demographic heterogeneity pervasive? Harvested birds as an example

Hidden survival heterogeneity was detected in most of six hunted bird species, using capture-mark-recapture-recovery data from 61,432 ringed individuals (1953–2020).

• Why it matters: Unexplained survival differences can undermine how compensation between natural and harvest mortality is understood, so managers need to know whether survival varies beyond measured traits.
• What they did: The authors analyzed capture-mark-recapture-recovery records for Common Teal, Mallard, Common Pochard, Common Snipe, Common quail, and Blackbird with multievent models to test for unexplained survival heterogeneity.
• The result: Hidden survival heterogeneity was pervasive across species spanning a demographic slow–fast continuum, and low vs high survival probability was not linked to migration phenology or morphology, implying unmeasured intrinsic or spatial hunting-pressure factors.

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