Chapter 13 Demography Collection
In the CWD Data Warehouse, Demography refers to quantitative metrics that describe the cervid population and processes that affect that population. The Collection allows for several demographic metrics aggregated by species, sub-administrative area (county or equivalent), and season-year (the annual period spanning July 1 to June 30).
In the Demography Collection, each demographic metric can be represented only once for each species for each Season-year. For example, for the 2021-22 Season-year, there can be only one “Total population” metric for white-tailed deer.
These demographic metrics may be critical for Models and Visualizations.
The Risk-weighted Surveillance Quotas Model requires a metric representing the distribution of the deer population across sub-administrative areas. While Total Population is the preferred statistic, a proxy metric, such as Buck Harvest, may be used.
The Epizootic Risk Model considers several demographic factors including deer density, fecundity, harvest mortality, and natural mortality. If these metrics have not been determined at the sub-administrative area level, a value can be entered that will be applied for all sub-administrative areas (such as a state- or province-wide deer density of 5.1 deer per square kilometer). However, the model is generally more informative if accurate estimates are provided for all sub-administrative areas individually.
13.1 Demographic Metrics
The Demography Collection allows for the following demographic metrics to be entered per sub-administrative area per Season-year.
| Demographic Metric | Unit | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Buck harvest | Number of animals | Number of free-ranging males harvested in the sub-administrative area (e.g., county) during the season-year |
| Doe harvest | Number of animals | Number of free-ranging females harvested in the sub-administrative area (e.g., county) during the season-year |
| Total harvest | Number of animals | Total number of free-ranging deer harvested in each sub-administrative area (e.g., county) during the season-year |
| Buck population | Number of animals | Estimated number of free-ranging males in the sub-administrative area during the season-year |
| Doe population | Number of animals | Estimated number of free-ranging females in the sub-administrative area during the season-year |
| Total population | Number of animals | Estimated total number of deer in the sub-administrative area during the season-year |
| Deer density | Number of animals per square kilometer | Average number of free-ranging deer per square kilometer in the sub-administrative area during the season-year |
| Fecundity | Number of fawns per doe | A measurement of the reproductive rate of deer in the wild population, defined here as the number of fawns born per doe in the sub-administrative area during the season-year |
| Harvest mortality | Unitless rate (proportion) | A measurement of hunter-induced death of deer in the free-ranging deer population, defined here as the proportion of deer taken from the population by hunters per season-year |
| Natural mortality | Unitless rate (proportion) | A measurement of death in the free-ranging deer population, defined here as the proportion of deer deaths in the deer population from all causes of death other than hunter-harvest in the sub-administrative area per season-year; causes of death may include but are not limited to vehicle collisions, old age, trauma, or disease |
13.3 Properties
An asterisk denotes a required field.
| Field name | Definition | Allowed values |
|---|---|---|
| Season-year | The one-year period spanning July 1 to June 30 of the following year (e.g., 2020-21 is the Season-year for the time period from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021) | YYYY-yy where YYYY is a 4-digit year and yy is the 2-digit year immediately following YYYY (e.g., 2020-21) |
| Species | The cervid species represented by the given metric | white-tailed deer, black-tailed deer, elk, moose, mule deer, red deer, reindeer, axis deer, Eid’s deer, fallow deer, muntjac, Pere David’s deer, samba deer, sika, tufted deer, caribou, hybrid, unknown |
| Metric | The demographic metric that will be represented | Buck harvest, Doe Harvest, Total harvest, Buck population, Doe population, Total population, Deer density, Fecundity, Harvest mortality, Natural mortality |
| Sub-administrative area | The value of the demographic metric for the given sub-administrative area | Dependent on the selected metric (whole number or proportion (i.e., decimal number)) |