Séminaire Nancy – Frank Jensen (University of Copenhagen)

Détails de l'événement :

“An Empirical Predator-Prey Model: The Case of Florida Panthers, Deer and Cattle” with Andres Susaeta, Frank Jensen and Henrik Meilby

Abstract: The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi), listed as an endangered species under the US Endangered Species Act, is the only subspecies of puma that remains in the eastern United States. Since the 1990s, conservation efforts have enabled the panther population to increase, but the species is still listed as endangered. From an economic point of view, the Florida panther constitutes a renewable resource, which generates several benefits and costs such as existence values and traffic damage costs. Furthermore, the Florida panther preys on deer and cattle, making joint management of these three species important. In this paper, we develop a theoretical predator-prey model with Florida panthers as the predator and deer and cattle as prey species. We use the model to formulate several management scenarios covering optimal joint management of panthers, deer and cattle, and various policy recommendations for a target population of panthers. The model is parameterized using simple methods such as benefit transfer and direct calculation. By using the parameterized model, we find that the optimal population of Florida panthers under joint management is higher than several policy targets for the population of this species. Furthermore, the net benefit of panthers is higher than the net benefit of deer and the profit from cattle farming. These results are, to a significant extent, robust to variations in the parameter values, implying that the Florida panther is an important economic resource, which requires careful management.