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Ecology

Hunting and fox numbers in the United Kingdom

Nature volume 423, page 400 (2003)Cite this article

Baker et al. reply

Although there is a tendency for our transformation to result in low R′ values for those squares where initial faecal density was low, this does not affect our results. First, this 'bias' is equivalent to a 1.2-fold difference in R′ for a 20-fold difference in initial faecal density1. Second, there was no difference between 'hunted' and 'non-hunted' squares with respect to initial faecal density, direction or magnitude of change in faecal density1. The starting conditions and pattern of change were therefore the same for hunted and non-hunted squares, and the reservations of Aebischer et al. about the transformation are unwarranted.

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References

  1. The Mammal Society (http://www.mammal.org.uk).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG, UK

    Philip J. Baker, Stephen Harris & Charlotte C. Webbon

Authors
  1. Philip J. Baker
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  2. Stephen Harris
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  3. Charlotte C. Webbon
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Correspondence to Stephen Harris.

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Baker, P., Harris, S. & Webbon, C. Hunting and fox numbers in the United Kingdom. Nature 423, 400 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/423400b

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