Welcome
to EFB493/693
Lecture Notes - 2008
This support document includes the important points addressed in each lecture. A good study strategy is to compare your notes with the important points listed for each lecture and make certain that you can describe each point.
Course Introduction
Course Description
In this course, you will become acquainted with a series of techniques, concepts and special experiences. You will be responsible for demonstrating proficiency with all of the techniques and concepts. The special experiences will, however, prove to be the most lasting and valuable aspects of the course.
Course Goals
Develop conceptual and technical capabilities
- Habitat evaluation procedures.
- Wildlife population modeling and harvest management strategies.
- Management planning.
- Professional presentation.
Instructional Objectives
At the end of the course, students will be able to describe how to conduct the following techniques
- USFWS Habitat Evaluation Procedures
- Vegetation sampling
- Database construction
- Population census and index
- Computer programming in spreadsheets for population modeling
- Estimation of carrying capacity via regression
- Leslie matrix population projection
- Assessment of habitat-population interaction
- Management planning (formulating goals, objectives & prescriptions)
At the end of the course, students will be able to relate the following concepts to wildlife management:
- Historical foundations to wildlife management
- Key environmental legislation affecting wildlife management
- Finite & instantaneous population growth
- Logistic theory in management
- Ecological & economic carrying capacity
- Natural regulation in vertebrate populations
- Additive and compensatory effects in exploited populations
- Maximum sustained yield, maximum standing crop, fixed removal rates
- Life history influence on species restoration and exploitation
- Importance of economics, politics and science to management process
- Characteristics of Adaptive Management
Special Experiences
As part of the course, student will be exposed to the
following:
- Team effort on constructing management plan
- Professionalism in written and oral presentation style
- Computer analysis and modeling
Grading Policy
Grades are determined by performance on lab assignments (about 30%), exams (about 30%) term project (about 30%) and class participation (about 10%).
Assignments must be in my mailbox by 4:30 PM on the date due. Late papers will be accepted only with prior arrangement.
One point may be deducted for each spelling, typographical or grammatical error; 1/2 point may be deducted for stylistic errors..
Origins of American Wildlife Conservation
Important Points
- What is the definition of conservation?
- What are the arenas of influence in decisions pertaining to wildlife conservation?
- What is the relevance of Kirkpatrick and Turner’s article to the origins of conservation?
- What is the relevance of the article to the future of conservation?
- What is the relevance of the Leopold chapter to conservation today?
- What are the components of the Roosevelt Doctrine of Conservation?
- Why are the elements of
- What is the role of science in management?
- By what criteria should good management be judged?
The Planning Process
Important Points
- 7 essential elements to planning
- Distinction between goals and objectives
- 4 Steps in Adaptive Management
- Relationship of Adaptive Management to planning
- How Adaptive Management ensures better planning
Adaptive Management
Important Points
- What is adaptive management?
- What are the 4 Steps of the Adaptive Management Process
- Why is adaptive management an intuitive concept?
- How might adaptive
management be related to
- How does the process of adaptive management encourage good planning?
Adaptive Management - Discussion
Important Points
- What are the 3 principal
messages from
- Why are these principles crucial to our management of habitat?
- If we set a goal of increasing a population using adaptive management, how do we begin?
- What is the wisdom in the statement by Aldo Leopold, “To shy away from manipulation of natural resources shows good taste but poor judgment”?
Niche Theory and Habitat
Important Points
- What is the definitions of niche and habitat?
- What is the relation between habitat and niche?
- What aspects of this relationship do we, as wildlife managers, bring to the table?
Habitat Evaluation Models
Important Points
- What is the principal motivation to ecological assessment?
- What is a Habitat Suitability Index (HSI)?
- What are the assumptions underlying habitat models?
- What is a Life Requisite Value?
- What is a Tract Suitability Score?
- What are the steps in conducting a habitat assessment?
- What constitutes a good habitat model?
- How does habitat modeling fit the adaptive management concept?
Evaluation & Management Planning
Important Points
- Interpolating Habitat Suitability Indices
- Calculating Life Requisite Scores & Tract Suitability
- Relationship of Adaptive Management to Habitat Management
Review of Population Dynamics
Important Points
- Why is the definition of species important to management?
- What are the 3 elements of the definition of population?
- What is exponential growth vs geometric growth?
- What are the 4 principal concepts of Carrying Capacity?
Key references
- Errington,
P. L. 1946. Predation and vertebrate populations. Quarterly Review of Biology 21:144-177,
221-245
- Fretwell, S. D.
1972. Populations in a
seasonal environment.
- Caughley, G. 1979.
What is this thing called carrying capacity. Pages 2 – 12 in M. S. Boyce
and
L. D. Hayden-Wing (eds), North American
Elk: Ecology, Behavior and Management.
- Macnab, J.
1985. Carrying capacity and
related slippery shibboliths. Wildlife Society Bulletin 13:403-410.
Recruitment & K
Important Points
- What is the difference between increment of growth and recruitment?
- Why does the Verhulst Equation model an asymptotic approach to K?
- How do we predict population change using instantaneous and finite growth models?
What is Carrying Capacity?
Important Points
- Why is negative feedback essential to population regulation?
- How can negative feedback be measured?
- Why should we bother to learn about logistic growth?
- What assumptions are inherent to logistic growth?
- What are the differences among reactive, interactive, consumptive and pre-emptive approaches to K?
Population Modeling – Complex Time Lines
Important Points
- Definitions of Recruitment (F) and Survival (P)
- Time Lines When Time of Census & Reproductive Pulse Coincide
Confusion Control for Complex Timelines
Important Points
- Keeping Natural History and Model Sequencing in Synchrony
- Recruitment when Time of Census and Birth (or Hatch) DO NOT Coincide
Case Example: Deer Management in Irondequoit
Important Points
- What is the relationship between sustained yield and the increment of growth curve?
- Why in an increment of growth curve helpful in managing a deer population?
- How do we calibrate and increment of growth curve?
- What questions must be answered to estimate the number of females to contracept?
- Why isn’t there a one-for-one trade for removal vs contraception
- Why is estimating cost of management a challenge when densities are low relative to K?
MSY and Optimum Sustained Yield
Important Points
- Definitions of MSY, OSY, MSC
- Why OSY more challenging on the left side of the IGC?
- Why are skewed IGC’s a hazard to management?
- What are additive mortality and compensatory mortality?
- When is recruitment compensatory?
Age-Structured Populations
Important Points
- What is the Leslie Matrix modeling?
- How is N0 determined? N1? N2?
- Why is lambda unstable unless the population is at Stable Age Distribution?
Assessment-driven Management
Important Points
- What is succession vs forest development?
- What factors affect vegetation change?
- Why is it essential to understand their implications to management?
- Why are management objectives driven by assessment?
Monitoring Moves Management
Important Points
- What is feasibility-driven monitoring?
- What factors affect vegetation change?
- Why is it essential to understand their implications to management?
- Why are management objectives driven by assessment?
Life History & Population Management
Important Points
- Population Oscillation: When to do populations display damped cycles vs limit cycles
- What natural history characteristics are necessary for a population to approach K asymptotically?
- How can population management eliminate what would normally be a chaotic growth trajectory?
Integrating HSI & Population Management
Important Points
- Relationship Between Tract Suitability Score and K
- Parsimony in Making Assumptions about HSI and K
- Projecting Populations Through Time with Varying K
Predator Restoration – Wolves and Cougars
Important Points
- Why is the impact of wolves different in Yellowstone vs
- What factors enhance the ability of predators to hold a prey population below K?
- What would we predict for the future population dynamics of
elk in Yellowstone and moose on
- How do we reconcile two key statements in the Leopold Report: “A national park should be a vignette of primitive America.” and “Where populations get out of balance with their habitat and threaten the continued existence of a desired environment, population control becomes essential.”
- How does the Lambert et al.’s Leslie matrix work? What is F?
Professional Presentations
Important Points
- Effective Use of Computer Graphics
- Voice & Pace
- Eye Communication
- Dress for Success
Management Realities
Important Points
· Incorporating Central Concepts of Adaptive Management into Planning
· Why are management objectives linked to assessment?
· Why is monitoring linked to feasibility?