10 - Wildlife Environmental Assessment Flashcards
What is Objective Setting?
Determining types of wildlife, habitats to be studied, as well as the geographic area.
What is Regulatory Compliance?
Review relevant environmental regulations, laws, and guidelines that could apply to the project area and its wildlife.
What scales of regulatory compliance are there?
This could include local, regional, and national legislation regarding pretexted species.
What is the review of literature and historical data?
Research existing studies, records, and data about the area’s wildlife, vegetation, and environmental conditions.
What are baseline studies?
Conduct surveys to gather baseline data on habitat types, the presence of wildlife, and any visible ecological features.
As more information is learned, survey methods and plan detailed assessments should be _______________.
refined
What are five survey techniques?
- Camera trapping
- Line transect surveys
- Bird point counts
- Acoustic monitoring
- Vegetation sampling
What are six key considerations when conducting seasonal surveys?
- Fires
- Population cycles
- Disease parasites
- Predation
- Habitat Sequence
- Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
What does Habitat Senescence mean?
The process by which a habitat gradually degrades in a quality and loses its ability to support the same level of biodiversity and ecological function as it did in the past. It’s akin to aging in organisms where a once-thriving habitat slowly declines, often due to factors like soil nutrient depletion, vegetation changes, pollution, climate change, and invasive species.
Habitat is the interspersion of:
- Food
- Water
- Cover
What are three reasonings for habitat cover?
- Thermal
- Escape
- Security
Provide five Critical Sites:
- Mineral Licks
- Migration Corridors
- Nesting Sites
- Dens
- Leks
What is Assessment through Habitat Quality?
Each habitat can be characterized by a dominant plant form or some physical characteristic of the plant community.
What is the HEP? Define:
Habitat Evaluation Procedure: Procedure for habitat-based evaluation for use in Environmental Impact Assessment.
When is the HEP commonly used?
Method can be used to estimate the quality and quantity of available wildlife habitat for selected wildlife species.
