3/5 (absent) Flashcards

Essential information for wildlife management and where it came from

1
Q

What is wildlife management based on?

A

Science

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2
Q

Why is wildlife management based on science?

A
  • Aldo Leopold contributed the idea to base management on scientific research
  • Research to find facts and general principles to tie facts together
  • can’t achieve goals without understanding populations
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3
Q

What are the different factors (7) that you need to know about a population?

A
  • abundance
  • rate of growth
  • vital rates
  • carrying capacity
  • limiting factors
  • habitat quality
  • int7rnal structure
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4
Q

How is abundance relevant in wl management?

A
  • population size is the most important
  • most pop. management attempt to manipulate abundance
  • censusing wildlife pop. to obtain info on abundance
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5
Q

What is wildlife censusing?

A

Sampling the population to estimate its abundance

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6
Q

What are the different types of wildlife censusing (3)?

A
  1. Mark-Recapture
  2. Transects (line, strip, point)
  3. Index
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7
Q

How does the Mark-Recapture strategy work?

A
  1. capture individuals
  2. mark them
  3. release them
  4. recapture (or resight)
  5. estimate abundance based on recapture rate
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8
Q

Who performs the mark-recapture strategy?

A

Capturing and marking is usually done by trained professionals but resightings can be reported by volunteers

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9
Q

How does the transects strategy work?

A
  1. count individuals detecting along a line (or within a strip) and extrapolate from detections to number in a larger area
  2. this usually requires correcting for detectability because some individuals are missed
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10
Q

How does the indices strategy work?

A
  1. count some indication of the animals presence rather than animals themselves
  2. assume strong correlation between the index and actual number or density
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11
Q

What are some examples of indications used in indices?

A

songs, tracks, droppings, browse

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12
Q

Why is the rate of growth important?

A

it tells a manager how the population is doing. expressed as a change in population size over time & requires several abundance estimates

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13
Q

What are the two equations that could be used for rate of growth?

A

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14
Q

What is survival rate based on?

A
  1. The rate of returns or 2. markers from dead individuals or the 3. resighting of marked individuals over multiple time periods
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15
Q

What is Carrying Capacity symbolized as?

A

K

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16
Q

What is K set by?

A

The limited availability of an essential resource (space, food, water, nesting sites etc.)

17
Q

When will K be set?

A

K will be set by the essential resource that is in shortest supply a a particuar place and time

18
Q

When does K typically equal 9?

A

If any essential resource is lacking

19
Q

What are some challenges to understanding K?

A
  • K is not constant over time and space
  • It varies from site to site
  • Varies between seasons and years for the same site
  • For migratory species, N can be determined by the K of either breeding or non-breeding range
20
Q

What is some basic information on K?

A
  • K often important but difficult to estimate

- Often based on detailed habitat assessment and “expert interpretation”

21
Q

What are limiting factors?

A
  • resources that are in short supply and prevent further population growth
  • typically only identified via experiments
  • after experiments, habitat assessments can reveal which factor is limiting
22
Q

How do you determine a limiting factor?

A
  • life history knowledge to narrow possibilities
  • experiments
  • change availability of key resource and monitor N
  • if N doesn’t respond, experiment with other resources until a change in N results
23
Q

Give an example of when limiting factors were corrected

A

American kestrels; lack of nest cavities, added nest boxes, n increased 3x

24
Q

Why is assessing habitat quality important?

A

-managers needed a standardized method for assessing habitat and predicting its suitability for a species
-Several methods developed
-Habitat Suitability Index based on predicting impacts of limiting factors
-

25
Q

What are HSI Models designed to predict? How?

A

The quality of a species’ habitat based on knowledge of how its presence and density are affected by the most likely limiting factors;
mathematical equation integrates info on limiting factors into one index

26
Q

What do HSI models rely on?

A

The expert knowledge of species’ life history to identify some 3-8 major limiting factors

27
Q

What is the range for the Habitat Suitability Index?

A

from 0.0 to 1.0

28
Q

What are common limiting factors for breeding bald eagles?

A

Eagles need:

  • lots of fish
  • large area of productive water for hunting
  • nesting sites in large trees near water
  • isolation from disturbances
29
Q

What is the equation for HSI?

A

HSI= SI1xSI2xSI3

30
Q

Where does the data for HSI come from?

A

Collected by managers and citizen scientists

31
Q

What is citizen science?

A

Participation in scientific research by unpaid volunteers who are not professional scientists

32
Q

How are citizens and scientists partnered?

A
  • volunteers colect data on wild animals, plants or environmental conditions
  • Scientists train volunteers, analyze the data and report results
33
Q

What are some examples of participants in citizen science?

A
  1. science teachers
  2. students
  3. retirees
  4. conseration group members
  5. bird watchers
  6. amateur naturalists
  7. hikers, backpackers, outdoor enthusiasts
34
Q

What type of data is collected by citizen scientists?

A
  1. count birds, butterflies, frogs, flowers etc.
  2. record dates of seasonal events (phenology)
  3. record gps coordinated of wildlife observations
  4. set up and monitor motion-sensitive cameras
  5. monitor spread of invasive species
  6. measure air or water quality
35
Q

What is are major benefits to citizen science? (4)

A
  1. Lower costs; cheaper to recruit volunteers than hire people, funding is limited
  2. Greater Geographic Scale: data collected at same time in different locations
  3. Educational Value: public awareness of eco. and conservation issues
  4. Get people out in nature
36
Q

What are some limitations to citizen science? (2)

A
  1. may be less reliable (vague data, mistakes)
  2. volunteers can’t do everything (requires difficult calculations and measurements, can’t require long time commitments)
37
Q

How are limitations overcome?

A
  • Providing adequate training
  • Detailed easy to understand instructions
  • Avoid overly complex or detailed data
  • Limit the number of Species to identify
  • check data for accuracy
38
Q

Have volunteers proven to be reliable? Example

A

Yes; in Atlantic Coast crab study, 7th graders identified crabs correctly 95% of time and 3rd graders did 80% of time