Post on 16-Dec-2015
Critical Thinking Skills • First, need to differentiate between beliefs
and knowledge
• Process:
1) Gather complete information
2) Question the methods, conclusions, sources of study
3) Tolerate some level of uncertainty
4) Look at the Big Picture
"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic
community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. ...To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution to intelligent tinkering."
(Aldo Leopold, champion of conservation & father of wildlife biology)
“In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homosapiens from conqueror of the land-communityto plain member and citizen of it. It impliesrespect for his [her] fellow-members, and alsorespect for the community as such.”
Aldo Leopold
History of Wildlife Management
• Humans colonize N.A. – Quaternary Period, Pleistocene Epoch
– ice ages 13,000 ybp
- evidence for 50,000 ybp
History of Wildlife Management
• Large mammal extinctions (exploitation?)
= 66% of megafauna extinct
History of Wildlife Management
• 500 ybp, Europeans arrive….
• Other Europeans exploit fisheries, fur, meat, feathers…. (1870-1915)
History of Wildlife Management• Market hunting
• Bison
• Successful extinction of passenger pigeon
- immense abundance (400 km long, 1800)
History of Wildlife Management• Passenger pigeon
- immense abundance (400 km long, 1800)
- 1878 – 3 months, 1.5 M pigeons from MI to market
History of Wildlife Management• Passenger pigeon
- last sighting 1899
- 14-yr old boy shot last wild pigeon in Ohio (1900)
- last captive pigeon died:
Male (1912)
Female (1914)
History of Wildlife Management
Or is it gone?
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/multimedia/videos/index_html
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/multimedia/sounds
History of Wildlife Management
• U.S. policy
• Manifest Destiny
• Land Rush
• Agricultural Development
History of Wildlife Management• Fear of losing species at such fast rates
(especially game species)…..birth of modern wildlife conservation movement…
Modern Wildlife Management
• Aldo Leopold – wrote Sand County
Almanac– wrote Game
Management– 1st university wildlife
program (UW-Madison)
– Land Ethic
Recent Epoch (~0.01 Mybp - present)
– historic time
– green & industrial revolutions
– rapid loss of biodiversity
*Largest extinction event?
Guild Concept• guild = group of species that exploit the
same class of resources in similar way• community guild = no taxonomic
restrictions; guild members chosen based on investigator-defined resources
• assemblage guild = guild members based on taxonomic relations
Habitat
• An area supporting a particular type of vegetation (habitat type)
• An area with the combination of resources and environmental conditions that allows a species (or population) to occupy, survive and reproduce
– habitat quality as relative term
Habitat Quality• Good habitat means there are higher
densities of a species compared to Poor habitat…….Right!?
• Not necessarily….Van Horne (1983) pointed out that animal density may not be the most accurate measure of habitat quality.
• Quality relates more to vital rates (survival and reproduction), vitality of offspring, temporal nature
Habitat
• Habitat from an evolutionary perspective• Species distribution relative to habitat dist’n• Climatic events
• Pleistocene Epoch & dist’n of modern species
• Evolutionary underpinnings
• Adaptation & Evolution for habitat
Concept of Habitat Selection
• Wildlife perceiving correct configuration of habitat needed for survival – differences based on age/experience/chance? – hierarchy to decision process
• Niche concept (time/place/functional role) & habitat selection
Concept of Habitat Selection
• Hutchison = n-dimensional hypervolume as explanation of the niche
• Fundamental vs. Realized Niche
Species 1Species 2
Testing the Hutchinsonian Niche Concept of Habitat Selection• James – work with birds in Arkansas…
quantified habitat relationships
• How do birds select habitat?• niche gestalt : each species has characteristic
perceptual world…responds to that world as organized whole … search image concept
• How do we (as wildlife biologists) “see” through the eyes of wildlife species?
Scale Dependence of Habitat Selection
1st Order2nd Order3rd Order4th Order
Macrohabitatvs.
Microhabitat
Habitat SelectionProximate Factors vs. Ultimate Factors
*Immediate *Evolutionary context context
*Predation *Fitness relations
*Competition
*Abiotic factors
Human Land Use Practices 1) Agriculture2) Suburban Development
Let’s pick on Indiana:
• 97% of land in state = privately-owned
• In central Indiana, • 70+% of land in row crop• <10% in forest• Urban sprawl intensifying
Important Wildlife Legislation1900 Lacey Act – no interstate commerce
1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act
1934 Fish & Wildlife Coordination Act – federal assistance
1934 Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act – duck stamp revenue for habitat purchase
1937 Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act – Pittman-Robertson Act (P-R funds)
1956 Fish & Wildlife Act – set up US Fish & Wildlife Service
Important Wildlife Legislation1964 Wilderness Act
1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
1973 Endangered Species Act – federal action for recovery & mgt
1974 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna & Flora (CITES) – import/export regulation
1976 Federal Land Policy & Mgt Act – BLM & land use plans
1976 National Forest Mgt Act (NFMA) – USFS & forest mgt plans
Important Wildlife Legislation1980 Fish & Wildlife Conservation Act – P-R funds
to nongame research & mgt
1980 National Forest Mgt Act (NFMA) – USFS & forest mgt plans
1985 Food Security Act – Farm Bill Provisions
- Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
CREP (enhancement)
- Wetland Reserve Program (WRP)
- Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)
2001 Conservation & Reinvestment Act (CARA)
Importance of Management
• Finite natural resources (land, water, wildlife, fuel, etc…)
• Future generations inherit our world
Biodiversity
• Species Diversity and:
• Evolution
• Community stability
• Predator-prey relations (keystone predators)
• Umbrella species
Biodiversity
• Ecosystem Diversity and:
• Evolution
• Flow of Energy & Nutrients
• Disturbance & change
Types of Management
1) Manage Populations• Protect species• Remove individuals by exploitation• Re-establish species• Add to population from captive source• Control predators and/or diseases• Artificial feeding
Types of Management
2) Manage People
• Law enforcement
• Public relations
• Control access and/or use
• Education
“Land” to Manage
2.3 billion acres in U.S.
741 million acres in public ownership
- 336 MA = BLM
- 189 MA = USFS
- 86 MA = USFWS
- 68 MA = NPS
- 13 MA = U.S. Army
“Land” to Manage in Michigan
36.4 million acres in Michigan
6.9+ million acres in public ownership
- 2.8 MA = USFS
- 93,000 A = USFWS
- 140,000 A = NPS
- 3.8 MA = State Forests
Ways to Manage
1) Featured Species Mgt
– single species
– particular purpose
– e.g., white-tailed deer
– could also include “umbrella species” and “flagship species”
Ways to Manage2) Species Richness Mgt
– maintain diversity and certain # of each species (follow MVP concept)
3) Indicator Species Mgt
– use a species (or group of species) to monitor environmental conditions
– not necessarily managing for these spp.
– bioindicators, biosentinels, “canary in coal mine”