Wildlife Management

Question 1

define wildlife management

Answer 1

science of reaching goals by manipulating and/or maintaining wildlife habitats and populations (fish and game species not technically included)

Question 1

WM approaches

Answer 1

preservation - nature takes it course without human intervention

direct manipulation - animal pops are trapped, shot, poisoned and stocks

indirect manipulation - vegetation, water, other key components of wildlife habitat are altered

Question 2

WM goals

Answer 2

1. increase pop of endangered species
2. decrease pop of nuisance species
3. harvest game species
4. monitor non-game species

Question 3

estimating wildlife populations

Answer 3

research (pop dynamics, climate change)

conservation (protecting endangered species)

management (browsing pressure, human/wildlife interactions, traffic collisions)

habitat modification

supplementary feeding

*can use direct or indirect methods to estimate pop

Question 4

direct methods for est. populations

Answer 4

involves observing, counting, or classifying animals

weaknesses: the assumption all animals are counted within the sampled area. all direct count methods need to be tested with capture-mark-recapture techniques like ear tagging. may think they are reliable, but not always

can use:
drive counts (ground counts in open range often used for ungulates in forested areas - N=DxA)

block counts (total counts - above tree line)

vantage point counts (artificial feeding sites, mating grounds, salt licks)

distance sampling (survey not census)

Question 5

Distance sampling

Answer 5

set of randomly placed lines or points then distances are measured to the detected individuals (acknowledges some individuals are missed and establishes a method to control for them)

3 assumptions:
I. g(0) = 1:objects directly on the line or point are always detected

II. objects are detected at their initial location before a movement in response to the observer

III. distances are measured accurately (ungrouped data) or objects are correctly counted in proper distance category (grouped data)

• in practice, detection will decrease with further distance from the center line or point - the task is to estimate the undetected objects for a more accurate number

Question 6

indirect methods for estimating wildlife populations

Answer 6

relate to the presence of signs of animals to animal density:

fecal pellet group count (count, clear, come back, and count again)

snow tracking

*lots of assumptions - are the fecal pellets from the same animal?

Question 7

hot topics in wildlife management

Answer 7

population size estimates (different goals for different species)

habitat management/human disturbance management *habitat fragmentation, roads, connectivity corridors)

climate change (protection of hotspots where species distribution is expected to shift bc of global warming)

human harvest and game species (evolutionary consequences)

management of large predators (ex. re-reintroductions)

human-wildlife interactions (ex. feeding wildlife, human-wildlife conflicts)

Question 8

how does oil fracking affect wildlife?

Answer 8

effect on predator-prey interactions and prey population dynamics

case study: north dakota badlands

Question 9

ways human-dominated landscapes affect wildlife

Answer 9

climate change and habitat change/loss

pollution

human harvest (overfishing, poaching, human selection)

human-mediated spread of diseases

invasive species

fossil fuels/oil fracking (wolves and other animals following seismic lines used for natural gas in winter)

Question 10

how do roads impact wildlife

Answer 10

direct effects: mortality and injury caused by traffic collisions or construction

indirect effects: habitat loss and fragmentation, alteration of ecosystem processes)

case study: elk, wolf, grizzly bear, and people in the Rockies —> elk more vigilant when closer to roads (50% when 12+ cars a day. grizzly bears use areas near roads when traffic is lower and avoid roads with high traffic –> changes in movement and behavior

animals waste time trying to avoid roads that they could use to forage

*These changes can influence the behavior, survival, growth, and reproductive success of animals leading to population-level consequences (ex. trophic cascade)

Question 11

monitoring techniques in studies

Answer 11

aerial survey data (ex. drones/helicopters) - expensive, not enviro-friendly, and can be dangerous

road counters

motion sensor activated cameras

apps

satellite telemetry

behavioral observations

Question 12

how does hunting/human selection affect wildlife?

Answer 12

human selection for specific morphological traits such as weight and horn size (trophy hunting for more “impressive” individuals) –> can reduce the amount of these traits in a species and change the phenotype and also the mating/breeding dynamics

selection of behavioral traits –> shy hiders are more likely to survive. bold runners more likely to be harvested (shy trait may be favored in natural selection)

Question 13

non-hunting human-wildlife interactions

Answer 13

feeding, petting, and interacting with wildlife –> disruption of natural foraging behavior, rumination cycle/digestion and physiology

study - fallow deer in Phoenix Park: 1/3 of pop chooses to interact w/ humans for food. can cause artificial selection of aggressive/begging behavior, fawns of begging mothers are bigger at birth, survive better and grow faster). different impacts on males and females

Question 14

ways of modeling animal presence/movement

Answer 14

GPS/VHF telemetry, survey/census data, citizen data, harvest data

Question 15

species reintroduction programs

Answer 15

examples:
wolves in Yellowstone: all wolves killed - elk population boomed, wolves reintroduced - caused trophic cascade through entire ecosystem (wolves are a keystone species)

orangutans in sumatra: trade-off in training for survival skills for longer and dependence on humans (animals trained longer were more independent) - can have multiple steps of reintroduction “weaning off” and release animals in areas where other individuals are

alpine ibex reintroduced in europe - success

*most harmful thing to successful reintroduction is human development and interaction (ex. killing large mammals after hurting humans - bears in northern italy)

reintroduction programs should asses and remove causes leading to local species extinction first

Question 16

trophic cascade

Answer 16

ecological phenomenon triggered by the addition or removal of top predators resulting in changes in the populations of other predator and prey species through a food change –> often causes big changes in ecosystem structure and nutrient cycling

Question 17

applications of animal movement data

Answer 17

identification of conservation hotspots (measure temp and track population movement - ex. ibex stay by rocks w/low-quality vegetation when hot and grasslands w/high-quality vegetation when it’s cold)

connectivity corridors

modeling disease spread (resource selection function used to predict disease spread based on movement data - can help plan early management data ex. chronic wasting disease in deer)

decision-making in reintroduction programs (ex. orangutans in sumatra)

Question 18

connectivity corridors

Answer 18

connect areas of habitats that animals use to move from one to another

can support natural processes that occur in healthy environment

visualize where species move due to climate change

use vs. availability of space