Wildlife Conservation Ecology
FES 560a

Introduction

The course will introduce the student to concepts related to gathering and applying scientific information for problem solving in wildlife conservation. The course will explore conceptually the kinds of ecological knowledge needed for wildlife conservation. Students will also learn how to formalize that knowledge for effective decision-making. Relevance to real-world problem solving is the central focus of the course and students will be exposed to numerous examples of applications throughout the term. Students will also gain facility using the concepts and tools through written assignments and exams. The aim of the course is to provide students with a complement of concepts and tools that can be applied generally to environmental problem solving in wildlife conservation.

Evaluation

  1. Weekly assignments and discussion (50%)
  2. 1 Take-home Exam (20%)
  3. Peer Review of a Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (30%)

Lecture Topics

  1. Introduction


    2. Gaining Reliable Knowledge

  2. Science as a means for gaining reliable knowledge
  3. Testing hypotheses
  4. Natural history facts and forecasting: the role of models
  5. Natural selection, life histories and evolutionary ecology
  6. Evolutionary patterns and life-history allometry
  7. Formalizing life-histories
  8. Population demography and elasticity
  9. Life-history trade-offs
  10. Present vs. future reproduction: the concept of reproductive value
  11. The role of biotic factors: foraging and habitat selection


    12. Applying Knowledge

  12. Population growth and carrying capacity
  13. Population viability analysis
  14. Habitat and Source-sink dynamics
  15. Habitat degradation
  16. Species losses: the ecological detective
  17. Species introductions: demographic characteristics


    18. Learning by Doing:
    Management as scientific experimentation

  18. Management by experimentation
  19. Uncertainty vs. need for action: adaptive management
  20. Long-term monitoring
  21. Conflicts due to resource exploitation: commodities vs. wildlife
  22. Wildlife harvesting and game cropping
  23. Wildlife population control
  24. Managing predator-prey systems