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

Fail to Reject

Reject

Scientific Method

"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

Making way for “modern”

wildlife species

History of Wildlife Management

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

• American Indians

• wildlife

• fire

History of Wildlife Management

• 500 ybp, Europeans arrive….

• Spanish bring horses, livestock

History of Wildlife Management

• 500 ybp, Europeans arrive….

• Other Europeans exploit fisheries, fur, meat, feathers…. (1870-1915)

History of Wildlife Management• Fur trade & near extinction of beaver

(Castor canadensis)

History of Wildlife Management

• Market hunting

• Near extinction of bison : 60M to ~150

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• Habitat loss & Exploitation

History of Wildlife Management• Habitat loss & Exploitation

Or is it gone?

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

April 22, 1970

Recent Epoch (~0.01 Mybp - present)

– historic time

– green & industrial revolutions

– rapid loss of biodiversity

*Largest extinction event?

Our Insatiable Appetite for Energy

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

Behavior is Important!

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

Hutchison’s n-dimensional hypervolume

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 Resource Use Human Values & Attitudes (Socio-political)

*Heterogeneity supports greater diversity right!?

*Naturally patchy distribution of resources

habitat interspersion –

Leopold’s Law of Interspersion

Managing for Biodiversity

Paradigm of Wildlife Biology & Conservation Biology

Human-induced“heterogeneity”

Land-use Trends:Private vs. Public

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

Intensive Agriculture&

Clean Farming

Timber Extraction&

Fragmentation

Formation of Terrestrial “Islands”

Oceanic Island = Terrestrial Island ?????

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

Managing for Biodiversity

Biodiversity

• Genetic diversity and:

• evolution

• reproduction

• adaptation

• disease

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

Types of Management

3) Manage Habitat

• Maintain habitat

• Improve habitat

“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”

Ways to Manage

4) Guild Mgt or Life-Form Mgt

– grouping of species based on use of same type of resources (e.g., foraging guilds)