Wildlife Ecology and Management

Spring 2008

To obtain course notes and/or problem sets, click on the Lecture or Problem set in the Lecture/Discussion Schedule below. You must have Adobe Reader on your computer to view these documents. You may download Adobe Reader version 6.0 free of charge from http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html.

Course Description

Natural resource managers, including wildlife biologists and forest ecologists, have a tremendous challenge and important responsibility. Wildlife habitat and populations are being lost at alarming rates and natural resource managers are playing increasingly important roles in planning the future of our natural resources. It is important that wildlife biologists know how and when to apply basic biological and ecological principles to problems in natural resource conservation and management. Since much of wildlife management is applied ecology, this course will teach you how to apply selected principles and concepts of ecology and population biology to the management of wildlife populations.

Lecture/Discussion Schedule

Month/ Day	Lecture Topics	Chapter in Text	Problem Sets
1/9	Course overview and introduction
1/14	Humans and their impacts on wildlife populations	1
1/16	Humans and their impacts on wildlife populations	1
1/21	No class today—Martin Luther King’s Birthday
1/23	An overview of wildlife study design and ethics	2
1/28	An overview of wildlife study design and ethics	2
1/30	Genetics and wildlife populations	3
2/4	Genetics and wildlife populations	3	Problem set #1: Statistics in Wildlife Science (10 points; due 11 February) Problem set #2: Spreadsheet hints and tips
2/6	Estimating population vital rates Population abundance: Indices and Complete Counts Population abundance: Incomplete Counts	4
2/11	Estimating population vital rates	4	Problem set #3: Spreadsheet math functions and graphs (10 points; due 18 February) Excel spreadsheet template: math functions
2/13	Estimating population vital rates	4
2/18	Estimating population vital rates	4	Problem set #4: Spreadsheet functions and macros (10 points; due 25 February) Excel spreadsheet template: functions and macros
2/20	Population dynamics	5, 6
2/25	Population dynamics	5, 6	Problem set #5: Life tables and survival (10 point; due 3 March) Excel spreadsheet template: life tables
2/27	Population dynamics	5, 6
3/3	Population dynamics	5, 6	Problem set #6: Survival analysis (10 points; due 12 March) Excel spreadsheet template: survival analysis
3/5	Population dynamics	5, 6
3/10	Population dynamics	5, 6
3/12	Population growth Mid-Term Exam: due 7 April (100 points)	5, 6	Problem set #7: Geometric and exponential population models (10 points; due 24 March) Excel spreadsheet template: geometric and exponential pop. models
3/17	No class today—Spring Break
3/19	No class today—Spring Break
3/24	Population growth	5, 6	Problem set #8: Logistic population models (10 points; due 7 April) Excel spreadsheet template: logistic pop. models
3/26	Population growth	5, 6
3/31	Population-projection models	7
4/2	Genetic variation and fitness of wildlife populations	9, 12
4/7	Genetic variation and fitness of wildlife populations	9, 12	Problem set #9: Age-structured matrix population models (15 points; due 21 April) Excel spreadsheet template: age-structured pop. models
4/9	Genetic variation and fitness of wildlife populations	9, 12
4/14	Genetic variation and fitness of wildlife populations	9, 12
4/16	Harvest management	14
4/21	Harvest management	14	Problem set #10: Stage-structured population models (15 points; due 28 April) Excel spreadsheet template: stage-structured pop. models
4/23	Harvest management	14
4/28	Harvest management	14
4/30-5/6	Final Exam: due 6 May (100 points)

Genetic variation and fitness of wildlife populations