Wildlife Biology

Raymond F. Dasmann is the author of Wildlife Biology, 2nd Edition, published by Wiley.

• 1 What Good Are Wild Animals 3Wildlife Values 5Commercial values 5Game Values 7Aesthetic values 8Ethical values 9Scientific values 9Ecological values 10Wildlife As a Natural Resource 11The Status of Wildlife Conservation 132 The Ten-Thousand Year War 193 Everything Tied Together 29Functioning of Ecosystems 30Energy flow 30Nutrient cycling 33Hydrologic cycles 34Food chains and webs 35Ecosystem Development 35Change and Degradation 39Distribution of Biotic Communities 44Faunal regions 44Biomes 46Biotic provinces 47Ecologic Niches 484 A Place to Live 55Enough to Eat 57Effects on plants 59Dietary needs 60Seasonal changes in food values 60Soils and nutrition 63Other factors affecting food supply 64Cover 66Water 68Quantity versus Interspersion 71Limiting Factors 715 Introducing Wildlife Populations 75Density and Biomass 76Population Structure 81Natality 83Clutch size and litter size 89Length of breeding season and numbers of clutches or litters per year 85Breeding age 86Sex ratio and mating habits 87Density 87Maximum natality 88Mortality 89Predation 89Diseases and parasites 90Poisoning 92Accidents 94Weather 94Starvation 95Stress 95Hunting 96Overall effects of mortality 96Interaction of Population Characteristics 98Turnover 99Productivity 1006 Territory and Travels 103Movements Internal to the Population Area 104Home range 104Migration 106Movements External to the Population Area 109Group Size and Spacing 111Territory 112Significance of Spacing and Movements 1157 Too Many Mice, Too Few Elephants 119New Populations In New Habitats 120Some Real Life Problems 125Exponential growth 125Slow growth 127The Annual Cycle of Populations 130“Shootable Surplus” 132Stocking of Game 133Stability of Populations 133Stable populations 133Stable populations 135Cyclic populations 135The 3-4 year cycle 135The 10-year cycle 139Irruptive populations 143Evolutionary Strategies 1468 Levelling Off 151The Many Meanings of Carrying Capacity 151Subsistence density 152Optimum density 155Security density 155Tolerance density 158Intermediate situations 1619 Declining Diversity 167Species Extinction and Area Size 169Destruction of Habitat 171Nature Reserves 174Animal Trade 177International Assistance 17810 The Controllers 181References 195Index 204