Wildlife Ecology, Conservation, and Management

I recommend the book unreservedly to wildlife managers, park rangers, biological resource managers, and those working in ecotourism. (Tahrcountry, 10 August 2014)

Professor John Fryxell currently teaches in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph, Canada, where he has worked closely with a number of university and government scientists to develop sustainable conservation strategies for elk, woodland caribou, wolves, and marten. Previous to this he worked at the University of British Columbia and as Wildlife Consultant for the Provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. His research has focused on the role of behavior in population and community dynamics of large mammals. He has a continuing interest in African wildlife, including long-term studies on the demography and spatial ecology of large herbivores and their predators in Serengeti National Park. Professor Anthony Sinclair is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He has been Director of the Centre for Biodiversity Research at the University, and a Professor at the Department of Zoology. He has researched Canadian subarctic ecosystems and worked on Canadian boreal forest ecosystems, in particular on cycles of snowshoe hares. He worked in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa, on ecology and conservation projects for over 40 years. He has conducted ecological research on the Serengeti ecosystem of Tanzania, documenting multiple states in Serengeti savanna and grassland communities. He has also worked on endangered marsupial mammal populations and predation by exotic carnivores in Australia and similar systems in New Zealand.

Preface xi About the companion website xiii 1 Introduction: goals and decisions 1 1.1 How to use this book 1 1.2 What is wildlife conservation and management? 2 1.3 Goals of management 3 1.4 Hierarchies of decision 6 1.5 Policy goals 7 1.6 Feasible options 7 1.7 Summary 8 Part 1 Wildlife ecology 9 2 Food and nutrition 11 2.1 Introduction 11 2.2 Constituents of food 11 2.3 Variation in food supply 14 2.4 Measurement of food supply 17 2.5 Basal metabolic rate and food requirement 20 2.6 Morphology of herbivore digestion 23 2.7 Food passage rate and food requirement 26 2.8 Body size and diet selection 27 2.9 Indices of body condition 28 2.10 Summary 33 3 Home range and habitat use 35 3.1 Introduction 35 3.2 Estimating home range size and utilization frequency 36 3.3 Estimating habitat availability and use 38 3.4 Selective habitat use 40 3.5 Using resource selection functions to predict population response 42 3.6 Sources of variation in habitat use 42 3.7 Movement within the home range 45 3.8 Movement among home ranges 48 3.9 Summary 51 4 Dispersal, dispersion, and distribution 53 4.1 Introduction 53 4.2 Dispersal 53 4.3 Dispersion 55 4.4 Distribution 56 4.5 Distribution, abundance, and range collapse 61 4.6 Species reintroductions or invasions 62 4.7 Summary 67 5 Population growth and regulation 69 5.1 Introduction 69 5.2 Rate of increase 69 5.3 Geometric or exponential population growth 73 5.4 Stability of populations 73 5.5 The theory of population limitation and regulation 76 5.6 Evidence for regulation 81 5.7 Applications of regulation 85 5.8 Logistic model of population regulation 86 5.9 Stability, cycles, and chaos 88 5.10 Intraspecific competition 90 5.11 Interactions of food, predators, and disease 93 5.12 Summary 93 6 Competition and facilitation between species 95 6.1 Introduction 95 6.2 Theoretical aspects of interspecific competition 96 6.3 Experimental demonstrations of competition 98 6.4 The concept of the niche 103 6.5 The competitive exclusion principle 106 6.6 Resource partitioning and habitat selection 106 6.7 Competition in variable environments 113 6.8 Apparent competition 113 6.9 Facilitation 114 6.10 Applied aspects of competition 119 6.11 Summary 122 7 Predation 123 7.1 Introduction 123 7.2 Predation and management 123 7.3 Definitions 123 7.4 The effect of predators on prey density 124 7.5 The behavior of predators 125 7.6 Numerical response of predators to prey density 129 7.7 The total response 130 7.8 Behavior of the prey 136 7.9 Summary 138 8 Parasites and pathogens 139 8.1 Introduction and definitions 139 8.2 Effects of parasites 139 8.3 The basic parameters of epidemiology 140 8.4 Determinants of spread 143 8.5 Endemic pathogens 144 8.6 Endemic pathogens: synergistic interactions with food and predators 144 8.7 Epizootic diseases 146 8.8 Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife 147 8.9 Parasites and the regulation of host populations 150 8.10 Parasites and host communities 151 8.11 Parasites and conservation 152 8.12 Parasites and control of pests 155 8.13 Summary 156 9 Consumerresource dynamics 157 9.1 Introduction 157 9.2 Quality and quantity of a resource 157 9.3 Kinds of resource 157 9.4 Consumerresource dynamics: general theory 158 9.5 Kangaroos and their food plants in semi-arid Australian savannas 161 9.6 Wolfmoosewoody plant dynamics in the boreal forest 167 9.7 Other population cycles 172 9.8 Summary 175 10 The ecology of behavior 177 10.1 Introduction 177 10.2 Diet selection 177 10.3 Optimal patch or habitat use 183 10.4 Risk-sensitive habitat use 186 10.5 Social behavior and foraging 187 10.6 Summary 190 11 Climate change and wildlife 191 11.1 Introduction 191 11.2 Evidence for climate change 191 11.3 Wildlife responses to climate change 192 11.4 Mechanisms of respo