Quantitative Conservation of Vertebrates

DR MICHAEL J. CONROY has nearly 30 years of experience in developing sampling approaches, statistical estimation methods, and modeling for a wide variety of natural resource management problems. He is the author of numerous publications in applied quantitative approaches, and is coauthor on the widely acclaimed volume by Williams et al. (2002). He is currently Adjunct Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management at the University of Georgia, and Assistant Unit Leader of the Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. He is literate in Spanish and has taught short courses on quantitative methods in the US, Spain, India, and Latin America. DR JOHN P. CARROLL has been researching conservation issues relative to the Galliformes for more than 20 years. He is Chair of the World Pheasant Association/BirdLife/IUCN Species Survival Commission Partridge, Quail, and Francolin Specialist Group. He is author of numerous publications on the biology and conservation of Galliformes and the effects of agricultural practices on wildlife. He is currently Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. He has taught short courses on ??? eld research methods and techniques in Malaysia, China, Nepal, and India.

"Overall, this would be a plausible book for an upper-division course in which students would learn, rather painlessly, the necessary combination of observation and mathematics necessary to make important conservation decisions." (CHOICE, December 2009)

• Preface viiAcknowledgements ixCompanion website and CD-ROM x1 Introduction: the role of science in conservation 1Part I Basic concepts in scientific investigations for conservation 72 Using models in conservation biology 93 Models of population dynamics 154 Applying population models to conservation 325 Basics of study design and analysis 47Part II Conservation studies and monitoring programs 716 General principles of estimation 737 Occupancy (presence–absence) analysis 818 Sample counts for abundance estimation 1019 Distance sampling for estimating density and abundance 11510 Capture–mark–recapture studies for estimating abundance and density 13511 Estimation of survival from radiotelemetry, nesting success studies, and age distributions 16012 Mark–recapture for estimating survival, recruitment, abundance, and movement rates 18913 Analysis of habitat 21914 Estimation of species richness and other community parameters 230Part III Integrating modeling and monitoring for conservation 25115 Elements of conservation decision making 25316 Accounting for uncertainty in conservation decisions 26517 Learning and adaptive management 27418 Case study: decision modeling and adaptive management for declining grassland birds in the southeastern USA 28919 Summary and recommendations 303Literature cited 307Glossary 314Appendix A: Statistical and modeling programs available on the worldwide web 324Appendix B: Other internet resources 326Appendix C: Modeling and statistical notation 328Appendix D: Key to abundance and parameter estimation 331Index 337