Wildlife Management

Wildlife management is the manipulation of wild animal populations and their habitats for the benefit of both humans and wildlife. Wildlife management includes running parks and reserves, altering and rehabilitating wildlife habitats, pest control, protecting human life and property and managing harvests of wildlife.

Controlling populations of wildlife may take one of the following forms:

• Managing wildlife habitats
• Managing people
• Managing individual animals in populations to either change or cause a population to remain constant.

The techniques and types of wildlife management vary depending on your location, and as with any job, you will find that you will need to carry out research into the local methods and types of wildlife management. This course is designed to give students a broad based introduction to the principles and practices of wildlife management common to many species around the globe.

COURSE STRUCTURE
There are 9 lessons as follows:

1. Introduction to Wildlife Management
2. Wildlife Habitats
3. Wildlife Ecology
4. Population Dynamics
5. Carrying Capacity
6. Wildlife Censuses
7. Wildlife Management Techniques
8. Wildlife Management Law and Administration
9. Wildlife Management Case Study Research Project

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

AIMS
On successful completion of the course you should be able to do the following:

• Develop a concept of how man manages wildlife populations in different situations around the world.
• Understand and discuss the principles of wildlife ecology.
• Understand wildlife habitats and their importance to managing wildlife.
• Explain how populations of any one species change and adapt to variations in their environment.
• Understand carrying capacity and its importance in managing wildlife populations.
• Explain a range of different methods used to determine the number of individuals in a wildlife population.
• Discuss a range of different wildlife management techniques.
• To understand the potentials and limitations of legal and administrative initiatives, in the pursuance of more effective wildlife management.
• Examine a specific wildlife management case of interest to the student.

WHAT THE COURSE COVERS
Here are just some of the things you will be doing:

• Contact (either in person, email or by telephone) an organisation involved in wildlife management such as a National Park, wildlife reserve, zoo, etc to research their wildlife management program.
• In your locality, find out about one pest species of wildlife and one endangered or threatened species of native wildlife. Research what happened to make these animals pests or endangered.
• Visit a natural area in your locality and observe the organisms in the area and their interactions with each other and the environment.
• Explain what trophic levels are and how energy flows between them.
• Define habitat, biome, vegetation formation and feeding radius.
• Visit a zoo, wildlife park, game reserve, pet shop, fauna sanctuary or other place where wild animals are kept in captivity to observe the animals in their captive surroundings and compare these with their native surroundings.
• Identify a predator-prey relationship between two species in a local ecosystem and make predictions about changes to this relationship.
• Research the difference between r and K strategists in animals.
• Design a wildlife survey using a suitable sampling technique. Write this survey up as a mini scientific report containing an Abstract/Project Summary, Methods and materials section, Results/Discussion and Conclusion.
• Research the success of one wildlife program where wildlife have been bred in captivity and then released.
• Draw up a table that lists the advantages and disadvantages of allowing hunting to proceed in game parks where the animals being hunted are native to the area.
• Telephone or contact a wildlife management agency in your area to determine the relevant local, regional, national and international laws that apply to wildlife in your locality.
• Prepare a report on a population of animals surveyed during the course.

Extract from Course Notes:

POPULATIONS

A population is a group of individuals of the same species that interact and reproduce together in the one place. For manager’s, populations are usually the smallest group of animals that is self sufficient. Populations can cover small or large areas, and they may move around a lot or tend to stay in the once place.

Populations of different species will live and interact within an area. This group of populations is known as a community. This community will interact with its environment, forming the very important grouping known as an ecosystem. Ecosystems have both living (such as the community) and nonliving (such as the soil and the atmosphere) components.

Birth or Natality Rate

The birth or natality rate is the number of young produced per unit of time, while the death rate is the number of deaths per unit of time (this is usually measured per year). The number of young produced per adult varies between species, but in general, the longer an adult spends nurturing its young, the fewer offspring it will produce.

Death or Mortality Rate

The mortality or death rate is the number of organisms in a population dying as a proportion of the total population per unit of time (usually quoted per year). The mortality rate may vary with environmental changes.

Growth Rate

All populations have a birth rate, and death rate and a growth rate. The growth rate is dependant on the birth and death rates.

Population growth occurs when births exceed deaths, while population decline occurs when deaths exceed births. When the number of births in a population is equal to the number of deaths, then there is zero population growth and the size of the population remains unchanged.

If a small population is introduced into a favourable environment with an abundance of resources, this population may go through exponential, or continuously increasing growth. Many populations experience exponential growth in the early stages of colonising a habitat. This is because they take over an unexploited niche, or drive other populations out of a more profitable one. However, if a population continues to grow exponentially, they eventually reach an upper limit of the resources available. This normally causes a dramatic decline because of some calamity such as starvation, disease or competition from other species.

Generally, populations of plants and animals that experience cycles of exponential growth are those species that:

· Produce many young

· Provide little in the way of parental care

· Produce an abundance of seeds, with little food reserves.

This course will give students a broad based introduction to wildlife management that can be applied to all types of wildlife around the globe. It can serve as a course in its own right or as part of a higher qualification in environmental or nature park management.
Student Comment (P.Soult):
"Great tutors, V. helpful feedback"