Population Dynamics For Conservation

This book outlines concepts such as population variability, population stability, population viability and persistance, and harvest yield. Also addressed are specific applications to conservation such as managing species at risk, fishery management, and the spatial manageement of marine resources.--Adapted from back cover.

1. Demographic and environmental stochasticity -- 2. Extinction dynamics -- 3. Age structure -- 4. Spatial structure -- 5. Population viability analysis -- 6. Sustainable harvesting -- 7. Species diversity -- 8. Community dynamics.

Understanding wildlife population ecology is vital for all wildlife managers and conservation biologists. Leopold draws on 30 years of research and teaching experience to give students and natural resource professionals the foundation they need to effectively manage wildlife populations. He begins with the key statistical concepts and research approaches necessary to gain insight into various models of population dynamics. The many factors that influence wildlife populations are thoroughly explored and their consequences are investigated. In addition, the author presents techniques for analyzing wildlife harvest data and a lucid discussion of valuable wildlife census methods. Frequent examples of foundational literature supplement each chapter with applications of the theories and provide a concise compendium of fundamental concepts of population ecology. Abundant statistical exercises reinforce students’ learning throughout the text.

As profound threats to ecosystems increase worldwide, ecologists must move beyond studying single communities at a single point in time. All of the dynamic, interconnected spatial and temporal processes that determine the distribution and abundance of species must be understood in order to develop new conservation and management strategies. This volume is the first to integrate mathematical and biological approaches to these crucial topics. The editors include not only a wide variety of theoretical approaches, but also a broad range of experimental and field studies, with chapters written by renowned experts in community ecology, ecological modeling, population genetics, and conservation biology. In addition to providing new insights into well-known topics such as migration, the authors also introduce some less familiar subjects, including bacterial population genetics and ecotoxicology. For anyone interested in the study, management, and conservation of populations, this book will prove to be a valuable resource.

Population ecology has matured to a sophisticated science with astonishing potential for contributing solutions to wildlife conservation and management challenges. And yet, much of the applied power of wildlife population ecology remains untapped because its broad sweep across disparate subfields has been isolated in specialized texts. In this book, L. Scott Mills covers the full spectrum of applied wildlife population ecology, including genomic tools for non-invasive genetic sampling, predation, population projections, climate change and invasive species, harvest modeling, viability analysis, focal species concepts, and analyses of connectivity in fragmented landscapes. With a readable style, analytical rigor, and hundreds of examples drawn from around the world, Conservation of Wildlife Populations (2nd ed) provides the conceptual basis for applying population ecology to wildlife conservation decision-making. Although targeting primarily undergraduates and beginning graduate students with some basic training in basic ecology and statistics (in majors that could include wildlife biology, conservation biology, ecology, environmental studies, and biology), the book will also be useful for practitioners in the field who want to find - in one place and with plenty of applied examples - the latest advances in the genetic and demographic aspects of population ecology. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/mills/wildlifepopulations.

Allee effects are (broadly) defined as a decline in individual fitness at low population size or density. They can result in critical population thresholds below which populations crash to extinction. As such, they are very relevant to many conservation programmes, where scientists and managers are often working with populations that have been reduced to low densities or small numbers. There are a variety of mechanisms that can create Allee effects including mating systems, predation, environmental modification, and social interactions. The abrupt and unpredicted collapses of many exploited populations is just one illustration of the need to bring Allee effects to the forefront of conservation and management strategies. Allee Effects in Ecology and Conservation provides a concise yet authoritative overview of the topic, collating and integrating a widely dispersed literature from various fields - marine and terrestrial, plant and animal, theoretical and empirical, academic and applied. This accessible text, with its clear and simple explanations of both empirical observations and theoretical predications is particularly suitable for professional and academic ecologists requiring an overview of the state-of-the-art in Allee effect research, as well as for graduate students in population ecology and conservation biology. It will also be of relevance to a wide readership of professionals in conservation and management requiring a concise summary of the topic.

There are more than one thousand species of threatened birds in the world, while many others are valued for sport and some are serious pests. This volume reviews our current understanding of avian population dynamics and explores ways in which population studies can contribute to effective conservation and management. Estimation of demographic parameters, the role of mathematical modelling, and the special problems of island populations and seabird populations are discussed. The emphasis throughout is on how bird populations are regulated under various constraints and conditions, including the impact of environmental changes.

Proceedings of 'Wildlife 2001: Populations', an International Conference on Population Dynamics and Management of Vertebrates \[Exclusive of Primates and Fish]