Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Fall 2009 704:464
Lecture: Tuesday 9:15 to 10:35, ENR 123
Lab: Tuesday 11:05 to 1:55, ENR 237A
Dr. Alison Seigel · 109 Meteorology · · 932-9634
Office Hours: By Appointment
TA: Holly Vuong · · 732-932-3209 · ENR 166
TENTATIVE schedule:
Date / Lecture / Lab / Readings /1 Sept / Class Intro
Intro to WL conservation and management / Lab Intro / Mills 1, 2
15 Sept / Estimating population parameters
Hawk Migration / Trip to Chimney Rock Hawk Watch (Exercise 5 due) / Mills 4
22 Sept / Population growth
Density dependent pop change / RAMAS 1, 2 and 3
(Back up Hawk Watch day?) / Mills 5, 6
29 Sept / Guest: Patrick Carr on NJ Wildlife / Start Black Bear Project (R1, 2, 3 due)
6 Oct / Population projection models
Predation / RAMAS 4
RAMAS 5 / Mills 7,
8
13 Oct / Genetic variation and fitness
Multiple populations / RAMAS 6
Review for final (R4, 5 due) / Mills 9, 10
20 Oct / MIDTERM Exam (R6 due)
27 Oct /
Human perturbations
Populations at risk
/RAMAS 7
/Mills 11, 12
3 Nov / Disease and parasites / Work on bear data (R7 due)10 Nov / Hunting, trapping, harvesting / RAMAS 8
17 Nov / Conservation of grassland birds / Work on bear data (R8 due)
24 Nov / Urban wildlife
Wildlife and economics
1 Dec / Nongame and endangered species / Black bear presentations
8 Dec / Movie? Catch-up? / Black bear presentations
Final Exam: Monday, December 21st 8am to 11am
General course objectives:
1. Students will be able to apply biological and ecological principles, especially at the population level, to the management and conservation of wildlife populations and their habitats.
2. Students will become familiar with the primary literature in the field of wildlife biology and learn to critically evaluate scholarly articles.
3. Students will improve their critical thinking and problem solving skills through case studies.
Objectives will be achieved through:
1. Lectures and class discussion – please do not hesitate to ask questions during lectures and discussion. If you have a question it is highly likely there is another student with the same question! Class discussion is an essential component in creating an effective learning environment.
2. Assigned readings – please keep up with readings for the class. It will enhance your understanding of the lecture topic and help generate informed discussion.
3. Videos – I will use video clips to demonstrate topics discussed.
4. Student presentations – presenting information to the class is a great way to learn, as it requires a solid understanding of the material being presented and consideration of how to effectively convey information. It’s also great practice for any public speaking you will have to do in the future.
5. Exams – the midterm and final will require critical thinking and synthesis of the material covered.
Course policies:
1. If you miss class, you are responsible for obtaining class notes and assignments from another student in the course.
2. Please notify me ahead of time if you will need to make up an exam or a lab for a valid reason (e.g. illness, emergency, etc.)
3. Follow the Rutgers honor code. Assignments are to be done on your own unless otherwise specified.
Grade: Mid-term 25%; Final exam 35%; Lab 40% (graded individual lab exercises 10%; peer-evaluations 10%, group presentation and report 20%)
Texts: Conservation of Wildlife Populations: Demography, Genetics, and Management L.Scott Mills, 1st Edition
(Distributed in lab) Applied Population Ecology Akcakaya et al. 1999
Lab: Lab will focus on wildlife population dynamics. We will be working through exercises using RAMAS EcoLab 2.0 software and the Applied Pop Ecology pdf textbook. This population modeling software can be found only on the computers in ENR 237A. At the end of each assigned chapter are exercises. You will be responsible for working through each assigned exercise on your own in lab, answering the associated questions, and turning it in the following week. Based on what you learn from those exercises you will work with black bear data to create your own management plan and present it to the class at the end of the semester.