BIO 403 — Wildlife Conservation and Management: Lecture Note

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THA 104 la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS

THA 104 la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS Course code: BIO 403 Course title: Wildlife Conservation and Management Course credit load: 2 Units Series 1: Principles of Wildlife Management • Part 1.1: General Principles and Glossary of Ecosystem Management o Sub Part 1.1.1: Defining wildlife and wildlife management o Sub Part 1.1.2: Key concepts in ecosystem management o Sub Part 1.1.3: Glossary of essential wildlife management terms • Part 1.2: Principles of Wildlife Population Management o Sub Part 1.2.1: Carrying capacity and population regulation o Sub Part 1.2.2: Habitat management principles o Sub Part 1.2.3: Sustainable yield and harvest management • Part 1.3: Biological Gardens and Ex-Situ Conservation o Sub Part 1.3.1: Zoos, botanical gardens, and biological parks o Sub Part 1.3.2: Roles of biological gardens in conservation o Sub Part 1.3.3: Biological gardens in Nigeria • Part 1.4: Fire as a Tool in Terrestrial Wildlife Management o Sub Part 1.4.1: Ecological role of fire in wildlife habitats o Sub Part 1.4.2: Prescribed burning as a management tool o Sub Part 1.4.3: Risks and considerations in fire management

THA 104 la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS Introduction Wildlife management is the science and practice of maintaining wildlife populations and their habitats at levels that balance ecological sustainability with human needs, whether for conservation, recreation, or sustainable use. Effective wildlife management requires understanding the principles that govern population dynamics, habitat quality, and ecosystem function, as well as the practical tools available to managers to influence these processes in pursuit of defined management objectives. This Series introduces the foundational principles and terminology of wildlife and ecosystem management; the population-level principles of carrying capacity, habitat management, and sustainable harvest; the role of biological gardens (zoos and botanical gardens) as ex-situ conservation tools, with particular reference to Nigeria; and the use of fire as a deliberate management tool in terrestrial wildlife habitats, establishing the conceptual foundation for the more specialised topics covered in the remainder of this course. Series Learning Outcomes Upon completing this Series, you should be able to: • SLO 1.1 define wildlife management and explain key concepts and terminology in ecosystem management, • SLO 1.2 explain carrying capacity, habitat management principles, and sustainable yield in wildlife population management, • SLO 1.3 describe the role of biological gardens in ex-situ conservation, with reference to Nigeria, and • SLO 1.4 explain the ecological role of fire and the practice and risks of prescribed burning in wildlife management.

THA 104 la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS 1.1 General Principles and Glossary of Ecosystem Management 1.1.1 Defining wildlife and wildlife management Wildlife is broadly defined as undomesticated animal species living in their natural habitat, though the term is sometimes extended to include wild plants and the ecosystems that support them; wildlife management is the application of ecological knowledge and practical techniques to manipulate wildlife populations and their habitats to achieve specific human-defined objectives, which may include conservation of biodiversity, sustainable production of game or fish for food or recreation, control of pest or overabundant species, and restoration of degraded ecosystems. Modern wildlife management has evolved from an early focus primarily on game species for hunting toward a broader ecosystem-based approach that recognises the interconnectedness of species, habitats, and human communities; the discipline draws on population ecology, habitat ecology, genetics, veterinary science, and increasingly social science and economics, since the success of wildlife management interventions depends heavily on the cooperation and support of the human communities who share the landscape with wildlife. Fill in the blank: Wildlife management is the application of ecological knowledge to manipulate wildlife populations and their habitats to achieve specific ________ -defined objectives such as conservation or sustainable use. 1.1.2 Key concepts in ecosystem management Ecosystem management is an integrated approach to managing natural resources that considers the entire ecological system (including its physical, biological, and human components) rather than managing individual species or resources in isolation; key concepts include ecosystem services (the benefits humans derive from ecosystems, including provisioning services such as food and water, regulating services such as climate regulation, and cultural services such as recreation), ecological integrity (the capacity of an ecosystem to maintain its characteristic structure, composition, and function over time), and adaptive management (an iterative approach

THA 104 la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS in which management actions are treated as experiments, monitored, and adjusted based on the results). Other essential concepts include the precautionary principle (taking protective action even when scientific certainty about a threat is incomplete, given the risk of irreversible harm), stakeholder participation (involving all parties with an interest in a resource, including local communities, government agencies, and conservation organisations, in management decisions), and the landscape-scale perspective (recognising that wildlife populations and ecological processes typically operate across spatial scales larger than any single protected area, requiring coordination across administrative and land-use boundaries). Fill in the blank: ________ management is an iterative approach in which management actions are treated as experiments, with outcomes monitored and used to adjust future management decisions. 1.1.3 Glossary of essential wildlife management terms Several foundational terms recur throughout wildlife management: a population is a group of individuals of the same species occupying a defined area and capable of interbreeding; a habitat is the specific environment, including its physical and biotic characteristics, that provides the resources and conditions necessary for a species survival and reproduction; carrying capacity is the maximum population size that a given habitat can sustainably support given available resources; and a keystone species is a species whose impact on its ecosystem is disproportionately large relative to its abundance, such that its loss would cause significant ecosystem change. Further essential terms include biodiversity (the variety of life at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels within a given area); conservation (the protection, sustainable management, and restoration of natural resources and biodiversity); in-situ conservation (conservation of species within their natural habitat, such as in national parks); ex-situ conservation (conservation of species outside their natural habitat, such as in zoos, gene banks, or botanical gardens); and endangered species (a species at high risk of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range).

THA 104 la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS Fill in the blank: A ________ species is one whose impact on its ecosystem is disproportionately large relative to its abundance, such that its loss would cause significant ecosystem change. Figure 1.1: Wildlife management foundations and ecosystem concepts Pilot questions 1.1 1. Define wildlife management and state two objectives it may pursue. 2. Explain what adaptive management is. 3. Define carrying capacity. 4. Distinguish between in-situ and ex-situ conservation. 5. Define keystone species and give one reason its loss matters for an ecosystem.

THA 104 la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS 1.2 Principles of Wildlife Population Management 1.2.1 Carrying capacity and population regulation Carrying capacity is the maximum population size of a species that a given habitat can sustain indefinitely given the available food, water, shelter, and space, without degrading the habitat resource base; populations below carrying capacity typically grow, while populations exceeding carrying capacity decline due to resource limitation, increased disease transmission, or starvation; carrying capacity is not a fixed number but varies with habitat condition, season, and the presence of competing or predatory species, and may itself decline if habitat quality is degraded by overgrazing, drought, or other pressures. Density-dependent factors (those whose effect on population growth intensifies as population density increases, such as food competition, disease transmission, and predation) act as natural regulating mechanisms that tend to stabilise populations near carrying capacity; density-independent factors (such as severe weather events or fire) affect population size regardless of density and can cause populations to fluctuate independently of resource availability; wildlife managers use estimates of carrying capacity to set sustainable harvest quotas, determine appropriate stocking densities for protected areas, and assess whether a habitat can support reintroduction of a species. Fill in the blank: ________ -dependent factors, such as food competition and disease transmission, intensify in effect as population density increases, acting as natural population regulating mechanisms. 1.2.2 Habitat management principles Habitat management is the deliberate manipulation of vegetation, water, and other habitat features to improve conditions for target wildlife species; common habitat management techniques include controlled grazing or mowing (to maintain open grassland structure favoured by many grazing species), water management (creating or maintaining waterholes, dams, or wetlands to ensure year-round water availability), and vegetation management (selective

THA 104 la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS clearing, planting, or fire, depending on the successional stage and structure required by the target species). Habitat heterogeneity (the presence of a diverse mosaic of habitat types and successional stages within a landscape) generally supports higher overall species diversity than uniform habitat, since different species require different habitat structures

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