This book is written to serve as a general reference for biologists and resource managers with relatively little statistical training. It focuses on both basic concepts and practical applications to provide professionals with the tools needed to assess monitoring methods that can detect trends in populations. It combines classical finite population sampling designs with population enumeration procedures in a unified approach for obtaining abundance estimates for species of interest. The statistical information is presented in practical, easy-to-understand terminology. - Presented in practical, easy-to-understand terminology - Serves as a general reference for biologists and resource managers - Provides the tools needed to detect trends in populations - Introduces a unified approach for obtaining abundance estimates

In the face of so many unprecedented changes in our environment, the pressure is on scientists to lead the way toward a more sustainable future. Written by a team of ecologists, Monitoring Animal Populations and Their Habitats: A Practitioner’s Guide provides a framework that natural resource managers and researchers can use to design monitoring programs that will benefit future generations by distilling the information needed to make informed decisions. In addition, this text is valuable for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses that are focused on monitoring animal populations. With the aid of more than 90 illustrations and a four-page color insert, this book offers practical guidance for the entire monitoring process, from incorporating stakeholder input and data collection, to data management, analysis, and reporting. It establishes the basis for why, what, how, where, and when monitoring should be conducted; describes how to analyze and interpret the data; explains how to budget for monitoring efforts; and discusses how to assemble reports of use in decision-making. The book takes a multi-scaled and multi-taxa approach, focusing on monitoring vertebrate populations and upland habitats, but the recommendations and suggestions presented are applicable to a variety of monitoring programs. Lastly, the book explores the future of monitoring techniques, enabling researchers to better plan for the future of wildlife populations and their habitats. Monitoring Animal Populations and Their Habitats: A Practitioner’s Guide furthers the goal of achieving a world in which biodiversity is allowed to evolve and flourish in the face of such uncertainties as climate change, invasive species proliferation, land use expansion, and population growth.

Analysis and Management of Animal Populations deals with the processes involved in making informed decisions about the management of animal populations. It covers the modeling of population responses to management actions, the estimation of quantities needed in the modeling effort, and the application of these estimates and models to the development of sound management decisions. The book synthesizes and integrates in a single volume the methods associated with these themes, as they apply to ecological assessment and conservation of animal populations. Integrates population modeling, parameter estimation and decision-theoretic approaches to management in a single, cohesive framework Provides authoritative, state-of-the-art descriptions of quantitative approaches to modeling, estimation and decision-making Emphasizes the role of mathematical modeling in the conduct of science and management Utilizes a unifying biological context, consistent mathematical notation, and numerous biological examples

Wildlife management is about finding the balance between conservation of endangered species and mitigating the impacts of overabundant wildlife on humans and the environment. This book deals with the monitoring of fauna, related diseases, and interactions with humans. It is intended to assist and support the professional worker in wildlife management.

Monitoring Plant and Animal Populations offers an overviewof population monitoring issues that is accessible to the typicalfield biologist and land managers with a modest statisticalbackground. The text includes concrete guidelines for ecologists tofollow to design a statistically defensible monitoringprogram. User-friendly, practical guide, written in a highly readableformat. The authors provide an interdisciplinary scope to address thecurrent, widespread interest in monitoring in many environmentalfields, including pure and applied ecology, conservation biology,and wildlife management. Emphasizes the role of monitoring in adaptive management. Defines important terminology and contrasts monitoring withother data-collection activities. Covers the applicable principlesof sampling and shows how to design a monitoring project. Provides a step-by-step overview of the monitoring process,illustrated by flow charts and references. The authors also offerguidelines for analyzing and interpreting monitoring data. Illustrates the foundation of management objectives anddescribes their components, types, and development. Describes common field techniques for measuring importantattributes of animal and plant populations. Reviews different methods for recording monitoring data in thefield, managing the data, and communicating data to policymakers.

Monitoring protocols are presented for: landbirds; raptors; small, medium and large mammals; bats; terrestrial amphibians and reptiles; vertebrates in aquatic ecosystems; plant species, and habitats.

The present biodiversity crisis is rife with opportunities to make important conservation decisions; however, the misuse or misapplication of the methods and techniques of animal ecology can have serious consequences for the survival of species. Still, there have been relatively few critical reviews of methodology in the field. This book provides an analysis of some of the most frequently used research techniques in animal ecology, identifying their limitations and misuses, as well as possible solutions to avoid such pitfalls. In the process, contributors to this volume present new perspectives on the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. Research Techniques in Animal Ecology is an overarching account of central theoretical and methodological controversies in the field, rather than a handbook on the minutiae of techniques. The editors have forged comprehensive presentations of key topics in animal ecology, such as territory and home range estimates, habitation evaluation, population viability analysis, GIS mapping, and measuring the dynamics of societies. Striking a careful balance, each chapter begins by assessing the shortcomings and misapplications of the techniques in question, followed by a thorough review of the current literature, and concluding with possible solutions and suggested guidelines for more robust investigations.

Remote photography and infrared sensors are widely used in the sampling of wildlife populations worldwide, especially for cryptic or elusive species. Guiding the practitioner through the entire process of using camera traps, this book is the first to compile state-of-the-art sampling techniques for the purpose of conducting high-quality science or effective management. Chapters on the evaluation of equipment, field sampling designs, and data analysis methods provide a coherent framework for making inferences about the abundance, species richness, and occupancy of sampled animals. The volume introduces new models that will revolutionize use of camera data to estimate population density, such as the newly developed spatial capture–recapture models. It also includes richly detailed case studies of camera trap work on some of the world’s most charismatic, elusive, and endangered wildlife species. Indispensible to wildlife conservationists, ecologists, biologists, and conservation agencies around the world, the text provides a thorough review of the subject as well as a forecast for the use of remote photography in natural resource conservation over the next few decades.

Camera trapping in wildlife management and research is a growing global phenomenon. The technology is advancing very quickly, providing unique opportunities for collecting new biological knowledge. In order for fellow camera trap researchers and managers to share their knowledge and experience, the First International Camera Trapping Colloquium in Wildlife Management and Research was held in Sydney, Australia. Camera Trapping brings together papers from a selection of the presentations at the colloquium and provides a benchmark of the international developments and uses of camera traps for monitoring wildlife for research and management. Four major themes are presented: case studies demonstrating camera trapping for monitoring; the constraints and pitfalls of camera technologies; design standards and protocols for camera trapping surveys; and the identification, management and analyses of the myriad images that derive from camera trapping studies. The final chapter provides future directions for research using camera traps. Remarkable photographs are included, showing interesting, enlightening and entertaining images of animals 'doing their thing'.

Introduction and background; Exploratory data analysis and graphics; Deterministic functions for ecological modeling; Probability and stochastic distributions for ecological modeling; Stochatsic simulation and power analysis; Likelihood and all that; Optimization and all that; Likelihood examples; Standar statistics revisited; Modeling variance; Dynamic models.