Wildlife Conservation

LEARN TO MANAGE THE THREATS TO WILDLIFE

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Wildlife Conservation
   • What is wildlife conservation
   • The need for wildlife conservation
   • Important concepts ecology, ecosystem, biome, conservation values, biological diversity, genetic drift, habitat, life span, wildlife movement and wildlife management.
   • Threatening processes habitat fragmentation, habitat degradation and loss, soil degradation, erosion, pollution, unsustainable harvesting, invasive species, climate change, population isolation and disease.
   • Biodiversity indicators
   • Terminology
2. Recovery of Threatened Species
   • Loss of species categories of risk
   • Species vulnerability to endangerment
   • Recovery of species and threat management
   • Habitat Conservation identifying critical habitat and protecting habitat
   • Research population growth, habitat use and conservation genetics
   • Captive breeding
   • Translocation
   • Public involvement
3. Habitat Conservation
   • Habitat
   • Types of Habitat eg. temperate and tropical forests, woodland, tundra and mangrove habitats
   • Habitat Use
   • Species Richness
   • Habitat Fragmentation
   • Creating Habitats
   • Restoration Ecology creating habitat corridors, situating corridors, types of corridors, edge effects
   • Habitat Rehabilitation implementing a land management program, determining objectives, determining a program
   • The Role of GIS in Conservation
   • The Role of Protected Areas levels of protection, approaches to reserve selection and limitation of reserves.
4. Approaches to Conservation of Threatened Wildlife
   • Species Approach modelling demography, effective population size, small populations, population viability analysis (PVA)
   • Landscape Approach elements of landscape ecology, distribution of populations within a landscape, landscape modelling
   • Ecosystem Approach the need for ecosystem management, understanding dynamics, adaptive management, objectives for ecologically sustainable forest management.
5. Vegetation Surveys
   • Plant Identification common names, scientific names, levels of division, botanical keys,
   • Vegetation survey techniques such as quadrant surveys, landscape assessments, line surveys.
   • Vegetation Mapping remote sensing data.
6. Fauna Surveys
   • Observation techniques spotlighting, scat surveys, census techniques
   • Trapping Techniques radio tracking, call recordings, pit fall traps, Elliot traps.
   • Species identification
7. Marine Surveys
   • Reef Surveys
   • Habitat Surveys
   • Aerial Surveys
   • Over-exploitation
   • Commercial Fish Stock Management
8. Planning for Wildlife
   • Farm Planning
   • Urban Planning
   • Use of GIS
9. Management
   • Managing Threatened Wildlife Populations manipulating populations, revegetation/restoration, creating corridors, pest control plans, fencing for species, fire breaks.
10. Wildlife Conservation Project

Aims

• Develop a concept of the guiding principles of wildlife conservation and the threats to wildlife.
• Determine the principles and approaches used towards species recovery.
• Discuss the principles of habitat conservation with regards to fragmentation, restoration and the use of protected areas.
• Describe and discuss the various approaches used to conserve threatened species and ecosystems.
• Appreciate the range of flora survey techniques that have been developed to sample fauna for the purposes of conservation.
• Discuss and differentiate between fauna survey techniques that have been developed to sample fauna for the purposes of conservation.
• Discuss and differentiate between marine survey techniques used to conserve wildlife.
• Discuss and differentiate the range of planning tools available for farming, urban and residential planning to help conserve wildlife.
• Identify various management techniques used to conserve wildlife.
• Develop a wildlife recovery plan for a species under threat.

Categories Used to Rank Extinction Risks

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has placed species into categories of risk using criteria that focus on the absolute size of wild populations and changes to the populations in the last 10 years.

In 2009, the IUCN Red List Status of Endangered Species contained:

• Extinct: 809
• Extinct in wild: 66
• Critically endangered: 3,325 (257 of these species are considered possibly extinct)
• Endangered: 4,891
• Vulnerable to Extinction: 9,075
• Near Threatened: 3,650

Why is Wildlife Conservation so Important

Animals are a critical part of the global ecosystem in which we live. All of the animals plants and microorganisms that share the earth with mankind, have developed over millennia, together, and in a delicate balance with each other. Humans may well have developed a higher level of understanding than other living things; but the complex interactions that occur between all species, are not understood fully, and very likely may never be.  To remove any one living species will inevitably impact other species, and those impacts will snowball through many other species.

Diversity of life is critical to stability of habitats. We live in a global environment that is managed by the mechanisms of mother nature. If we remove any part of mother nature, we risk our world environment unraveling. Global warming has already created potential problems for future generations. Removing any one species of animal may also have unforeseen implications.

Diseases that could potentially affect man, may well be kept under control by the existence of other life forms. Animals and plants that exist today may be very important in unlocking treatments for diseases that affect humans tomorrow. We can hypothesise about the specific benefits of wildlife conservation; but it's impossible to know the unknown benefits that might reveal in the future.

Learn Now for a Better Future

For some students; learning about wildlife conservation, is a step toward creating a better future for everyone. It can also be a step toward creating a better future for the individual. As awareness about this issue continues to rise; employment opportunities in wildlife conservation continue to increase.

Jobs such as parks management, which in the past paid very little attention to wildlife conservation, are now giving very serious consideration to the issue. Knowing about wildlife conservation can enhance your employment or business prospects in many different types of employment, from environmental and land management, to property development and horticulture.