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.
By:
L. Scott Mills (University of Montana)
Imprint: Wiley-Blackwell
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 2nd edition
Dimensions:
Height: 246mm,
Width: 193mm,
Spine: 23mm
Weight: 930g
ISBN: 9780470671504
ISBN 10: 0470671505
Pages: 344
Publication Date: 23 November 2012
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
A / AS level
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of boxes ix Preface to second edition xi Preface to first edition xii List of symbols xiv Acknowledgments for second edition xv Acknowledgments for first edition xvi Part I Background To Applied Population Biology 1 1 The Big Picture: Human Population Dynamics Meet Applied Population Biology 3 Introduction 3 Population Ecology of Humans 4 Extinction Rates of Other Species 8 Humans and Sustainable Harvest 12 The Big Picture 13 Further Reading 13 2 Designing Studies and Interpreting Population Biology Data: How Do We Know What We Know? 14 Introduction 14 Obtaining Reliable Facts Through Sampling 15 Linking Observed Facts to Ideasmind Leads to Understanding 19 Ethics and the Wildlife Population Biologist 29 Summary 31 Further Reading 32 3 Genetic Concepts and Tools to Support Wildlife Population Biology 33 Introduction 33 What Is Genetic Variation? 33 Genetic Markers Used in Wildlife Population Biology 35 Insights into Wildlife Population Biology Using Genetic Tools 43 Summary 52 Further Reading 53 4 Estimating Population Vital Rates 54 Introduction 54 Estimating Abundance and Density 54 Survival Estimation 67 Estimation of Reproduction 70 Sex Ratio 71 Summary 74 Further Reading 75 Part II Population Processes: The Basis For Management 77 5 The Simplest Way to Describe and Project Population Growth: Exponential or Geometric Change 79 Introduction 79 Fundamentals of Geometric or Exponential Growth 80 Causes and Consequences of Variation in Population Growth 84 Quantifying Exponential Population Growth in a Stochastic Environment 91 Summary 96 Further Reading 97 6 All Stage Classes are Not Equal in Their Effects On Population Growth: Structured Population-Projection Models 98 Introduction 98 Anatomy of a Population-Projection Matrix 99 How Timing of Sampling Affects the Matrix 100 Projecting a Matrix Through Time Leads to Transient and Asymptotic Dynamics 103 All Vital Rates are not Created Equal: Analytical Sensitivities and Elasticities 108 Stochasticity in Age and Stage-Structured Populations 109 Sensitivity Analysis in the Broad Sense to Help Evaluate Management Actions 113 Fitness is Lambda, Selection is Management 116 Case Studies Using Matrix Models to Guide Conservation Decision-Making 118 Summary 124 Further Reading 125 7 Density-Dependent Population Change 126 Introduction 126 Negative Density Dependence 126 The Logistic: One Simple Model of Negative Density-Dependent Population Growth 128 Some Counterintuitive Dynamics: Limit Cycles and Chaos 133 Positive Density Dependence 135 Negative and Positive Density Dependence Operate Together 138 Component Versus Demographic Outcomes of Density Dependence 140 Summary 140 Further Reading 141 8 Predation and Wildlife Populations 142 Introduction 142 Does Predation Affect Prey Numbers? 143 Factor 1. Determining How Predation Affects Prey Numbers: Predation Rate 145 Factor 2. Determining How Predation Affects Prey Numbers: Compensation 150 Factor 3. Determining How Predation Affects Prey Numbers: Who Gets Killed 152 Summary 152 Further Reading 153 9 Genetic Variation and Fitness in Wildlife Populations 154 Introduction 154 Long-Term Benefits of Genetic Variation 154 What Determines Levels of Genetic Variation in Populations? 155 Quantifying the Loss of Heterozygosity: The Inbreeding Coefficient 161 When Does Inbreeding Due to Genetic Drift Lead to Inbreeding Depression? 162 Outbreeding Depression and the Loss of Local Adaptation 165 Genetic Rescue, Genetic Restoration, and Long-Term Population Recovery 167 Appropriate Levels of Genetic Connectivity 168 Case Studies Where Genetic Rescue Meets the Real World 169 Summary 173 Further Reading 174 10 Dynamics of Multiple Populations 175 Introduction 175 What Is Connectivity? 176 Consequences of Connectivity for Wildlife Populations 177 Measuring Connectivity Among Wildlife Populations 177 Multiple Populations are not All Equal 185 Options for Restoring Connectivity 194 Summary 197 Further Reading 198 Part III Applying Knowledge of Population Processes To Problems of Declining, Small, or Harvestable Populations 199 11 Human-Caused Stressors: Deterministic Factors Affecting Populations 201 Introduction 201 General Effects of Deterministic Stressors on Populations: Adapt, Move, or Die 201 Habitat Loss and Fragmentation 203 Introduced and Invasive Species 206 Pollution 212 Overharvest 214 Global Climate Change 215 Multiple Deterministic Stressors Occur Simultaneously 220 Summary 222 Further Reading 223 12 Predicting The Dynamics of Small and Declining Populations 224 Introduction 224 Ecological Characteristics Predicting Risk 224 The Extinction Vortex 226 Predicting Risks in Small Populations 226 Population Viability Analysis (PVA): Quantitative Methods of Assessing Viability 227 Other Approaches to Assessing Viability 239 Summary 242 Further Reading 243 13 Focal Species To Bridge From Populations To Ecosystems 244 Introduction 244 The Four Categories of Focal Species 245 Summary 249 Further Reading 250 14 Population Biology To Guide Sustainable Harvest 251 Introduction 251 Effects of Hunting on Population Dynamics 252 Long-Term Effects: Hunting as an Evolutionary Force 257 Models to Guide Sustainable Harvest 258 Waterfowl Harvest and Adaptive Harvest Management in the US 264 Management of Overabundant and Pest Populations 265 Summary 266 Further Reading 267 Epilogue 269 References 271 Index 301
L. SCOTT MILLS is a Professor in the Wildlife Biology Program at The University of Montana.?? He was a 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, has received multiple NSF Awards, served on the Board of Governors for the North American Section of the Society for Conservation Biology, and has testified to Congress about the role of ethics in wildlife population biology research. Mills was an invited contributor to the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report (IPCC) report, and to the Western Governors' Association Climate Change Working Group.?? His research and teaching integrates field studies with population models and genetic analyses to understand effects of human perturbations on wildlife populations.???? Mills' research on wildlife around the world from snowshoe hares to marmots, mice to coyotes, bighorn sheep to snow leopards and tigers has been covered in media outlets including Newsweek, National Geographic, The New York Times, Discovery Channel Canada, Science News, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, and The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.
Reviews for Conservation of Wildlife Populations: Demography, Genetics, and Management
“Once again, Conservation of Wildlife Populations: Demography, Genetics, and Management is a great contribution to the current wildlife literature and will no doubt prove to be an excellent and indispensible resource when training wildlife biologists, upper level undergraduate students, and graduate students.” (The Journal of Wildlife Management, 2 January 2015) “As a class text it offers an extremely useful and stimulating comprehensive integration of conservation and population biology, including clear, readable scientific basics.” (Austral Ecology, 19 May 2014) “Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. (Choice, 1 November 2013)
