What to study for the final, Friday, December 18 at 11:45

The material covered in the final exam will concentrate on lecture material from Monday, 22 October through the end of the semester.

It will cover the following readings on e-reserve:

(Note, these articles, although not specifically assigned for reading were the core of some of the lecture material. I will not ask specific questions about the articles, but if you skipped classes on topics relating to this material, reading these articles would be a good time investment).

Chase et al. - Innovations in stakeholder involvement…

Williams - Public menace

Riley et al. - The essence of wildlife management

Czech et al. The relationship of gender and conservation attitudes

Samson et al. – Great plains ecosystems: past, present, and future

Williams -What good is a wetland?

One of the following 4 articles (articles assigned for class presentations):

Clevenger et al. -  Highway mitigation fencing reduces wildlife vehicle collisions 

Kilpatrick et al. A shotgun-archery deer hunt…

Castelli and Sleggs. Efficacy of border collies…

Coates et al. – Using sharp-tailed grouse movement patterns to guide release-site selection

We did not get to this article…there could be a question about it on the final …

Cardolis and Langlois – The eastern cougar: a management failure?

The final will be semi-cumulative. The questions will focus on the material that has been covered since the mid-term exam. However, there may be questions that relate to topics that we discussed earlier in the semester. Questions from the first half of the semester will not be detail-oriented, but will focus on general concepts that are necessary to apply to material covered since the mid-term. The following is a list (although not necessarily comprehensive) of important topics from the first half of the semester that will be useful to study for the final.

• Know the “principles of wildlife management” and how they can be used to address wildlife management from both the social and biological perspectives.
• Be able to address the social and biological aspects of wildlife management not only for the articles that you were assigned (roads, Canada geese, suburban deer hunts, sharp-tailed grouse) but for another (perhaps hypothetical) wildlife issue.
• Be familiar with the biological aspects of carrying capacity: food, cover, water, and space. Be able to address each of these components using the example ecosystems we discussed in class: wetlands, forests, and agriculture.
• Density dependence, density independence, population regulation, carrying capacity, and additive and compensatory mortality. Be able to define these terms and how they relate to one another. Be able to relate these terms to some of the biotic interactions we have discussed in class (e.g., diseases, predation, competition, or hunting).
• Population dynamics: don’t ignore your formulas. I will not ask specific questions as I did on the first exam, but I might ask some simple questions about how your spreadsheet works, why you might use r versus lambda, and questions about a sensitivity analysis.
• Understand the difference between r- and K-selected species. What are some of the differences in life history strategies between these two groups, and what are some of the species that fall into the endpoints on this continuum.
• Be familiar with some of the laws and Acts that have come up again in the second half of the class: Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, Act 250, the Endangered Species Act, the 1985 Farm Bill and its components, the North American Waterfowl Management Act.

Studying the following topics from the second half of the course will help you improve your grade (These are included in the first 8 power point files in Blackboard):

• Be familiar with Kellert’s categories of human’s attitudes: humanistic through aesthetic.  Know the differences in attitudes toward wildlife between women and men.
• Be familiar with the economic impacts of hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching.  Understand the demographic makeup of these various user groups and how they differ from the US population as a whole.  Be able to discuss some of the reasons why hunting has declined and some of the issues that wildlife agencies face in response to an increasing urban population that may have different attitudes toward wildlife than more traditional (consumptive) user groups. 
• Understand the various wildlife impacts (wildlife-wildlife, wildlife-human, wildlife habitat-human, etc.).  Know the difference between co-management and adaptive impact management.
• Be familiar with the issues surrounding each of the four “presentation” articles. Why were the articles written? Did they identify a human-wildlife conflict? Did they solve the problem? Did they address biological or social carrying capacity? How did they determine whether or not the management intervention was effective?
• Be familiar with the material covered in Mike Snyder’s lectures.
• Know what is a wetland, understand their values, know why they are endangered, how wetland management affects species diversity and abundance, three keystone species associated with wetlands, some of the ways in which wetlands are destroyed, and some of the legal and policy mechanisms used to protect them.
• Know the value of agriculture as wildlife habitat, why this value has changed in recent years, what species are considered nuisance species to farmers and why. Know something about the population trends for grassland songbirds. Be familiar with the issue hay harvest in Vermont and population declines of grassland songbirds.
• Understand why species are endangered, and the criteria used to list them under the Endangered Species Act. Know how the Act protects endangered species, be familiar with the provisions of Section 9 (prohibited acts) and the implications of the court case Palila v. Hawaii Dept. of Land and Natural Resources. Know the components of a recovery plan, the requirements for a private landowner to obtain an incidental take permit, and the responsibility of the Federal Government in developments that might affect endangered species?
• Be able to discuss specific management techniques for endangered species.
• Have some understanding of the issues surrounding wildlife management in urban ecosystems.

Click here to see a copy of last year’s final

(Some of the information was not covered in class this year, so don’t panic if you are occasionally baffled)

Another final...perhaps more pertinent

Answers to the 2008 final. DO NOT look until you have taken that exam.