Wildlife Conservation

Wildlife Conservation - Home Study Courses

GET PRACTICAL SKILLS IN WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

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
   • Overexploitation
   • 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

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

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 of Risk

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

RECOMMENDED READING:

We recommend that students interested in studying Wildlife Conservation and Management reading:

• Wildlife Ecology, Conservation & Management by Sinclair, Fryxell & Caughley