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Wildlife Ecology
Updated 26 August 2009
Bolen and Robinson (2003) - Ch. 19 -- Nongame and Endangered Wildlife
(Read this chapter very well; notes here are from a combination of sources, including Ch. 19, but
not restricted to Ch. 19)
- "there are no universal biological criteria that define either game or nongame animals"
- game animals are designated as such by legislative action (often guided by no more that tradition);
by subtraction, those not listed as game animals are nongame animals; same species might be
game or nongame species depending on state you are in (e.g., mourning doves- game species in
west, songbird in east)
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Economic Values - read in book; nongame species stimulate lots of businesses
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Unfinished Agenda
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1980 (this is what the last edition of your book said:)
- under the act, states could prepare comprehensive management plans for all wildlife and
help implement those plans with the funds
- the act specified cost sharing at a ratio of 90% federal to 10% state dollars for developing
the plans
- also, states could plan and implement programs limited to nongame species or could carry
out special projects benefitting nongame while the planning phase was in progress
- funds never came through
- it was suggested to place an excise tax on various kinds of recreational equipment
- currently, Congress has not yet appropriated funds, so the Act is sort of "in Limbo"
(aside - this sounds a lot to me like the currently proposed "Teaming with Wildlife" lobby where
they put an excise tax on outdoor gear to benefit wildlife; however, I don't know where the
"Teaming with Wildlife" funds are going to be spent if they materialize)
New Edition (2003) says:
under the act, states could plan and/or implement nongame projects funded by a four-year
appropriation of $20 million; act also charged USFWS to study alternate ways of funding after
initial funding expired- they came up with ideas like levy user fees on recreational equipment and
other items
however, funding was never appropriated; as of 2000, CARA (Conservation and Reinvestment
Act) was introduced – House voted yes, Senate, no – bill died.
- this act called for reinvesting money made from oil and gas leases to go back into wildlife,
land, and water; lots of money would have gone to nongame species BEFORE they needed help
from the Endangered Species Act -- read about this
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State Funding for Nongame Management
- nongame tax check-off on your state income tax form
- some states have special license plate sales to generate income (Minnesota has one)
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Status and Concerns of Nongame Management - read
Out of Africa: Vulture Restaurants - read - they put large animal carcasses out for vultures
(gives them safe food in a safe area); especially helps endangered species of vultures
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Endangered Species
- species judged as endangered are listed by state, federal, and international agencies as well
as private organizations
- the most cited list is the Red Data Book - issued by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (I.U.C.N.) located in Morges, Switzerland;
first issued in 1966 and continually updated
- IUCN found that endangered species usually become endangered because of one or more
of the 5 main factors:
- natural causes (e.g., overspecialization, competition, sudden climatic changes, or
catastrophic events)
- unregulated hunting (commercial hunting, not sport
hunting; poaching)
- introduced predators (e.g., mongooses in Hawaii)
- nonpredatory exotics
- habitat modification
Add to the above list (other contributing factors, but not really talked about much in your book; the
following are important, but they probably are not considered the top 5 reasons):
- pest and predator control
- pollution
- collecting specimens as pets, medical research, zoos
(this is now much more regulated, but illegal trade does exist)
Features that Predispose Certain Animals to Becoming Endangered:
a)
species with narrow habitat requirements or restricted distribution
b)
species of economic importance
c)
species of large size, especially predators, or those intolerant of humans (e.g., grizzly
bears, lions, wolves); big predators also usually have a large home range and might
come into conflict more with humans
d)
species that limited number of offspring per breeding or long gestation/incubation
periods or that require extensive parental care; species that do not reproduce until
an older age
e)
species with highly special physical, behavioral, or physiological adaptations or high
genetic variability
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Add these to the list (from other references):
f)
feed at high trophic levels
g)
fixed migratory patterns
h)
specialized feeding habits
i)
certain behavioral traits (e.g., passenger pigeons)
j)
endangered species are often K-selected species, often climax species
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Recovery Team - attempts to save endangered species- "Rule Making" - process by which species
are actually listed as threatened or endangered (it is a political process)
A Brief History of Nongame and Endangered Species - read
- we have already covered some of this
- good section on DDT - know it!
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CITES = Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora
- CITES has members from over 125 nations (according to numbers mentioned by Bolen and
Robinson in their 2003 book, p. 438)
- CITES lists species into 3 categories:
- Appendix I - species endangered by trade
- Appendix II - species are, or may become, threatened by trade
- Appendix III - species that, in view of a member nation,
should be subject to regulation within that
nation as a means of conservation
Endangered Species Legislation:
- Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966
- authorized the Secretary of the Interior to determine which wildlife species were facing
extinction in the US
- sponsored research on endangered species
- authorized acquisition of terrestrial habitat (from funds from Land and Water
Conservation Act (approved in 1964)
- formalized the National Wildlife Refuge System
- in 1969 - Act was expanded; importation of endangered species or their products was
prohibited (this was geared to make the market nonexistent - if you can't ship it out to be
sold, then why kill it in the first place?)
- 1969 Act - led to formation of CITES
- 1969 Act - now included all species of vertebrates and some invertebrates
- 1973 - Act again modified; extended coverage to plants too
- only insect pests were excluded from protection
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- recognized endangered and threatened species (Act made the distinction)
- endangered species - are those faced with extinction
in all or much of their distribution
- threatened species - are those that seem likely to
become endangered
- the term rare was dismissed because it could include thin populations of
otherwise secure species at the edge of their distributions
- recognized subspecies and separate populations (e.g., Florida panther)
- see page 440 for criteria for determining threatened or
endangered species (habitat destruction, overexploitation, threatened eradication from
disease or predation, inadequate regulations for protection)
- Test of 1973 law - the snail darter and Tellico Dam
- they found endangered species of snail darter in the river; the dam would detrimentally
affect the darter's habitat; they stopped dam construction for awhile, then they got an
exemption to go ahead and build dam (it turned out that the dam wasn't really going to
generate that much revenue anyway, the whole thing was not well-planned)
- later they found some more snail darters in other areas of river; eventually dam was
completed
- it opened the door for getting exceptions to the Endangered Species Act; if exceptions
occurred, law would become worthless
- this led to the Endangered Species Amendment Act of 1978 which was supposed to
handle future conflicts
- Tellico Dam story is an important one - read this carefully
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Triage: The Crush of Decision
- 3 groups of wounded; applies to endangered species in deciding what species to help first
- things to consider:
- size of remaining habitat
- genetic variability that is left
- economic relationship to humans
- biological uniqueness of species
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Management of Endangered Species
- whooping crane - read
- eastern timber wolf - read; historically wolves have had bad press, but this is starting to change;
most wolves in lower 48 states are in Minnesota
- Kirtland's warbler - nests only in central Michigan
- brown-headed cowbirds (bhc) are obligate brood parasites
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- mother bhc removes some Kirtland's warbler (kw) eggs from the nest (not all eggs)
- young bhc hatch but supposedly do not kick out the kw young
(some other species of brood parasites do kick out other young), they simply get more food
and grow fast, outcompeting the other kw in the nest
- in some places, they now trap out bhc for control
- kw also have very specific kinds of nesting requirements - they need jack pines (fire species) that
are 1.5-6.0 m tall and that range from 7-20 years of age for nesting habitat
- masked bobwhite - now they live only in Sonoran Plains (Mexico) (original range - south-central
Arizona, northwestern Mexico)
- linked with grasslands; thus they are affected by overgrazing; birds move out when
scrubby brush moves in
- they use "covey box" - calls the birds back- train them to avoid predators
- they use male bobwhites as foster parent for masked bobwhite chicks (male bobwhites
work better than other quail species of either sex; they can vasectomize the male quail to
make sure no hybridization occurs between bobwhites and masked bobwhites)
- California condor (not in your book)
- largest soaring bird in US (about 25 lbs)
- wing span about 8-10 feet
- at one time, they were all over the western US
- declining at the turn of the century
- at turn of century, egg collecting was a fashionable hobby as well as profitable- each egg
was worth about $200
- they feed on dead animals (so can pick up poison, DDT, etc)
- low reproductive rate - 1 egg/2 years
- do not breed until about 6 years old
- low mortality (if no human interference) - can live up to about 50 years
- more or less k-selected (many game species are r-selected)
- less than 50 left (from the notes I have from a few years ago)
- chapparal habitat
- took some into captivity to raise for later reintroductions
- recovery team - takes eggs so that they will double clutch (i.e., lay 2 clutches of eggs
instead of one)
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UNESCO - (associated with the United Nations)
- they set up the Biosphere Reserve System
- criteria for a biosphere reserve:
- intact ecosystem - unaltered by humans
- for genetic diversity
- Olympic National Park (in Washington state) is a biosphere reserve