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Wildlife Biology
Revised 24 August 2007
Some Historical Dates
1850-1900 - bison wiped out
1872 - Yellowstone National Park designated (first national park in the world); wildlife not fully
protected until 1894
1875 - Adirondack Forest Preserve
1892 - Sierra Club founded by John Muir
1901-1909 - Theodore Roosevelt was President of the US; he was a conservationist, Harvard
graduate, big game hunter, Roughrider, politician; had ranch in North Dakota
1900 - Lacy Act - made it illegal to ship illegally taken game across state lines
1903 - first national wildlife refuge declared by T. Roosevelt- Pelican Island off the Florida coast
1905 - T. Roosevelt brought Gifford Pinchot into administration as the Chief of Forest Service Pinchot is known as "The Father of Forestry"
1905 - Biological Survey began - 1st director was C. Hart Merriam
1914 - last passenger pigeon died in Cincinnati Zoo
1916 (ratified in 1918, i.e., became at "Act') - Migratory Bird Treaty (started by T. Roosevelt) allowed Federal control of migratory bird hunting; US and Canada worked together, later also
Mexico; involved biologists banding birds, teamwork; it closed the spring hunting season
1918 - Migratory Bird Treaty Act - hunters could see results in more birds (Canadian counterpart,
the Migratory Birds Convention Act, was passed in 1917)
1920's-1930's - Stoddard - did lots of quail research in SE US; he provided reference for Leopold
in his Game Management book
1930's - the Great Depression; Franklin D. Roosevelt started lots of federal programs to keep
people working (built trails, CCC, etc.)
1933- Game Management written by Aldo Leopold
1934 - Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act - tax on hunting waterfowl (along with the license);
brought in money to acquire land for refuges
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1935 - FDR appointed Jay "Ding" Darling to Chief Head of the Biological Survey; Darling
influenced the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act (enacted by Congress in 1934) - called the "Duck
Stamp"; money helps restore waterfowl habitat
1937 - The Wildlife Society (TWS) started
1937 - Pittman-Robertson Act (P-R) - provided funds for research
10% (later 11%) excise tax on sporting guns, ammunition - part of money is returned to
states on a for wildlife "restoration" (cost sharing between state and federal)
1993 - National Biological Survey was initiated (see page 479)
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Aldo Leopold - "Father of Wildlife Management" (1887-1948)
- originally a forester from 1910-20
- born in Burlington, Iowa
- 1928 (at age of 42) - he was commissioned by Sporting Arms Manufacturers to conduct a
game survey of the North central US; this was the basis of his Game Management book
(1933)
- used lots of Stoddard's ideas
- he wrote Game Management while he was unemployed and this helped him get the
Professorship and Chair job at the University of Wisconsin (Dept. of Wildlife Management)
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optimal harvest - look at wildlife as a renewable resource
1.
excess (of many wildlife populations) can be harvested
2.
portion of mortality can be taken by hunters
(started by Leopold, but idea is entrenched now)
3.
hunting can help control wildlife damage (e.g., to crops, road accidents, etc)
4.
direct habitat improvements instead of just letting habitat alone
5.
found that stocking is not that effective
Kingdom
(e.g., Animalia, Planta, etc.-- 5 Kingdoms)
Phylum -- Chordata
Class -- Mammalia
Order -- Rodentia
Family -- Sciuridae
Genus -- Cynomys
Specific epithet -- gunnisoni
Species -- Cynomys gunnisoni
binomial nomenclature - genus + specific epithet
- underlined or italicized
- genus - capitalized
- specific epithet - lower case
binomial nomenclature - started by Carolus Linnaeus (Swedish botanist)
(Revised 20 August 2005)