Online Wildlife Management Course

Wildlife management is the manipulation of wild animal populations and their habitats for the benefit of both humans and wildlife. Wildlife management includes running parks and reserves, altering and rehabilitating wildlife habitats, pest control, protecting human life and property and managing harvests of wildlife.

Controlling populations of wildlife may take one of the following forms:

• Managing wildlife habitats
• Managing people
• Managing individual animals in populations to either change or cause a population to remain constant.

The techniques and types of wildlife management vary depending on your location, and as with any job, you will find that you will need to carry out research into the local methods and types of wildlife management. This course is designed to give students a broad based introduction to the principles and practices of wildlife management common to many species around the globe.

COURSE STRUCTURE
There are 9 lessons as follows:

1.  Introduction to Wildlife Management

• What is Wildlife Management
• Approaches to Wildlife Management  (Preservation, Conservation, Management)
• Purpose of Wildlife Management
• Goals
• Decision Making (Who makes decisions, Making good decisions)
• Needs of Wildlife
• What’s a Good Habitat
• Limiting factor
• Carrying capacity
• Landscape Fragmentation
• Habitat Diversity
• Arrangement
• Biological Control
• Integrated Pest Management 

2.  Wildlife Ecology

• Ecology (Mutualism, Commensalisms, Competition, Predation, parasitism, herbivore)
• Behavioural Ecology
• Population Ecology
• Community Ecology
• Ecosystem Ecology
• Interactions within a Community
• Competition
• Predation
• Parasitism
• Commensalism
• Mutualism
• The Food Web (Derital Web, Grazing Web, Trophic Levels)
• Energy Flow
• Imbalances

 

3.  Wildlife Habitats

• Introduction
• Classification of Habitats
• Biomes, Ecosystems, Microclimates
• Timbered Biomes (Boreal Forest/ Taiga, Temperate Forest, Tropical Forest,  Woodland)
• Scrubland
• Tropical Savannah
• Temperate Grassland
• Arctic Tundra
• Alpine
• Semi-desert
• Desert
• Man Made Biomes (Urban, Agricultural)
• Wet Biomes (Mangrove, Rivers, Benthos, Pelagic, Continental Shelf, Coral Reef,
• Animal Use of Features in Biomes (Trees, Logs, Surface Rocks and Ground Cover, Creeks, Wetlands and Dams)
• Case Studies
• Changes to Habitats (Physical, Biological, Pollution)
• Water for Wildlife
• Site Water Points
• Managing Trees
• Deforestation
• Afforestation

 

4.  Population Dynamics

• Populations
• Birth or Fecundity Rate
• Death or Mortality Rate
• Growth Rate
• Life Tables
• Cohort or Dynamic Life Tables (Age Specific)
• Static or Time Specific Life Tables
• Rodents
• Squirrels
• Rabbits
• Mosquitoes
• Grasshoppers
• Case Studies of different animals in different countries

 

5.  Carrying Capacity

• Introduction
• Exponential Population Growth
• What is Carrying Capacity
• Fisheries stock management (stock Identification, assessment, biomass)
• Stock Management Methods

 

6.  Wildlife Censuses

• Introduction and census types
• Total Counts
• Sampling (Simple Random, Stratified Random, Systemic, Two Stage, Double sampling)
• Accuracy vs Precision
• Bias Errors
• Aerial Surveys
• Trapping
• Transects
• Indirect Methods
• Mark-Recapture method
• Roadside and Call Counts
• Mapping
• Sampling methods for specific types of animals (ie. Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, Invertebrates, Mammals etc.)
• Animal Ethics
• Case Study 

7.  Wildlife Management Techniques

• Habitat Modification
• Fire
• Vegetation Management
• Predator Control
• Habitat Features
• Seeding
• Population Monitoring
• Captive Breeding and Release
• Culling and Cropping
• Control of pest or undesirable wildlife species
• Control Objectives
• Effects of Control
• Control Techniques (Manipulating mortality, fertility, Genetic Engineering, indirect methods)

 

8.  Wildlife Management Law and Administration

• Policy and Wildlife Law
• International Environmental Law
• Treaties
• International Customary Laws
• Hard vs Soft Law
• Domestic/National Law
• Evolving Domestic Law
• Sources of Legislation
• Environmental Ethics
• Enforcement
•  

9.  Wildlife Management Case Study Research Project

AIMS

On successful completion of the course you should be able to do the following:

·        Develop a concept of how man manages wildlife populations in different situations around the world.

• Understand and discuss the principles of wildlife ecology.
• Understand wildlife habitats and their importance to managing wildlife.
• Explain how populations of any one species change and adapt to variations in their environment.
• Understand carrying capacity and its importance in managing wildlife populations.
• Explain a range of different methods used to determine the number of individuals in a wildlife population.
• Discuss a range of different wildlife management techniques.
• Explain potentials and limitations of legal and administrative initiatives, in the pursuance of more effective wildlife management.
• Examine a specific wildlife management case of interest to the student. 

 

Aims

• Develop a concept of how man manages wildlife populations in different situations around the world.
• Understand and discuss the principles of wildlife ecology.
• Understand wildlife habitats and their importance to managing wildlife.
• Explain how populations of any one species change and adapt to variations in their environment.
• Understand carrying capacity and its importance in managing wildlife populations.
• Explain a range of different methods used to determine the number of individuals in a wildlife population.
• Discuss a range of different wildlife management techniques.
• Explain the potentials and limitations of legal and administrative initiatives, in the pursuance of more effective wildlife management.
• Examine a specific wildlife management case of interest to the student.

For more information on this course, please request your free course information pack.