ESA Wildlife Ecology & Management 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which population estimation method involves capturing, marking, releasing, and then recapturing individuals to estimate total population size?
- Distance sampling
- Mark-recapture (Lincoln-Petersen) (Correct answer)
- Transect counting
- Quadrat sampling
Correct answer: Mark-recapture (Lincoln-Petersen)
The Lincoln-Petersen mark-recapture method uses the ratio of marked individuals in a second sample to estimate total population size.
Question 2: The concept of 'carrying capacity' (K) in wildlife ecology refers to:
- The maximum rate of population increase under ideal conditions
- The maximum sustainable population size an environment can support (Correct answer)
- The minimum viable population size needed to avoid extinction
- The number of animals harvested annually without population decline
Correct answer: The maximum sustainable population size an environment can support
Carrying capacity (K) is the maximum population size that an environment can sustainably support given available resources.
Question 3: Which type of wildlife corridor is designed to connect large, isolated habitat patches to reduce the effects of habitat fragmentation?
- Riparian buffer
- Landscape linkage (Correct answer)
- Edge habitat
- Ecotone
Correct answer: Landscape linkage
Landscape linkages are wildlife corridors designed to connect fragmented habitat patches, allowing species movement and gene flow between populations.
Question 4: Home range analysis in wildlife ecology is BEST described as:
- The total area an animal defends against conspecifics
- The area within which an animal carries out its normal activities (Correct answer)
- The minimum area required for a species to complete its life cycle
- The geographic range across which a species is distributed
Correct answer: The area within which an animal carries out its normal activities
Home range is defined as the area traversed by an individual during its normal daily activities, excluding unusual movements such as dispersal.
Question 5: In the context of wildlife management, 'maximum sustained yield' (MSY) is the harvest level that:
- Maximizes annual economic profit from a wildlife population
- Produces the greatest harvest while keeping the population stable (Correct answer)
- Maintains a population at its carrying capacity
- Removes the lowest-fitness individuals from a population
Correct answer: Produces the greatest harvest while keeping the population stable
MSY is the largest harvest that can be taken continuously without causing long-term population decline, typically occurring at approximately K/2.
Question 6: Radio telemetry studies in wildlife ecology primarily provide data on:
- Population density and species richness at a site
- Individual movement patterns, home range, and habitat use (Correct answer)
- Genetic diversity and inbreeding coefficients
- Age structure and reproductive rates of a population
Correct answer: Individual movement patterns, home range, and habitat use
Radio telemetry allows researchers to track individual animals over time, yielding data on movement, home range, habitat selection, and behavior.
Question 7: The 'source-sink' model of wildlife population dynamics describes a situation where:
- High-quality habitats export surplus individuals to low-quality habitats that cannot sustain themselves (Correct answer)
- A population grows exponentially in the source habitat and crashes in the sink
- Immigration and emigration rates are equal across all habitat patches
- Predator populations regulate prey populations in source habitats only
Correct answer: High-quality habitats export surplus individuals to low-quality habitats that cannot sustain themselves
In source-sink dynamics, source habitats produce surplus individuals that disperse to sink habitats, where mortality exceeds reproduction and populations would decline without immigration.
ESA Wildlife Ecology & Management 1
Which population estimation method involves capturing, marking, releasing, and then recapturing individuals to estimate total population size?