ESA Wildlife Ecology & Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Adaptive management in wildlife ecology is defined as:
- Managing wildlife populations based on historical data only
- A structured decision-making process that treats management actions as experiments to reduce uncertainty (Correct answer)
- Adjusting harvest quotas each year based solely on market demand
- Implementing the same management strategy regardless of monitoring outcomes
Correct answer: A structured decision-making process that treats management actions as experiments to reduce uncertainty
Adaptive management uses structured learning from monitoring outcomes to iteratively refine management actions, treating interventions as experiments.
Question 2: Which index is commonly used to assess species diversity within a community by accounting for both richness and evenness?
- Jaccard similarity index
- Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H') (Correct answer)
- Lincoln-Petersen index
- Sorensen coefficient
Correct answer: Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H')
The Shannon-Wiener index (H') measures both the number of species (richness) and the evenness of their relative abundances within a community.
Question 3: A 'metapopulation' is best described as:
- A single large population occupying a continuous habitat
- A set of spatially separated subpopulations connected by dispersal (Correct answer)
- A population that migrates seasonally between two habitats
- All populations of a species across its entire global range
Correct answer: A set of spatially separated subpopulations connected by dispersal
A metapopulation consists of spatially discrete subpopulations linked by occasional dispersal, with local extinction and recolonization dynamics.
Question 4: Which type of survivorship curve is typical of large, long-lived mammals with low offspring production and high parental care?
- Type I (convex curve) (Correct answer)
- Type II (diagonal/linear curve)
- Type III (concave curve)
- Type IV (sigmoidal curve)
Correct answer: Type I (convex curve)
Type I survivorship curves show high survival rates throughout most of the lifespan with mortality concentrated in old age, characteristic of large mammals including humans.
Question 5: The 'umbrella species' concept in conservation biology refers to:
- A species whose protection automatically protects many co-occurring species (Correct answer)
- The dominant predator in a food web that regulates prey populations
- A species used to indicate overall ecosystem health
- A species that modifies habitat for the benefit of other species
Correct answer: A species whose protection automatically protects many co-occurring species
An umbrella species has large habitat requirements such that protecting it and its habitat simultaneously protects numerous other species sharing that habitat.
Question 6: Edge effects in wildlife ecology typically refer to changes in:
- Predator-prey ratios at the center of large habitat patches
- Species composition and abundance near habitat boundaries (Correct answer)
- Water quality at the margins of aquatic ecosystems
- Genetic diversity at the geographic edge of a species' range
Correct answer: Species composition and abundance near habitat boundaries
Edge effects describe how species composition, abundance, and ecological processes differ near the boundary between two habitat types compared to the interior.
Question 7: Which sampling design is most appropriate for estimating wildlife population density along a linear transect when detectability decreases with distance from the transect line?
- Strip transect sampling
- Point count sampling
- Distance sampling (Correct answer)
- Pellet group counts
Correct answer: Distance sampling
Distance sampling uses the perpendicular distance of detected animals from the transect line to model the detection function and estimate density accurately.
ESA Wildlife Ecology & Management 2
Adaptive management in wildlife ecology is defined as: