Aging Fish & Wildlife
This body part is the most accurate for aging bony fish
Otolith
Why do we aim for large sample sizes?
Because populations and communities have variation
What is introductory stocking?
Release of fish into new or renovated bodies of water
What is the focus of most wildlife management?
On the habitat
What is the difference between extinct and functionally extinct?
Functionally extinct means the remaining population cannot breed for some reason and will eventually go extinct
A horned animal can be aged by doing what?
Counting annual rings on horn
What is biotelemetry typically used for?
Tracking the movement of animals
What is the difference between supplemental and maintenance stocking?
Supplemental - supplements a naturally reproducing pop
Maintenance - maintains a pop that has low or no reproduction
What types of wildlife are commonly stocked?
Small game birds like pheasants and grouse
Habitat loss
Animals (such as deer) can be aged by looking at what features of their teeth?
Wear and number of teeth
What problem does stratified random sampling help overcome?
Helps achieve even sampling when there is a heterogenous landscape
What is a total renovation?
When all species in a water body are removed to start over
How can timber harvest be beneficial for wildlife and humans?
Can create habitat structure for specific wildlife goals while providing money to the landowner
What is pseudoextinction?
When a species morphologically/genetically changes into another species (or splits into daughter species), rather than a branch of the phylogenetic tree simply ending
How are tail and wing feathers used to age birds?
Shape and length of certain feathers can be used to determine if a bird is hatching year or older
What is an advantage of systematic sampling?
Good for sampling along some sort of cline
What type of fish can be released without the worry of them reproducing?
Polyploid fish
Why are hunting and trapping regulations not as effective for managing wildlife like it is with fish?
Many species of wildlife are not game animals
What does it mean to "take" a species under the ESA?
to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct
Why are scales ever used to measure fish age?
Do not require killing or damaging the fish, and can be accurate for younger fish
What is the difference between the Lincoln-Petersen and Schnabel index?
Schnabel uses multiple recapture events to prevent overestimation due to low recapture rates
Name a wild fish disease!
Whirling disease, Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, Parvicapsula, Ich, Bacterial Kidney Disease, Erythrocytic Necrosis Virus, etc
Are management decisions for fish or wildlife (in terms of public land and waters) always based on the best available science
No! Quite often it is, but politics and public pressure can clash with the science
What important distinction about critical habitat was established in the Weyerhaeuser case?