Wildlife ecology

Abstract

Studies in wildlife ecology often involve species that are hunted, trapped, or are of additional economic or aesthetic importance to humans, including species that are rare, threatened, or endangered. The focus of the discipline is on the population rather than the individual; consequently, population ecology is central to wildlife conservation and management. Wildlife ecology has its philosophical and scientific beginnings in the early works of Aldo Leopold. Modern wildlife ecology often applies ecological theory to management and conservation of animals, but also includes theoretical studies on species that are considered wildlife. Wildlife ecology has become increasingly quantitative over time, and often employs capture‐recapture methods to estimate population size, survival, and other life‐history characteristics. Quantitative methods used to study wildlife include, but are not limited to, estimates of abundance, population viability analysis, home‐range estimation, movements, migration, spatial distributions, and landscape metrics. Radio telemetry is widely used to conduct research on wildlife. Habitat selection, stable isotope analysis, genetics, and behavioral sampling also play important roles in studies of wildlife.