NRC 261 1st Edition Exam #2 Study Guide Lectures 8-15Lecture 8 (February 24)Population EstimationWhat are the basic reasons for counting wildlife? Know a good example of each. Want to know if there are too few (like when there were only 15 condors lefT), too many (cultural carrying capacity exceeded for example), if there is enough (like ducks being harvested by hunters and if there’s enough to shoot), and if the population is in good or bad shape(status of the population)What possible biases occur in population estimation? Know a good example of each kind.conditions under which you’re doing the survey: weather affects visibility,windy day might make it difficult to identify bird calls, accessibility, harderto get to rhinos because the researchers would have to walk for two weeksjust to get near them, animal density (some just really rare so difficult tofind), vegetation/topographyobserver effect: the kind of effort put into the estimation, someone isn’t trained very well may constantly miss seeing something, you might not sample enoughtiming: seasons (some like winter are bad for viewing certain species), the time of day (some animals more active at night vs. day)animal behavior: differential observability (when you set automatic camerason jaguar trails you may see more males than females because females don’t hang around where males do), variation in distribution (animals distributed differently across landscape and more in one area than in another), different catachbility (some animals are much easier to see than others and less shy)If somebody asks you to count some species, what 2 questions are the firstones you should ask them? how important is the information? and Howmuch will it count?What are the differences between a census, a population estimate, or a population index? Under what conditions are each the most appropriate means to estimate abundance (give an example for each).a census is a complete, exact count example = at Isle Royale they wanted an exact number of how many timber wolves there would be, thought that a census was the best way to keep up with the wolf populationpopulation estimate: gives you a number but is not a complete count, it is more of a range of what it could beexample = you know a lot about deer in MN because there are so many deer hunters there, so the state has to know the population estimate although a census can’t be done because there are too many population index: says “there are less today than there were yesterday” or that there are relatively few or relatively a lot, can be passive and look for frequency of poop on roads or tracks, and you could come up with a rough index of how much food in North America there is for wolves and then compare witha density of wolves Know how to get a population estimate from a complete count of a sample.They picked one area of wolves and counted the number of wolves in the pack at the beginning of winter and then at the end of winter. They knew how many wolves were in that pack, and they also knew that there were more passing/lone wolves coming through the territory. Thisgives them an idea of the larger population estimateKnow the basics calculations of a mark-recapture population estimate. N = C*M/RN = the total # of individuals in the population at a certainsample M = # of individuals marked in the first sampleC = Total # of individuals captured in 2nd sample R = total # marked individuals in 2nd sample*this is used to get a population estimate of a certain species/population atthe time of samplingKnow the assumptions needed for mark-recapture estimates.I. Every animal is equally catchable J. Marks are not lost (if you put collars on them that they didn’t fall off forexample) K. Assume a closed population without any immigration or emigration L. Marking doesn’t affect the catch ability of animals Know the differences between inactive and active direct indices? What can go wrong in relying on such indices for population estimation? inactive direct indices, going to find where wolf scats are and the frequency of the poop on roads, and the same with tracks, or just making observations of the animals themselvesactive direct indices: bait stations, trapping surveys (people out trappingwolves must know where they are and where they aren’t) can get wolvesto respond to people howlingWhy does the indirect index of using ungulate biomass to predict wolfdensity work so well?first they came up with a rough survey of how much food there was for wolves (ungulates) and plotted that against the wolf density. This showsa relationship between an abundance of ungulates (wolf food) and relatively speaking a higher density of wolves. Putting this together gives you a population estimation of wolves in a particular area. This works because there can’t be more wolves in an area than the ungulatebiomass could support.Lecture 9 (February 27)Conservation GeneticsKnow examples of the different kinds of biotic diversity ecosystem diversity, community diversity, species diversity, genetic diversityWhat are the 2 general types of information genetics can provide for conservation? provides an understanding of evolutionary processes (howthings came about, sometimes must infer how something came to be, adaptations to the environment etc. )identifies level of genetic diversity within a species (in particular)What kinds of genetic samples have been and can be collected? organs, blood, hair, scatsenzymes, mitochondrial DNA, nuclear DNA and RNA, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Early on, scientists analyzed the liver to try and tell variation by analyzing enzymes (1970’s)In the late 1980’s they started collecting blood samples to look at differentiating fox speciesIn the late 1990’s they were able to use nuclear DNA and RNA because of the PCR (duplicating machine), because it is difficult to get enough DNA to do something with, and PCR made it possible to make lots of copies of that DNA by splitting it and adding a bunch of similar nucleotides — if done correctly then the nucleotides connect to separate strands of DNA and make duplicates through exponential growthKnow the specific examples given for how conservation genetics can be used among species, within species, and among individuals.Know what a red panda, bananaquit, Darwin’s fox, and prairie chicken are. Red panda has a common ancestor with other bears (including brown bearsand panda bears), and they