Wildlife Corridor Essay

The conquering and development of natural land has in the past, been seen as a mark of human civilization. In the United States, our progress is often measured by growth and development, but should this be re-examined? There are many opinions on the subject of urban sprawl and its effects on wildlife, but one thing is for certain, we are expanding. From 1955 to 2005, urban and suburban areas grew by 300%, however, the population only increased by 75% over the same period (Ewing, Kostyack and Chen). According to NatureServe, a non-profit conservation organization, urban sprawl threatens one of every three endangered species in the United States. NatureServe’s analysis states, “rare and endangered species data shows that three-fifths (60

The purpose of this experiment is to observe secondary succession at Umass Dartmouth and test the prediction that diversity increases through ecological succession. Students went outside to the lawn underneath the wind mill on campus. 3 transect sites were located by the instructor. Students predicted the species and percent cover of each species on each trail site. Bar charts were made to compare the number of species in each transect. Pi-charts were made to compare the percent coverage of species in each transect.

The aims of using VORTEX (Lacey and Pollak, 2014) was to analyse the success of management strategies including controlled hunting, supplementation, habitat restoration and corridors or a combination. VORTEX takes into account random events such as catastrophes running through iterations (replicas) to generate outcomes (Lacy, 1993). Each outcome will be assessed using probabilities of survival, genetic diversity and mean population sizes over a 200 year period.

: CORRECT Agricultural practices improve wildlife habitats and lead to increased species populations in farming communities.

“Restoring an ecologically complete ecosystem in Yellowstone requires the return of willows--and with them, beavers. There's a clear threshold for ecosystem recovery. Willow stands must be more than 6 feet tall, the scientists found. That height is important, says Marshall. Then willows are beyond the reach of browsing elk, and can serve as seed sources for new young willows. Once willows have returned, beavers will gnaw down a certain number of them to build dams. The dams will further slow stream flow, allowing yet more willows to grow. The results offer new insights on the role of wolf-driven trophic cascades in the Yellowstone ecosystem, says Hobbs. Trophic cascades like that in Yellowstone occur when predators--or the lack thereof--in an ecosystem change the abundance or alter traits of their prey, in turn affecting the next lower trophic level.” ("National Science Foundation", 2013)

Can the most high-tech, compact, thoroughly monitored development still pose an unacceptable risk to the wilderness? In a situation such as this where the natural environment is at a serious risk and the public and decision makers are in a dispute, we must all turn to trained scientists in order to more precisely determine what is at risk and which outcome will serve all parties the best.

Roads act as barriers to animal movement and lead to habitat broken up . Many species will not cross the open space created by a road due to the threat of predators. Roads also cause increased animal deaths from traffic. the barrier effect can also prevent species from migrating areas where the species gone locally extinct as well as restricting access to seasonally available or widely scattered resources. Habitat separation may also divide large continuous populations into smaller more isolated populations. The smaller populations are vulnerable to genetic drift such as inbreeding depression and an increased risk of population decline and

In order to help the Ridgway’s Rails, we must stop localizing wetland, and destruct their habitats. We can start by preserving the small, leftover marshes and make sure it is the correct environment for the Ridgway’s Rails to survive. However, individuals can also help by spreading awareness of this situation. This problem is mainly caused by the lack of knowledge on endangered species and their habitats. My group will set an example of ways you can help not only the Ridgway’s Rails, but also other types of endangered

Duerksen, C. & Snyder, C., (2005). Nature-friendly communities: habitat protection and land use. Case Study for Austin, TX; Washington, DC: Island Press Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.apus.edu/lib/apus/Doc?id=10149942

In Idlewood, the open area was the second to least populous and had the least number of different species. While Tyler State park’s open area has the second to most diverse and populous recorded number of birds. The open area in Idlewood included a grassy field that was cultivated by humans for recreational reasons, but the open area in Tyler State Park included a farmland and the shrubs alongside of it which is the cause for the difference in population and diversity among the two areas. All habitats have limited space because of their boundaries (which were established in the classroom and can be found in the Field Study) but some habitats, such as the young forest, are able to provide more space for more species than other habitats, such as the wetlands. In regards to species diversity, Idlewood’s mature forest has the highest species diversity percentage at 8.52 because of the species: population ratio. Tyler State Park’s young forest has the highest species diversity percentage at 12.88 because it had a higher number of different species than the other

Whitetail deer have come to be known as a keystone species, species known for affecting other organisms in an ecosystem. Deer are known as a keystone species in forest habitats such as in the Eastern United States because they are capable of destroying potential forest habitat of other organisms (McShea and Rappole, 1992). For example, deer have a negative impact on forest ecosystems by trampling and over browsing over vegetation, without creating any habitat for other native species. Throughout the eastern United States, the abundance of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has increased dramatically over the last century (Taggart and Long, 2015). Population increases could be due to increased habitat fragmentation from land development, reduced predators and/or hunting pressure. Individual deer ranges varied during seasonal times, deer movements are usually greatest during the peak breeding months from late fall through winter (Williams et. al, 2012). Regardless of the cause, high deer densities can have significant effects on plant communities such as plant decay and/or even death. Deer consume a large amounts of plant biomass (leaves, buds, flowers and fruits) and directly reduce the growth, reproduction, and survival of herbaceous and woody plant species (Shen et. al, 2016). The impacts of white-tailed deer on forests along the Eastern United

The area of Yellowstone National Park has a long history of inhabitants, even before it became the nation’s first national park. In the area now known as Yellowstone National Park, wolves were once very prominent. However due to westward expansion in the 1800s, agriculture began to increase. This led to the wolves that once thrived in this area to being practically completely removed. The increase in agriculture in this region led to a lot of the wolves’ prey becoming reduced or eliminated. Since the wolves had a decrease in prey, the wolves began to prey on domestic animals, which then resulted in humans eliminating the wolves almost completely. By the 1930s the wolf was eliminated from the area. This was before people had an understanding of how ecosystems work and the interrelation of species. Now that the wolves were gone, elk then became overpopulated. A lot of the vegetation began to disappear as well due to the overgrazing of the elk. However after about a 70-year absence, in 1995 the wolves were carefully brought back to Yellowstone. When they brought the wolves back to the park, there was not just an effect on one species or one area but rather they affected the entire ecosystem of the area. I will discuss their effects on areas such elk, beaver colonies, scavengers, aspen trees, willow trees and cottonwood trees.

For example, their concept indicates that prey species will alter their foraging habits to the features of the terrain in order to avoid areas with a high risk of predation. Predation risk in a changing environment is also focused on by the authors. There are many environmental variables that may influence the degree of predation risk such as weather, wildfires, and other conditions that influence ungulates’ access to vegetation. Finally, the authors focus on ecosystem responses to trophic cascades—primarily on riparian functions and on beaver and bird populations. They also inform us that wolves may represent an indirect control on beaver populations as well as cause ungulates to avoid some riparian areas—therefore reducing herbivory on wooden browse species.

The Allegheny woodrat (Neotoma magister) is a small mammal that is endemic to the United States. They live in the eastern part of the United States in deciduous forests. Their species can be found from the Appalachian Mountains through the interior Highland regions, including western Connecticut to northern Alabama (Castleberry et al 2006). Woodrats are restricted to areas that have rocky structures such as caves, fissures, and boulder piles and live within the spaces between rocks (Castleberry et al. 2006). Rocky habitats are good living spaces for them because the crevices provide protection from predators and also create a den environment for young to develop. Since rocky areas are usually distributed in patches throughout an environment, woodrats are considered to be metapopulations because their populations are separated (Castleberry et al. 2002). Other animals that can be found using the same rocky habitats for denning, roosting, or nesting include the Rafinesque 's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii), Townsend 's big-eared bat (C. townsendii), common raven (Corvus corax), long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata), eastern small-footed myotis (Myotis leibii), eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius), and American black bear (Ursus americanus) (Castleberry et al. 2006). The different types of species that live in the community creates competition and leaves woodrat populations vulnerable. Competition and predators are examples of factors that

“Hunting and ecosystem-based management is the smartest and most cost-effective way to manage our wildlife. The basic idea of ecosystem-based management is that you manage ecosystems rather than specific species or disciplines.” For example “you do not mange pheasants as much as you manage the ecosystem in which the pheasants live. If the ecosystem is improved, it will produce more pheasants naturally.”(1)