Chapter 13 Chapter Outlines

Species-Level Conservation

  • Box 13.1 Success Story: Record-Breaking Recovery: Island Foxes of California 

Goals of Species-Level Conservation 

Challenges to Conserving Small Populations 

  • Demographic stochasticity 
  • Environmental stochasticity 
  • Loss of genetic variability 

Effective Population Size 

  • Determining effective population size 
  • Unequal sex ratio 
  • Variation in reproductive output 
  • Population fluctuations and bottlenecks 

Extinction Vortices 

Estimating Population Size 

  • Census 
  • Box 13.2 Conservation in Practice: Estimating Animal Density: The Distance Sampling Approach 
  • Capture-mark-recapture techniques 
  • Box 13.3 Case in Point: Detector Dogs Support Research and Conservation Efforts 

Models of Population Size 

  • Geometric growth model 
  • Exponential growth model 
  • Logistic growth models
  • Age- and stage-based models 
  • Stochastic models 

Predicting Population Persistence 

  • Minimum population size 
  • Population viability analysis 

Conservation Trade-Offs 

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