Course Description
Designed to familiarize, facilitate understanding of, and apply principles regarding wildlife habitat. Ecological principles and concepts relevant to wildlife habitat structure and function will be explored at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and landscape levels. Management practices that alter habitat will be explored for managed ecosystems.
Athena Title
Wildlife Habitat
Pre or Corequisite
(WILD(FISH) 3000 or WILD(FISH) 3000W or WILD 1100E) and (FANR 3200 or FANR 3200W or ECOL 3500-3500L) and permission of major
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Habitat is the spatial resources and conditions needed to support the survival and reproduction of an organism, and the concept of habitat is a cornerstone of wildlife management. Students in this course will: (1) Describe the concepts of habitat, habitat use, habitat selection, habitat quality, and critical habitats (2) Describe the functional and structural components and resources of wildlife habitat (3) Apply fundamental ecological, evolutionary, and behavioral concepts to identify wildlife habitat requirements (3) Evaluate and perform wildlife habitat assessments (4) Identify strategies to manage wildlife habitat to alter the demography of target species 5) Discuss the specific role of plants and the traits of plants related to wildlife habitat and habitat management practices
Topical Outline
1. Defining wildlife habitat 2. Niche theory 3. Demographic relationships with habitat 4. Food and nutrition 5. Foraging theory 6. Habitat selection and use 7. Disturbance ecology 8. Succession 9. Habitat fragmentation 10. Metapopulations 11. Landscape connectivity 12. Measuring wildlife habitat 13. Practices for managing vegetation
Syllabus