Review of recent advances and approaches in the study of wildlife-habitat relationships, with an emphasis on Resource Selection. Course covers relevant terminology, theory, and quantitative methods required for assessing wildlife-habitat relationships. Course concludes with student projects based on each student’s own data. Experience with R software strongly recommended.
Athena Title
Wildlife Habitat Modelling
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in WILD 8321E
Prerequisite
Permission of department
Pre or Corequisite
FANR 6750-6750D or graduate-level STAT course or permission of school
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Students will be able to define and explain terminology, theory, and quantitative methods used to evaluate wildlife resource selection.
Students will be able to construct a database to quantify wildlife resource selection.
Students will be able to select and apply appropriate statistical approaches to a resource selection database.
Students will be able to interpret statistical results from a resource selection model.
Students will be able to justify, explain, and interpret a resource selection analysis through written and oral communication.
Topical Outline
1. Habitat selection theory
2. Scale and terminology in resource selection
3. Statistical modeling of resource selection
4. Model selection and validation
5. Step-selection functions
6. Introduction of other modeling frameworks
7. Functional responses in habitat selection
8. Linking habitat selection to demography
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
