Habitat

Conservation Biology

As an addendum to our last post “Wildlife & Biodiversity,” Conservation Biology is an interdisciplinary approach to prevent serious loss of biological diversity. Today we’ll discuss how Conservation Biology and Biodiversity work hand-in-hand to help you make the most of your management area! Conservation Biology’s Two Main Goals To investigate human impacts on biological diversity,…

Wildlife & Biodiversity

Here in my home state of Kentucky, less than one-half of 1% of our 25.8 million acres remains in its natural state. Considering that 80% of Kentucky’s wetlands have been destroyed, more than 500 of the Commonwealth’s plants and animal species are considered rare, and environmental degradation impacts one-third of state monitored waterways. Many natural…

Wildlife & Range Management

Rangelands occupy about 47% of the world’s land area. They characteristically are unsuited for cultivation, but produce forage for livestock and wildlife. In the US, rangelands occupy about one-third of the country – much of it public land in the 17 states west of the Mississippi River. Management of Range Vegetation Range vegetation is managed…

Wildlife & Farming

Historically farmers were wildlife’s best friend – small farms created large amounts of edge and, often when left, waste grain in the fields benefitted wildlife in winter. Unfortunately, farming today employs many practices that are not beneficial to wildlife. Clean-Farming, or the small farm, with its many fields, fence rows, and ditches (all sources of…

Wildlife & Wetlands

Historically, the U.S. has had an abundance and diversity of wetlands. However, the wetlands that exist now may represent only 50% of those seen by pioneers as they advanced across the continent some 200 years ago. The loss of wetlands in this country is of extreme concern to wildlife managers because of the value the…

Wildlife & Fire

The use of fire in wildlife management is a controversial area of research. Resource managers are attempting to counter the “Smoky the Bear” image and show that fire can be a valuable wildlife management tool. So how does fire influence your management area? Wildlife habitat can be positively or negatively impacted by fire. How fire…

Wildlife & Snow

Wildlife, especially northern wildlife, exhibit a number of adaptations to snow: pelage changes, hibernation, migration and physical adaptations, among a few. Today we’ll discuss how wildlife cope with some of the harshest weather they’ll face all year. Snow becomes denser and harder as time goes by (the snow ages). This aging and hardening process is…

Wildlife & Weather

One of the biggest things that can effect the health of your wildlife is something you have no power to control – the weather! So how do wildlife cope with it? Today we’ll find out! Lets get started with a few definitions: Weather: The condition of the atmosphere at a particular place, and during a…

Wildlife Diseases & Habitat Quality

There is a strong correlation between wildlife diseases and their habitats. Today we’ll discuss those diseases and how what’s surrounding them can contribute. More importantly, we’ll also go over diseases that can be passed to us humans and what we can do to prevent them. Before we get started, here are some concepts to keep…

Edge Habitat

An important component to overall habitat health is called EDGE. Edge is the transition zone, or ecotone, where one type of plant community “gives way” to another plant community. Wildlife managers like edge because it provides animals with simultaneous access to 2 or more vegetation types – where its likely several welfare factors are located….