Environmental factors that may influence the reproductive process (e.g., nutrition, weather, crowding, predation, disease) often have more severe impacts on reproductive success when wildlife populations are HIGH rather than low. Why? In large populations there is more competition for both quantity and quality of food and cover, which leads us into a discussion of density-dependent reproduction….
Category: Reproduction
Reproductive Processes
The total annual reproduction by a wildlife population is generally determined by 7 items. Each item may be influenced by habitat conditions and environmental factors (e.g., nutrition, weather, stress, disease, etc.). Because of this, a wildfire manager may have to measure several aspects of reproduction to understand an animal’s reproductive successes or failures. So what are the 7…
Mating Systems
Today we’ll discuss the 3 types of Mating Systems: Monogamy, Polygamy, and Promiscuity! But first we shall go over sex ratios before getting into the main topic. Sex Ratios express the relative abundance of each sex in wildlife populations. Sex ratios are expressed as “the number of males: the number of females“ 50 : 50 even sex…
Wildlife Reproduction
In a stable animal population, reproduction must offset natural mortality – especially if the animals are harvested! It’s important for the wildlife manager to monitor reproductive success and be aware of the factors that can impact reproduction! Before we get started, here are some terms to know: Fecundity: Ability of an animal to produce eggs or…
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