Spring Semester, 2001

Format is worth 10 points, so be sure to follow all the specifications!

B. Natural History of Species

Taxonomy: from Kingdom to species
Past and present geographic distributions
Ecology: food habits, predation, competition, etc.
Conservation status of species: past, present and future threats
Behavior: mating system, social organization and reproduction
Human variables: sociological, economic, etc.

Population size and location
Birth and death rates
Carrying capacity
Variance estimates (i.e., SD)
Justify your data, e.g., how death rates were calculated, or value for a closely-related animal when not available for your own species.

Quantitative assessment of environmental variables impacting on population
Types and probabilities of catastrophes

Population structure, e.g., a subpopulation within a metapopulation
Gene flow within and between populations (assumed to be zero for BSCI-363 Vortex model)

• Would increasing adult (reproductive age) or juvenile survivorship by 25% have a larger impact on persistence probability of your population?
• Would a 25% increase in mean reproductive success (i.e., % of breeding females), a 25% reduction in the variability of reproductive success (i.e., SD of % breeding females), or a 25% increase in carrying capacity have the largest impact on the persistence probability of your population?
• How does incorporating inbreeding to you model influence the persistence probability of your population?

G. Management Recommendations
Suggest feasible management strategies (i.e., biological, political, sociological, and economic) based on your analyses above (or additional simulations you performed). Based on what you perceive to be the major threats to your population, suggest a management strategy that takes into account long-term viability considerations, as well as budget constraints (a very likely limitation in the real world).

H. Literature Cited
At least 10 relevant references from sources other than web pages should be cited in the text and listed in the bibliography with at least 5 coming from peer-reviewed scientific journals (i.e. Conservation Biology, not Discover Magazine).

I. Parameter List
The paper should have an addendum page or pages where you list all of the parameters you used, their value (or range of values), and a citation or very short explanation of how you determined that value.