Historic Perspective on Wildlife in North America

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Historic Perspective on Wildlife in North America

• Understanding why sometimes requires
  perspective
• Vicariance Biogeography (sec. 20.3 of text)
• Climate change associated shifts in habitat
• Human impact

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Example of Vicariance Biogeography
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Panamanian Land Bridge formed 2.5 mya
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Prehistoric vs. Current Extinctions
1) Species of all types, sizes, from all regions
habitats 2) Magnitude of human-caused
extinction 3) Time scale of species losses 4)
Size and growth rate of human population
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History of Wildlife Conservation in the US

• Periods/ eras
• Pre-European settlement
• Abundance Overexploitation
• Protection Game Management
• Environment Awareness
• 1990s onwards

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Pre-European Settlement(lt1600)

• Native American dependence on wildlife
• Evidence of habitat modification
  semi-domestication
• Co-existence

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Abundance Overexploitation(1600-1900)

• Wildlife perceived as unlimited resource
• Market hunting decimated many species
• Bounties on predators common

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Great Auk
Heath Hen
Carolina Parakeet
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Abundance Overexploitation(1600-1900)

• Overuse coincided with westward expansion
• Extinction of many common species
• Beginning of conservation laws for game species

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Protection Game Management (1900-1960s)

• Extirpation ( near-extirpation) of previously
  common species
• Recognition of overexploitation
• End market hunting
• Laws to control harvest

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Protection Game Management (1900-1960s)
continued .

• Establishment of state fish game departments
• Wildlife Conservation as a Science (Leopold
  wrote Game Management in 1933)
• Conservation focus on game species

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Environmental Awareness(gt mid-1960s)

• Greater public interest in wildlife conservation
  environmental issues
• View of wildlife expands to include nongame
  species and non-consumptive uses
• Focus on species reintroduction (ESA)
  restoration of ecosystems
• Wildlife as a part of biodiversity (1990s)

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Biodiversity in the US