Wildlife and conservation biology.

This chapter contains questions about wildlife management and conservation, endangered species, nature reserve design and the role of zoos in conservation. The questions are arranged by topic and divided into three levels: foundation, intermediate and advanced.

Geometrical consideration for evaluation of reserve design

The edge effect, generated by the interaction of patch and matrix, is preferably described by the interior-to-edge ratio of the patch. This ratio quantifies the extent of microclimatic changes at the boundary, and influences nature reserve design. As shown for elliptical and rectangular shapes, large and isodiametric patch designs are characterized by high interior-to-edge ratios. Different patch geometries can however lead to similar values of the ratio. A reference value, based upon the patch size, is therefore proposed to normalize the ratio to its maximum value, as observed for a perfectly isodiametric patch. The effect of patch geometry on the normalized ratio is discussed, as well as patch ranking based upon both the simple ratio and the normalized interior-to-edge ratio. An example is included using forest patches in the Belgian Campine region to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed index.

Landscape ecology and biogeography

The growing recognition that spatial scale and heterogeneity affect ecological processes has focused heightened attention over the last decade on principles from the field of landscape ecology. Landscape ecologists, drawing on principles from a diverse array of disciplines and fields, including physical and human geography, focus explicitly on the interrelation between landscape structure (i.e., pattern) and landscape function (i.e., processes). In this article, I discuss the application of landscape ecological principles to a specific and pressing issue: nature reserve design and functioning. To do so, I outline and review five landscape ecological themes with relevance to reserve design and management: reserve distribution, reserve shape, landscape corridor design and functioning, boundary dynamics, and reserve functioning. I particularly stress: 1) the role that landscape ecological theories may have in integrating existing principles from applied biogeography and population biology, and 2) the unique insights provided by a landscape ecological approach. Finally, I argue that biogeographers, because of our distinct skills, need to be more active in the development and advancement of landscape ecological theory.