RNR 2031 : Annotative Bibliography Exam Set 1
Bolen, E.G., and W.L. Robinson. 2003. Wildlife ecology and
management. Prentice Hall.
New Jersey. 5th edition.
In Eric G. Bolen’s chapter 2 of Wildlife Ecology and Management, he
opens the floor with a very pertinent and common concern in wildlife
management: overexploitation. In this chapter, overexploitation is shown
as not just killing for a small particular part of the animal, but as a means
of social outlooks and expression. For instance, Bolen mentions that in
early times of Europe and even colonial America, peasant / colonists
would kill wildlife under the pretense that wildlife was a direct
competitor. This was done to protect herds and to make room for new
expansion, but the chapter also mentions that some would kill as an
“expression of social unrest.” The chapter also mentions how certain
game was considered based upon social class. One thing about this
article is that it has plenty of citations providing a good background for
sound reference and not just “he said /she said” eye-witness accounts.
Like the case of the N. American Robin hunting where one man was
responsible for 120,000 robins. This was in regards to what the chapter
refers to as “market hunting”, a large avenue for overexploitation. The
chapter associates market hunting particularly with waterfowl. It goes
into detail about the type of guns used, describing one as a homemade
cannon mounted to the end of boat that shot out as many as 10 shotguns
shells at a time into a flock of birds. The main problem with market
hunting is addressed as having no legal restriction to how many birds
can be shot and that the only restrictions were the skill of the hunter and
his supplies. The numbers that are depicted in how many birds that were
shot by single individuals in short time frames is staggering. Due to the
high market price and demands for certain skins and feathers of certain
birds, certain laws that would have protected these creatures remained
ineffective. It wasn’t until 1903 under President Theodore Roosevelt,
that the first federal bird sanctuary was established. This opened the way
for other refuges to be established in the future.
The chapter then mentions other tragic stories such as the Great Bison
which were executed in a genocidal fashion for their hides, and the
passenger pigeon which was hunted to extinction for their meat. In this
area of the chapter technology or the lack of is mentioned as a means for
overhunting. For example, lack of refrigeration caused food to spoil
faster which meant that more game had to be killed in order to keep up
with the demand for that particular games product.
Overall, this chapter is dealing with history and the alarming historical
facts about mankind’s abuse towards managing his environment along
with the creatures that live in it. Its focus is for future readers to see the
damage that has been done through careless and reckless use of our
wildlife and to learn from that so it will not be repeated- as the opening
passage states. What I like about this particular entry is how the author
uses a Biblical reference towards wildlife management- an approach that
many in the scientific world might scoff at- and tailors it a mass
audience without discrediting it.
Bolen, E.G., and W.L. Robinson. 2003. Wildlife ecology and
management. Prentice Hall.
New Jersey. 5th edition.
In Bolen’s 3rd chapter of Wildlife Ecology and Management, he starts off
by paying homage to President Theodore Roosevelt as one of the fore-
fathers of wildlife management. He then defines the term wildlife
management which is ”the application of ecological knowledge to
achieve a balance between the needs of humans and those of wildlife.”
The chapter then mentions that hunting laws were enforced without any
knowledge towards the habitat and reproductive natures of wild game
thus ultimately ending failure. This is ironic because the previous
chapter talked so much about how there was little to no law enforcement
against hunting. The chapter then talks about the restoration efforts and
accomplishments that have been made toward restoring Bison all over
the world.
After briefly discussing the recovery efforts of bison, the chapter moves
on to talk about led poisoning in waterfowl and other game birds. It
describes how lead shots from a shot gun blast would fall to the ground
where waterfowl and other birds would mistake it for food. After
ingesting the lead pellets, the lead would enter the blood stream and
cause lead poisoning resulting in death and an unusable carcass. This
resulted in the ruling by the Secretary of the Interior of 1976 to use steel
shots instead of lead. The chapter goes on to discuss other restoration
accomplishments such turkey, woodduck, and the hugely successful
repopulation of white-tail deer.
Overall this chapter is redemption story. It shows that with a little
education, effort and cooperation from the public, that restoring our
wildlife and habitats is indeed a very tangible
reality.
Brashares, J.S., P. Arcese, M.K. Sam, P.B. Coppolillo, A.R.E. Sinclair,
and A. Balmford.
2004. Bushmeat hunting, wildlife declines, and fish supply in West
Africa. Science
306:1180-1183.
This article addresses a growing concern about the of wild mammal
populations in West Africa’s Ghana and how they are related to fish
supply and demand. Several surveys were taken between the years of
1970 to 2003 and direct correlations between mammal populations, the
amount of hunters and fish supply and price were found. It said that fish
supplies were negatively related to the volume of bushmeat sold and that
fish prices were negatively related to fish supply which caused a positive
Document Summary
In eric g. bolen"s chapter 2 of wildlife ecology and management, he opens the floor with a very pertinent and common concern in wildlife management: overexploitation. In this chapter, overexploitation is shown as not just killing for a small particular part of the animal, but as a means of social outlooks and expression. For instance, bolen mentions that in early times of europe and even colonial america, peasant / colonists would kill wildlife under the pretense that wildlife was a direct competitor. This was done to protect herds and to make room for new expansion, but the chapter also mentions that some would kill as an. Expression of social unrest. the chapter also mentions how certain game was considered based upon social class. One thing about this article is that it has plenty of citations providing a good background for sound reference and not just he said /she said eye-witness accounts.
