Modern Wild Faunal Resource System Management
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Some people prefer to have a problem, then go in search of a solution to it. This presumes that the techniques are "out there" and that they can be found in a timely fashion. Those are two very large presumptions.
It may be useful to have a battery of ideas, methods, patterns of thought that will serve well when answers are needed immediately. A good strategy is just to deny the immediacy of any situation and go in search. That may not work.
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An alternative idea is to have a few unusual procedures in mind to test whether they provide insights. One is to relate the logarithm of a population (or some topic of concern such as poachers, habitat, recreationists) to the logarithm of an area (shown here). Plot the before and after positions, the old and the new, the original quantity and after-some-proposed-investment quantity as points and draw a line between them. Typically managers want the line to increase, to have a positive slope. No change or a declining slope (the rate can be estimated) is likely to give insight as well as quantitative measures for comparison, for evaluating system performance, even investments and performance by individuals.
There are mathematical problems in using logarithms as suggested above. Ignore these for a moment (or do not use logs) and then ponder what it would mean if the line went to zero. Next, ponder what the reasonable or ecological maximum would be. The results may help make decisions about cost-effective actions.
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Last revision September 7, 2002.