Conservation and Biology of Small Populations The Song Sparrows of Mandarte Island

by Smith, James N. M.; Keller, Lukas F.; Marr, Amy B.; Arcese, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780195159363
• ISBN10: 0195159365
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book explores the factors affecting the survival of small populations. As the human impact on Earth expands, populations of many wild species are being squeezed into smaller and smaller habitats. As a consequence, they face an increasing threat of extinction. National and internationalconservation groups rush to add these populations, species and sub-species to their existing endangered and threatened lists. In nations with strong conservation laws, listing often triggers elaborate plans to rescue declining populations and restore their habitats. The authors review thesetheoretical ideas, the existing data, and explore the question: how well do small and isolated populations actually perform? Their case study group is the song sparrows of Mandarte Island, British Columbia. This population is small enough and isolated enough so that all individuals can be uniquelymarked and their survival and reproduction monitored over many generations. This is one of the strongest long-term ecological studies of a contained vertebrate population, now in its 31st year.

Table of Contents

Contributors,	xiii
1 Genetics and Demography of Small Populations,	3	(14)
James N.M. Smith and Lukas F. Keller
2 Song Sparrows, Mandarte Island, and Methods,	17	(14)
James N.M. Smith
3 Life History: Patterns of Reproduction and Survival,	31	(12)
James N.M. Smith, Amy B. Marr, and Wesley M. Hochachka
4 Fluctuations in Numbers: Population Regulation and Catastrophic Mortality,	43	(22)
James N.M. Smith, Amy B. Marr, Peter Arcese, and Lukas F. Keller
5 The Song Sparrow and the Brown-Headed Cowbird,	65	(24)
James N.M. Smith, Amy B. Man-, Peter Arcese, and Lukas F. Keller
6 Social Mechanisms: Dominance, Territoriality, Song, and the Mating System,	89	(24)
James N.M. Smith, Peter Arcese, Kathleen D. O'Connor, and Jane M. Reid
7 The Genetic Consequences of Small Population Size: Inbreeding and Loss of Genetic Variation,	113	(26)
Lukas F. Keller, Amy B. Marr, and Jane M. Reid
8 Immigrants and Gene Flow in Small Populations,	139	(16)
Amy B. Marr
9 Unequal Lifetime Reproductive Success and Its Implication for Small Isolated Populations,	155	(20)
Wesley M. Hochachka
10 Population Viability in the Presence and Absence of Cowbirds, Catastrophic Mortality, and Immigration,	175	(18)
Peter Arcese and Amy B. Marr
11 Genetic and Demographic Risks to Small Populations Revisited,	193	(14)
James N.M. Smith, Lukas F. Keller, and Jane M. Reid
Appendix: Latin Names of Species of Plants and Animals Mentioned in Text,	207	(4)
References,	211	(34)
Index,	245