Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Balance and flux
- Methodology: Getting the information we need to manage living natural resources
- Part I Management to maximize production of featured species – a utilitarian approach to conservation
- 1 Historical context – the commodification of resources and the foundations of utilitarian resource management
- 2 Central concepts – population growth and interactions between populations
- 3 Central concepts – habitats
- 4 Techniques – harvest management
- 5 Techniques – habitat management
- 6 Techniques – management to minimize conflicts between pest species and people
- Part II Protection and restoration of populations and habitats – a preservationist approach to conservation
- Part III Management to maintain processes and structures – a sustainable-ecosystem approach to conservation
- Postscript
- Appendix: Scientific names of organisms mentioned in the text
- Index
5 - Techniques – habitat management
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Balance and flux
- Methodology: Getting the information we need to manage living natural resources
- Part I Management to maximize production of featured species – a utilitarian approach to conservation
- 1 Historical context – the commodification of resources and the foundations of utilitarian resource management
- 2 Central concepts – population growth and interactions between populations
- 3 Central concepts – habitats
- 4 Techniques – harvest management
- 5 Techniques – habitat management
- 6 Techniques – management to minimize conflicts between pest species and people
- Part II Protection and restoration of populations and habitats – a preservationist approach to conservation
- Part III Management to maintain processes and structures – a sustainable-ecosystem approach to conservation
- Postscript
- Appendix: Scientific names of organisms mentioned in the text
- Index
Summary
Habitat management is a logical extension of the utilitarian focus on economically valued species. We have seen that one facet of utilitarian management involves managing harvests with the objective of guaranteeing a continuous supply of products. Another facet is the manipulation of habitats in ways that favor valuable species and discourage undesirable ones. This chapter explores some ways that utilitarian managers do that.
Managers can modify habitats directly or indirectly. Extending the analogy between agriculture and the production of wild “crops,” managers can directly modify habitats by utilizing techniques from horticulture and farming such as planting, watering, fertilizing, pruning, thinning, and weeding, and by providing specific habitat requirements for selected species. Or, they can modify habitats indirectly by altering disturbance regimes, thereby speeding up or slowing down succession. We will look at examples of each of these approaches below.
Direct modification of plant communities
Managers alter habitat directly when they provide (or remove) specific habitat features, such as water, cover, or nest sites. The objective of this type of management is to increase the production of one or more products, such as wood or forage or selected wildlife species, usually by increasing the availability of resources that are limiting the growth of desired species. If scarcity of a resource is limiting the growth of a population, then increasing the supply of this limiting factor should allow the population to increase.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Conserving Living Natural ResourcesIn the Context of a Changing World, pp. 123 - 142Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002