1.
Adaptation: The process of change by an organism in response to a new condition in the environment
2.
Aerial Surveys: A method used to count the number of eggs or chicks in eagle nests, this type of survey is also used during the winter for counting manatees.
3.
Andromous: Fish species which spend long periods of time in salt water but require freshwater to breed
4.
Area estimates: Transects can be used to assess population trends and estimates, recording either the animal or the sign. This may include flushing number and distance from birds, and gopher tortoise burrow counts. Quadrats are generally used to count a specific type of sign, like pellet groups for deer or rabbits.
5.
Arthropod: An invertebrate of the phylum Arthropoda which includes the crustaceans, insects, centipedes, millipedes, and arachnids; the largest animal phylum; characterized by jointed appendages, segmented body, and an exoskeleton
6.
Bait Site Surveys and/or Scent Stations: These methods require baiting the desired species to a location and counting the number of individuals visiting the site. The counting can be done manually or with the use of cameras. This technique has been used with a variety of species including deer, bear, mink, bobcat, and turkey.
7.
Behavior of building: Maintenance behavior
8.
Call Counts: Used to estimate dove and quail populations, call count estimates are based on a knowledge of home range size and the assumption that only male birds are calling. This method requires a set route to be monitored with listening points established for a set period of time. Some species of non-game birds can also be studied using their response to a taped call
9.
Capture: the act of getting an animal in one's possession for research or management purposes
10.
Carnivore: An animal that eats mostly meat
11.
Carrying capacity: The total number of any species that a given area of habitat will support at any given time; the number of organisms of a given species and quality that can survive in a given ecosystem without causing deterioration; the largest population the unit can support on a year-round basis, or during the most critical season. Carrying capacity varies throughout the year
12.
Circadian rhythms: Activity patterns associated with a 24-hour cycle
13.
Comfort behavior (cleaning and grooming): Maintenance behavior
14.
Community: A group of populations of plants and animals that occupy the same habitat or area and interact with each other
15.
Crepuscular: The activity time of wildlife species with peak activity occurring around dawn and dusk
16.
displacement behavior: The first indications of disturbance
17.
Disturbance: An act that causes organisms to alter their position, arrangement, or behavior
18.
Ecosystem: An ecological system; a natural unit that includes the community of organisms and the physical environment in which they exist; a cyclic interchange of materials takes place between the living and nonliving units
19.
Effective population size: Essentially, the number of individuals in a population with the possibility of contributing genes to the next generation. In more generalized terms, it can be thought of as the number of mature, reproducing individuals in a population
20.
Endangered: An official (legal) designation for a species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.
21.
Environment: The total of all the surroundings including physical, biological, and all other factors which comprise the habitat in which an organism exists.
22.
Estuary: Area where freshwater meets and mixes with salt water
23.
Ethogram: A species-specific outline showing how a species performs basic behaviors
24.
Ethology: The study of animal behavior
25.
Exotic: An organism which is not native to the area where it occurs, that is, introduced
26.
Extirpation: the extinction of a species from specific geographic areas
27.
Feeding and drinking behavior: Maintenance behavior
28.
Feral: Used in wildlife as referring to domesticated animals gone wild, for example, cats, dogs, hogs.
29.
Fixed action pattern: a behavior performed in the same way each time
30.
Food plots: plantings meant to supplement an animal's natural food sources or attract animals for viewing.
31.
Forage: Refers to vegetation taken naturally by herbivorous animals (n); the act of eating vegetative materials (v).
32.
Founder effect: When a new population is founded by a few individuals who possess only part of the full genetic variation of that species. The new population often has a much more limited amount of genetic variation than other populations of the species and the new population may have much different allele frequencies. Sometimes considered an extreme form of genetic drift.
33.
Gene flow: The exchange of genetic information (i.e., genes or alleles) among populations as a result of migration of individuals. Gene flow often helps to maintain similar levels of genetic variance among populations of a species.
34.
Gene pool: The total genetic information present in all members of a population or a species
35.
General postures and movements (particularly locomotion): Maintenance behavior
36.
Genetic variance: Variance in allele frequency among samples taken from a population or among subpopulations
37.
Genetics: study of heredity
38.
Habitat: The arrangement of food, water, shelter, and space suitable to an animal's needs. It is the life range which must include food and water as well as escape cover, winter cover, cover to rear young, and even cover in which to play
39.
Herbivore: An animal that eats mostly plants
40.
Heterozygosity: a measure of the average probability that an individual will have two different alleles for any gene, or the average probability of heterozygous alleles for any gene, per individual, within a population
41.
Hibernation: The act of passing the winter, or a portion of it, in a torpid or resting state where body functions are greatly slowed
42.
Homeotherm: Organisms able to maintain a nearly constant body temperature; often used to describe mammals and birds
43.
Inbreeding: Sexual reproduction between individuals who are more closely related than would be expected given the effective population size, which would determine an average probability of selecting two individuals at random.
44.
Indigenous: A naturally occurring species
45.
Intraspecific aggression: Social behavior
46.
Life cycle: The complete life history of an organism from any one stage to the recurrence of that stage
47.
Limiting factors: Influences in the life history of an animal, the abundance of which inhibits a population from reaching its biotic potential, for example, food, water, shelter, space, disease, predation, climatic conditions, pollution, accidents, hunting, etc.
48.
Management: The manipulation of habitat and/or the organisms within the habitat to achieve some predetermined goal
49.
Marking: the act of giving that animal a unique, identifiable feature
50.
Marking behavior (particularly gland marking): Maintenance behavior
51.
Mitigate: To make up for; to substitute some benefit for losses incurred
52.
Niche: A position or activity occupied by a species in reference to other species
53.
Nocturnal: Active by night; the opposite of diurnal
54.
Omnivore: An animal which eats a broad range of plant and animal materials
55.
Orientation and migration: Maintenance behavior
56.
Otolith: A tiny bone-like particle or plate-like structure found in the inner ear of fish (and other lower invertebrates). They can be beneficial to research studies since they grow with the fish and deposit annual growth rings.
57.
Parasite: An organism that lives by deriving benefit from another organism, usually doing harm to the organism from which it derives benefit
58.
Parent-offspring relationships: Social behavior
59.
Pathogen: A disease-causing organism
60.
Play behavior: Social behavior
61.
Polygamous: Having more than one mate at a time
62.
Population: A group of interacting individuals of the same species or smaller taxa in a common spatial arrangement
63.
Population bottleneck: A severe reduction in the size of, or number of individuals in, a population. Such reductions often are temporary, with numbers of individuals in a population subsequently increasing
64.
Population dynamics: totality of changes that take place during the life of a population.
65.
Predator: An animal that kills and eats other animals
66.
Prey: Animals that are killed and eaten by other animals
67.
Resting behavior: Maintenance behavior
68.
Rhythms of activity (circadian rhythms): Maintenance behavior
69.
Scat: Excrement; feces; dung
70.
Scrub: A type of habitat dominated by woody vegetation composed principally of shrubs or shrub-like trees
71.
Seral: Refers to a particular stage along the successional continuum from the initial stage, through transitional stages to the climax community.
72.
Sexual behavior: Social behavior
73.
Site fidelity: The instinctual tendency of an animal to remain at or near a particular location
74.
Slough: An inlet from a river; backwater; tideflat; a creek in a marsh
75.
Social groupings and organization: Social behavior
76.
Species: A group of related individuals with a shared evolutionary history and able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring under natural conditions; a category of biological classification immediately below the genus or subgenus.
77.
Spotlight Counts: a technique using the eye shine of animals spotted with a light at night to estimate population trends with known coverage and total acreage. Spotlight counts are used primarily with deer and alligators.
78.
Succession: The orderly, gradual, and continuous replacement of one population or community by another
79.
Terrestrial: Ground-dwelling
80.
Territorial and home range behavior: Social behavior
81.
Territory: The concept of dominance over a unit of habitat; an area defended by an animal against others of the same species; used for breeding, feeding, or both. Many species of wildlife are territorial
82.
Threatened: An official (legal) designation for a species present in its range but in danger of extinction in the future if current trends (declines in numbers) continue. Additional population declines could lead the species to be listed as endangered.
83.
Track Counts: useful in following trends in deer and to a lesser degree, turkey. An established trail is cleared of all tracks, then left alone for a set period of time. The tracker then follows the trail, recording the number of times a particular animal species crosses the trail. A population estimate can then be calculated with factors such as known area covered, total area, and number viewed.
84.
two main groups of behaviors: maintenance behaviors and social behaviors
85.
Urination and defecation: Maintenance behavior
86.
Vector: An organism, usually an arthropod, which transports a pathogen
87.
Wetland: Land permanently or periodically flooded by water or where water is the dominant factor affecting the characteristics of soil, and supporting distinct plant and animal communities
88.
Wildlife: Animals that are not tamed or domesticated; may be small organisms only visible to humans if seen through a microscope, or as large as a whale. Wildlife includes, but is not limited to, insects, spiders, birds, reptiles, fish, and mammals, if non-domesticated.
