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Population ecology has matured to a sophisticated science with astonishing potential for contributing solutions to wildlife conservation and management challenges. And yet, much of the applied power of wildlife population ecology remains untapped because its broad sweep across disparate subfields has been isolated in specialized texts. In this book, L. Scott Mills covers the full spectrum of applied wildlife population ecology, including genomic tools for non-invasive genetic sampling, predation, population projections, climate change and invasive species, harvest modeling, viability analysis, focal species concepts, and analyses of connectivity in fragmented landscapes.
With a readable style, analytical rigor, and hundreds of examples drawn from around the world, Conservation of Wildlife Populations (2nd ed) provides the conceptual basis for applying population ecology to wildlife conservation decision-making. Although targeting primarily undergraduates and beginning graduate students with some basic training in basic ecology and statistics (in majors that could include wildlife biology, conservation biology, ecology, environmental studies, and biology), the book will also be useful for practitioners in the field who want to find – in one place and with plenty of applied examples – the latest advances in the genetic and demographic aspects of population ecology.
L. Scott Mills is a Professor in the Wildlife Biology Program at The University of Montana. He was a 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, has received multiple NSF Awards, served on the Board of Governors for the North American Section of the Society for Conservation Biology, and has testified to Congress about the role of ethics in wildlife population biology research. Mills was an invited contributor to the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report (IPCC) report, and to the Western Governors’ Association Climate Change Working Group. His research and teaching integrates field studies with population models and genetic analyses to understand effects of human perturbations on wildlife populations. Mills’ research on wildlife around the world – from snowshoe hares to marmots, mice to coyotes, bighorn sheep to snow leopards and tigers – has been covered in media outlets including Newsweek, National Geographic, The New York Times, Discovery Channel Canada, Science News, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, and The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.
Reviews of the first edition:
"Scott Mills has written an excellent textbook designed to make undergraduates think and to guide them to understanding of how modern methods of population biology are applied by wildlife biologists. The themes of genetics and population dynamics run through the book with succinct expositions of theory and vivid examples from real problems facing the practitioner."
- Professor Henry M Wilbur, University of Virginia
"Scott Mills cleverly bridges the gap between conservation genetics and population ecology; a connection often given short thrift in more specialized titles. The writing style is engaging, and technical concepts are regularly reinforced with interesting real-world examples."
- Barry W Brook, Charles Darwin University
"Scott Mills' Conservation of Wildlife Populations is a significant contribution to the literature. I found it thorough, readable, and useful in dealing with this increasingly important aspect of wildlife and conservation biology. Well done!"
- Professor Jack W Thomas, University of Montana
"Finally! [...] a book that combines the nuts and bolts of basic population growth and population estimation techniques (including genetic techniques) with PVA and harvest modeling while using applied examples from real wildlife populations! Now I don't have to use two books plus cobble together readings from various sources in order to teach my upper division Population Dynamics course! This book will make it so much easier on instructors and students alike."
- Dr Marcella Kelly, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
