Instructions:
A hypothetical population of boreal woodland caribou has recently been found in a remote region of the Frank Church Wilderness area in central Idaho. Scientists thought caribou were extirpated from this region more than 100 years ago; however, reliable sightings have confirmed a small population persists in this remote region. Approximately 50 caribou have been confirmed and they are geographically isolated from other caribou populations.
You were recently hired as the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist on the Frank Church Wilderness area woodland caribou recovery project. The USFWS is considering listing the Frank Church Wilderness area woodland caribou as an endangered species because of concerns regarding potentially low genetic variation and population viability. Your supervisor has just informed you that you will be briefing the USFWS Director on this situation in 5-weeks.
The Director’s has identified 5 topics that need to be covered in the brief. Your assignment is to develop a written brief to the Director that addresses the 5 topics identified below. The Director has a PhD in Political Science, but she doesn’t have a strong biological background so you must define and explain key genetic terminology and concepts included in the brief. These types of briefings are commonly used to provide wildlife agency administrators concise and understandable scientific information to inform decision-making.
Your policy brief should have separate sections addressing the following briefing topics:
Section 1 – Genetic Variation in Populations: Explain why genetic variation in individuals and populations is important for population viability. Your coursework in weeks 2 and 3 will prepare you for this section, and your week 2 and 3 assignments and week 4 discussion will prepare you for this section..
Section 2 – Gene Flow and Small Populations: Explain why the lack of connectivity to other woodland caribou populations is problematic. The Prairie Chicken case study and other learning materials in week 3 and 4 will prepare you for this section.
Section 3 – Genetic Variation and Fitness: How can inbreeding lead to population extinction? Is there an example of this happening? Explain. Your learning materials and assignments in week 3 will prepare you for this section.
Section 4 – Assessing Population Genetic Structure: How could we figure out how inbred this population may be? What tools could be used to assess the population genetic structure, and what type of information would the tool provide? Your textbook reading assignments and discussion in week 2 will review genetic tools to assess population genetic structure and your assignment in week 4 provide additional information on this topic.
Section 5 – Wildlife Conservation Genetics: What management action do you recommend the USFWS take to improve genetic variability in this population and improve population viability? How would their success or failure be assessed? Your week 2 and 3 discussions, and week 4 video lecture will review various management actions to improve genetic variability and prepare you for this section.
In addition to these sections, you will be required to have a reference section at the end of your policy brief. Your reference section should include all references used throughout all five sections of the policy brief.
Submission Requirements
The briefing should be no more than 5 pages and identify and address each briefing topic.
References from at least 10 credible sources should be included at the end of the briefing, and references do not count as part of your 5-page briefing limit. Please be sure to write clearly and objectively. Readers should feel that the report is written by an objective scientist Links to an external site. , and not be able to detect personal opinions. As with all your work in this course, be sure to cite your sources in APA format Links to an external site. .
