Endangered Species Study

I am interested in studying the implications humans pose on the many threatened and endangered species, and how education and awareness may provide a solution to this crisis. Throughout the past year I have been researching the population density of an endangered fish, specifically the Okaloosa Darter, found only in a small collection of drainages within Okaloosa County, Florida. Since this species is a specialist, it serves as a great model to study the many human associated factors that cause dramatic declines in population sizes.

After doing a little research, I found two articles relevant to the above topic.

Jacobson, S.K. and Marynowski, S.B. Public attitudes and knowledge about ecosystem management on Department of Defense land in Florida. Conservation Biology. 1997, 11, 770-781.

This article focuses on the attitudes of recreational users, hunters, and fishers towards the conservation of endangered species on the Eglin Air Force Base, as well as neighboring citizens. The Eglin Air Force Base is the primary location of the Okaloosa Darter. This article reflects the negative views people have towards conservation of species and management of land, and how by becoming aware of these attitudes, we will hopefully be able to address them.

Dorazio, R.M., Jelks, H.L., and Jordan, F. Improving Removal-Based Estimates of Abundance by Sampling a Population of Spatially Distinct Subpopulations. Biometrics. 2005, 61, 1093-1101.

This article is more scientifically based as compared to the former. It focuses on the advantages of different techniques of fish removal depending on the type of study being performed. This article is based on a study that uses these techniques to record the population size of distinct subpopulations of the Okaloosa Darter.