MAOK4004 Wildlife monitoring
- Number of credits10
- Teaching semester2026 Spring
- Language of instructionEnglish
- CampusEvenstad
- Required prerequisite knowledge
Recommended: Study design and statistical modelling or equivalent.
Main methods and approaches used to monitor and study wildlife animals and populations, in particular:
- Telemetry and biologging techniques and applications to track and study individuals
- Distance Sampling approach to estimate population size from unmarked animals
- Capture-Mark-Recapture methods to obtain demographic parameters from marked animals
The course gives a broad perspective on wildlife monitoring methods, covering various aspects of study design, field implementation, data collection and management, data analysis and interpretation, and reporting in a management / conservation / research context.
Learning Outcome
After successful completion of the course, the student will have the following knowledge, skills, and general competence.
The student
- Has advanced understanding of the concepts, applications, possibilities, and limitations of methods and approaches commonly used to monitor and study wildlife populations and individuals in time and space, both for unmarked and marked animals.
- Has thorough knowledge of the applications and limitations of the main approaches to habitat and resources selection studies.
- Is acquainted with the main procedures and authorizations required to conduct wildlife research involving marks and tags.
- Has a thorough understanding of the process of planning and conducting wildlife research for management and conservation, from study design to data collection, analyses and reporting.
The student
- Can conduct basic field tasks to monitor and track animals at both the individual and populations levels (e.g., triangulation to track VHF tags, distance sampling data collection, etc.).
- Is able to set up, organize, and use a database to store wildlife monitoring data.
- Can retrieve and use geo-tagged data for analysis.
- Is able to estimate home ranges and conduct habitat / resources selection analyses from wildlife telemetry data.
- Can process and analyse capture-recapture and distance sampling data to estimate demographic parameters.
The student
- Can evaluate, design and implement various methodological aspects applied to research and management in wildlife ecology.
- Can communicate findings from wildlife monitoring to wildlife professionals and the general public and discuss the implications.
- Appreciates the value of systematic monitoring in the framework of adaptive wildlife management.
One technical report (50%) and one scientific report (50%) assessed using a grading scale from A-F, where E is the lowest passing grade. All examinations must be passed in order for the course to be assessed as passed.
| Form of assessment | Grading scale | Grouping | Duration of assessment | Support materials | Proportion | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Written assignment | ECTS - A-F | 50 | ||||
Written assignment | ECTS - A-F | 50 |