At Land of the Leopard National Park in the Russian Far East, conservationists monitor the highly endangered and solitary Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis). These leopards have vast territories, are highly cryptic, and are primarily active during the twilight hours and night.
In a recent ecological monitoring project, researchers deployed automated camera traps to estimate the local leopard population.
Suggest why it would not be appropriate or ethical to capture, physically tag, and release Amur leopards to estimate their population size using the standard mark-release-recapture technique.
Most regional surveys estimate the population density of Amur leopards in these temperate forest habitats to be 0.80.80.8 individuals per 100 km2100\text{ km}^2100 km2.
In this specific study:
Evaluate how well these study results support the estimated population density of 0.80.80.8 individuals per 100 km2100\text{ km}^2100 km2. Show your calculations.
Land of the Leopard National Park is surrounded by rural communities that sustainably harvest non-timber forest products (such as pine nuts and wild ginseng) and operate managed deer farms. Park rangers collaborate with these communities to maintain firebreaks, manage ecotourism trails, and protect the forest habitat.
Explain why the management of Land of the Leopard National Park is an example of conservation rather than preservation.
