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4/1/13 Water and Other Welfare
Factors
Chapter 12
Chapter Objectives
— 
Introduction
— 
Water
— 
Water Requirements of Wildlife
— 
Overview of Water Balance and Thermoregulation
— 
Types of Water Developments
— 
Water Management for Wildlife
— 
Potential Benefits of Providing Water for Wildlife
— 
Potential Negative Impacts of Water Developments
— 
Influence of Water Developments on Selected Wildlife Species
— 
Special Factors
— 
Summary
1 4/1/13 Water
—  All life processes evolved around water
—  Crucial in some form for all animals
—  Animals obtain water from 3 sources:
—  Free water
—  Preformed water in food
—  Metabolic water from oxidation of organic
compounds containing hydrogen
Water Requirements of
Wildlife
—  Requirements vary based on thermal load, activity patterns,
morphology, diet, metabolic processes, reproductive state, and
adaptations for water conservation
—  Determining water requirements must evaluate all sources and
should be done on free-ranging animals
—  Birds and mammals get most of their water as preformed
water
—  Large herbivores get most of their water annually from preformed and metabolic water
—  If pre-formed and metabolic unavailable, must have access to
free water
2 4/1/13 Overview of Water Balance
and Thermoregulation
—  Physiological mechanisms and water balance
—  Water loss in feces and urine
—  Thermoregulation
—  Evaporative heat loss in mammals
—  Evaporative heat loss in birds
—  Thermoregulation and water balance
—  Metabolic rate
—  Adaptive heterothermy
Overview of Water Balance
and Thermoregulation
—  Behavioral regulation of body temperature and
water balance
—  Diet and water balance
—  Timing of activity
—  Use of microclimates
—  Body orientation
3 4/1/13 Overview of Water Balance
and Thermoregulation
—  Morphological adaptations for thermoregulation
and water balance
—  Body size and shape
—  Pelage, plumage, and horn characteristics
Types of Water
Developments
—  Precipitation catchments
—  Guzzlers
—  Tinajas
—  Adits
—  Retention dams and sand tanks
—  Wells and windmills
—  Springs and seeps
—  Horizontal wells
—  Livestock water developments
4 4/1/13 Precipitation Catchments
Guzzlers
5 4/1/13 Retention Dams and Sand
Tanks
Water Management for
Wildlife
—  Liebig’s Law of the Minimum – growth determined by
scarcest resource
—  Limiting factor can put boundary on population growth
—  Often focuses on water
—  Starting in the 1940s, sportsman’s groups and agencies
started to develop water sources
—  Quail, chukar, mule deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn
—  Widely used in arid regions
6 4/1/13 Desert Species
Water Management for
Wildlife
—  10 of 11 western states have water programs
—  6,000 water developments built
—  >$1 million/year spent on water developments
—  Very little follow up research on effectiveness of
water developments to impact population growth
rates
—  May be positive and negative effects of developing
water resources
7 4/1/13 Potential Benefits of Providing
Water for Wildlife
—  Increase animal abundance
—  Increase available habitat
—  Improve habitat quality
—  Recovery and management of special status species
Potential Negative Impacts
of Water Developments
—  Increase potential for disease transmission
—  Reduced water quality
—  Increased predation rates
—  Increased competition
—  Direct mortality
—  Detrimental impacts on vegetation
8 4/1/13 Influence of Water Developments on
Selected Wildlife Species
—  Mammals
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
Desert bighorn sheep
Mule deer
White-tailed deer
Elk
Pronghorn
Predators
Small mammals
Influence of Water Developments on
Selected Wildlife Species
—  Birds
—  Upland Game Birds
—  Nongame birds
—  Reptiles and Amphibians
9 4/1/13 Cover
—  Cover provides shelter and can be vegetation and
topographic features
—  Feeding, hiding, sleeping, playing, and raising
young
—  Can provide protection from sun, heat, cold, snow
—  Refuge cover, loafing cover, thermal cover, escape
cover
Cover
—  Cover is complex and species specific
—  Management is challenging because of this complexity
—  Habitat management for one species can have
detrimental effects on other species
—  Human use can influence cover
—  Management of cover is management of successional
stages
—  Not all cover management techniques have been
evaluated for impacts on populations
10 4/1/13 Special Factors
—  Special factors are used for a short period of time or
in small quantities
—  Can be grouped with food, water, and cover
—  Salt licks, mud baths, bear dens, dense shade, windswept areas in winter, lambing areas, lek areas
—  Absence of special factor will limit distribution and
habitat use by a species
Summary
—  Water and cover are essential for all wildlife species
—  Physiological, morphological, and behavioral
adaptations allow species to live in areas with limited
water availability
—  Much time and money has been allocated to water
developments
—  Not enough research has been done on the population
impacts of water developments
—  Cover is important and species specific
—  Special factors can limit distribution
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