Jorge, it is common but not prevailing to use the term “wildlife” to cover vertebrates other than fish. We have agency titles such as the US Department of Fish and Wildlife and professional organization titles such as The Wildlife Society and American Fisheries Society. And state agency titles have fluctuated: In the 1950s the Oregon State Game Commission managed “game” (sport-harvested) mammals, birds and fish and its cohort agency the Fish Commission of Oregon managed commercially harvested fish and invertebrates. In the 1970s these two agencies merged and became the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
My old bachelor’s degree from Oregon State was in Fish and Game Management, now it would be in Fisheries and Wildlife Science. But it is sometimes convenient and acceptable to use the term “wildlife” to cover everything from mammals to invertebrates, usually noting that this is being done. I use the professional title “wildlife ecologist” and have done projects that included a range of wild vertebrates from mammals and birds to reptiles, amphibians and fish. As I recall from my professional visits to Germany and Sweden, they tend to use the term “Wild” or “vild” for wild mammals and birds including game species, e.g.,Wildvӧgel and vildefågel (wildfowl). Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist (503) 539-1009 a...@coho.net From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Jorge A. Santiago-Blay Sent: Tuesday, 27 June, 2017 18:06 To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] "Wildlife" "Wildlife" Dear Colleagues: Can someone tell me since when (in the USA) the term "wildlife" essentially came to mean, mostly large mammals and birds (and with good luck a few other vertebrates)? Why? Is the definition of "wildlife" changing? Why? Regardless of time, is that mammalocentric definition used in other countries? If "yes", since when? If you have a constructive reply, please email me to: blayjo...@gmail.com Gratefully, Jorge Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD blaypublishers.com 1. Positive experiences for authors of papers published in LEB http://blaypublishers.com/testimonials/ 2. Free examples of papers published in LEB: <http://blaypublishers.com/category/previous-issues/> http://blaypublishers.com/category/previous-issues/. 3. Guidelines for Authors and page charges of LEB: <http://blaypublishers.com/archives/> http://blaypublishers.com/archives/ . 4. Want to subscribe to LEB? <http://blaypublishers.com/subscriptions/> http://blaypublishers.com/subscriptions/ http://blayjorge.wordpress.com/ http://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/santiagoblay.cfm
