About POP-II

POP-II is a software program used primarily by applied wildlife biologists to simulate the dynamics of large mammal populations—typically deer, elk, moose, etc. It's use by applied wildlife managers is directed towards predicting the consequences of various harvest strategies and to assess ongoing data collection activities.

POP-II is also used in teaching college­level natural resources classes. University use typically focuses on the understanding of population dynamics and demonstrating sensitivity of input variables to model behavior.

Additional use of POP-II is made by federal agencies to assess the consequences of land management decisions on resident or migratory game populations.

POP-II, or its predecessor ONEPOP, has been used to model many, many different species, including:

two species of deer  •  elk  •  moose  •  caribou  •  three species of bear  •  pronghorn  •  bison  •  musk ox  •  big horn sheep  •  Dall sheep  •  mountain goats  •  wolf  •  fox  •  fisher  •  seals  •  eagles  •  swans  •  whales  •  cormorants  •  pheasants  •  mountain lions  •  bobcat  •  sea lions  •  various seals  •  walrus  •  badger  •  coyotes  •  peccary

Six excellent reasons to model with POP-II

• TOP LEVEL PERSUASIVENESS
  POP-II helps to lay out defensible management options to administrators and the public.

• MORE ACCURATE PREDICTIONS
  POP-II enables establishment of sound harvest season quotas and provides input to federal planning and impact assessment. Modeling augments biological intuition with the rigor of quantitative analysis.

• CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF EXISTING DATA
  POP-II is designed to allow the best use of available data while helping to pinpoint the weakest data.

• GUIDANCE FOR THE COLLECTION OF NEW DATA
  POP-II can calculate the contribution that every population parameter makes to the dynamics of the population and will help to better define the mission for your research effort.

• GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF POPULATION DYNAMICS
  POP-II allows you to integrate the understanding of population dynamics with applied population management. Sound population management cannot be conducted without a good understanding of population dynamics. POP-II also opens the "black box" of computer modeling by explaining all of its calculations.

• EASE OF USE
  POP-II is relatively easy to understand, extremely simple to use, well documented, and provides easily reproducible results. If you know Windows, you already know how to operate POP-II: selective printing; on-line, context sensitive help; toolbar buttons for frequently used commands; spreadsheet-style editing; and fast, 32-bit computing power.

In short, POP-II offers a powerful way to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of management planning.

Next