INTRODUCTION 



Although most human communities have now passed from a purely hunting 

 economy to a pastoral and agricultural one, the capture of wild or semi-wild 

 animals is still an important activity. Fish provide a substantial part of the 

 protein eaten by many peoples, and predominate in the diet of some, and 

 molluscs, birds, land mammals, whales and seals all contribute their quota. 

 It is common knowledge that many of these important natural resources 

 have been grossly over-exploited in the past, and that the manner in which 

 they are now harvested often leaves much to be desired. Ultimately the 

 rational management and development of wild populations may lead to 

 much fuller human control and near-domestication, but for the forseeable 

 future we are hkely to continue to rely on wUd animals for some of our food 

 and raw materials. 



In addition, the capture of certain wild animals or fish has a recreational 

 value, and this kind of sport has assumed a considerable political and 

 economic importance in the more highly developed countries. It is not 

 surprising therefore that there has been considerable economic and popular 

 support for the study of exploited animals. Applied biologists, whether 

 working on game animals or on species which are important sources of food 

 and raw materials, like fish, whales, seals and certain sea birds, have been 

 responsible for much of the research and many of the advances in population 

 ecology. In this they have been aided by economic entomologists concerned 

 with agricultural pests and disease vectors. To the contributions of these 

 ecologists must be added those made by mathematicians and theorists and 

 those resulting from the study of experimental populations in the laboratory. 

 All these approaches have been concerned in one way or another with the 

 dynamics of animal populations. 



Although the exploitation of a particular species or group of animals 

 involves many specific and practical problems, all such exploitations are 

 intimately bound up with fundamental population ecology. This interaction 

 between the specific and the general can be seen in the papers in the first three 

 parts of the Symposium that deal with particular animals such as herrings, 

 cockles, grouse, partridge, duck or whales. Some of the population factors 

 involved seem to be peculiar to the type of animal : others are of wider 

 relevance, and an attempt is made, especially in the discussions, to discover 

 and defme these fundamental points of similarity and difference. 



