Synopses & Reviews
In just the last few years, behavioral ecologists have begun to address issues in conservation biology. This volume is the first attempt to link these disciplines formally. Here leading researchers explore current topics in conservation biology and discuss how behavioral ecology can contribute to a greater understanding of conservation problems and conservation intervention programs. In each chapter, the authors identify a conservation issue, review the ways it has been addressed, review behavioral ecological data related to it, including their own, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the behavioral ecological approach, and put forward specific conservation recommendations. The chapters juxtapose different studies on a wide variety of taxonomic groups. A number of common themes emerge, including the ways in which animal mating systems affect population persistence, the roles of dispersal and inbreeding avoidance for topics such as reserve design and effective population size, the key role of humans in conservation issues, and the importance of baseline data for conservation monitoring and modeling attempts. Each chapter sheds new light on conservation problems, generates innovative avenues of interdisciplinary research, and shows how conservation-minded behavioral ecologists can apply their expertise to some of the most important questions we face today.
Review
"Nearly two decades ago, geneticists, evolutionary biologists and ecologists turned their attention to applying their science and talents to provide information that would slow the extinction of species and destruction of ecosystems. Recently behavioural biologists have discovered that they too are conservation biologists. . . . This book joins a growing number of volumes and journal articles aimed at demonstrating that conservation requires an understanding of animal behaviour. It consists of an introduction, an afterword, an epilogue and 17 chapters divided among six sections. . . . Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Biology belongs on the bookshelves of behaviourists and conservation biologists . . . as [a] basic [reference] for understanding how behavioural processes apply to conservation. . . . [It] should help behavioural scientists make greater contributions to conserving the earth's declining biological diversity."--Animal Behaviour
Table of Contents
1. The Significance of Behavioral Ecology for Conservation Biology,
Tim CaroPart I: Baseline Behavioral Ecological Data and Conservation Problems
2. The Role of Individual Identification in Conservation Biology, Peter McGregor and Tom Peake
3. Ecological Indicators of Risk for Primates, as Judged by Species' Susceptibility to Logging, Alexander Harcourt
4. Future Prey: Some Consequences of the Loss and Restoration of Large Carnivores, Joel Berger
Part II: Baseline Behavioral Ecological Data and Conservation Intervention
5. A Minimum Intervention Approach to Conservation: The Influence of Social Structure, Sarah Durant
6. Contributions of Behavioral Studies to Captive Management and Breeding of Rare and Endangered Mammals, Nadja Wielebnowski
7. Behavior as a Tool for Management Intervention in Birds, Eberhard Curio
Part III: Mating Systems and Conservation Problems
8. Conspecific Aggregation and Conservation Biology, Andy Dobson and Joyce Poole
9. Reproductive Ecology in the Conservation and Management of Fishes, Amanda Vincent and Yvonne Sadovy
10. Social Organization and Effective Population Size in Carnivores, Scott Creel
Part IV: Mating Systems and Conservation Intervention
11. Animal Breeding Systems, Hunter Selectivity, and Consumptive Use in Wildlife Conservation, Correigh Greene, James Umbanhowar, Marc Mangel, and Tim Caro
12. Conspecific Brood Parasitism, Population Dynamics, and the Conservation of Cavity-Nesting Birds, John Eadie, Paul Sherman, and Brad Semel
13. The Importance of Mate Choice in Improving Viability in Captive Populations, Mats Grahn, Asa Langefors, and Torbjörn von Schantz
Part V: Dispersal and Inbreeding Avoidance
14. Mammalian Dispersal and Reserve Design, Dirk Van Vuren
15. Behavioral Ecology, Genetic Diversity, and Declining Amphibian Populations, Bruce Waldman and Mandy Tocher
Part VI: Human Behavioral Ecology
16. The Management of Subsistence Harvesting: Behavioral Ecology of Hunters and Their Mammalian Prey, Clare FitzGibbon
17. Indigenous Hunting in the Neotropics: Conservation or Optimal Foraging?, Michael Alvard
18. The Evolved Psychological Apparatus of Decision-Making Is One Source of Environmental Problems, Margo Wilson, Martin Daly, and Stephen Gordon
Afterword
19. Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Policy: On Balancing Science, Applications, and Advocacy, Daniel Rubenstein
Epilogue
20. How do We Refocus Behavioral Ecology to Address Conservation Issues More Directly?, Tim Caro