Behavioural ecologists study the strategies that individual animals use to maximize their genetic representation in future generations while conservation biologists study small populations and attempt to stem the tide of species extinctions. A handful of behavioural ecologists, increasingly concerned about species losses, have begun to address issues in conservation biology. Using data collected in the course of their fieldwork on mating systems, foraging behaviour or habitat preferences, or simply by working on an endangered species, they have started to apply their findings to models of population growth and effective population size, hands-on management, and developing conservation strategies. This volume is an attempt to link these disciplines formally.

Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction; 1. The Significance of Behavioral Ecology for Conservation Biology; Part I: Baseline Behavioral Ecological Data and Conservation Problems. Introduction; 2. The Role of Individual Identification in Conservation Biology; 3. Ecological Indicators of Risk for Primates, as Judged by Susceptibility to Logging; 4. Future Pry: Some Consequences of the Loss and Restoration of Large Carnivores; Part II: Baseline Behavioral Ecological Data and Conservation Intervention. Introduction; 5. A Minimum Intervention Approach to Management: The Influence of Social Structure; 6. Contributions of Behavioral Studies to Captive Management and Breeding of Rare and Endangered Mammals; 7. Behavior as a Tool for Management Intervention in Birds; Part III: Mating Systems and Conservation Problems. Introduction; 8. Conspecific Aggregation and Conservation Biology; 9. Reproductive Ecology in the Conservation and Management of Fishes; 10. Social Organization and Effective Population Size in Carnivores; Part IV: Mating Systems and Conservation Intervention. Introducton; 11. Animal Breeding Systems, Hunter Selectivity, and Consumptive Use in Wildlife Conservation; 12. Conspecific Brood Parasitism, Population Dynamics, and the Conservation of Cavity-nesting Birds; 13. The Importance of Mate Choice in Improving Viability of Captive Populations; Part V: Dispersal and Inbreeding Avoidance. Introduction; 14. Mammalian Dispersal and Reserve Design; 15. Behavioral Ecology, Genetic Diversity, and Declining Amphibian Populations; Part VI: Human Behavioral Ecology. Introduction; 16. The Management of Subsistence Hunting: Behavioral; Ecology of Hunters and their Mammalian Prey; 17. Indigenous Hunting in the Neotropics: Conservation or Optimal Foraging?; 18. The Evolved Psychological Apparatus of Decision-making is one Source of Environmental Problems; Afterword: Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Policy: On Balancing Science, Applications and Advocacy; Epilogue: How do we refocus Behavioral Ecology to Address Conservation Issues More Directly

Reviews

"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