Animal Behaviour in Conservation Flashcards
why is behaviour important for conservation?
- behaviour mediates between organism + environment
- provides flexibility to the environment
- limits - can’t always adapt to extreme changes
How do traits evolve through natural selection?
- variation in traits
- differential reproduction
- heredity
- end results - if process continues all individuals in population will have the variation in traits
do behaviours evolve?
yes
what happens to animal populations when environment changes faster than animals can adapt?
decrease
what is Lifetime Reproductive Success (LRS)?
number of an individual’s offspring surviving to maturation
what traits increase LRS?
adaptations or adaptive traits
what is the concern if LRS is declining under current conditions?
population is of conservation concern
How to measure LRS?
- count all surviving offspring over lifespan
- copulation rate
- production of fertilised eggs/newborns
- independent offspring
- RS over one breeding season
- change of survival
- access to food
What are most behaviours related to?
- reproduction
- surviving
- foraging
- movement and space use
Reproduction
attracting a male, courtship, mating, parental care etc. Includes mating system and social organisation
Surviving
avoiding being eaten (vigilance, hiding, ‘flight’, defence etc)
Foraging
finding food (where to eat, how long to forage for, what prey to attack etc)
movement and space
migration, homing and navigation, communication (maintaining group cohesion)
what do behaviours change with?
physical / social environment
- e.g. pup care in banded mongooses
Example of individual consistency in many behaviour
e.g. some banded mongooses have ‘helpful’ personalities
what setting is personality important in?
conservation settings
e.g. boldness and habituation in captive breeding and human wildlife conflict
How does training occurr?
takes advantage of natural learning process:
- stimulus -> response
can be used to mitigate human-wildlife conflict
when can training be used?
- protect crops + farmed animals from wild animals - e.g. livestock guardian dogs
- locate animals of conservation concern - e.g. dogs and African pouched rats can be trained to detect faeces from specific animals, or the animals themselves
can be used for in-situ conservation in the field, and to detect illegal wildlife trafficking
What are anthropogenic impacts on behaviour caused by?
- direct human disturbances (e.g. overharvesting, nuisance disturbance, habitat fragmentation)
- indirect disturbances (e.g. changes in community structure, invasive species)
what is the effect of human-altered environments?
fitness values of existing behaviours change
can be major problem if behaviours are inflexible
e.g. nocturnal navigation using light (moon stars) is now hampered by modern lighting
what is the effect of changing behaviours?
consequences for individual, species or ecological community
e.g. timing of reproduction in caterpillars - responded to climate change, but same trait in great tits has not changes
probably different mechanistic triggers of reproduction
led to mis-timing of reproduction
What is behavioural-sensitive management?
incorporate behaviour into conservation decision-making protocols and management plans
e.g. reserve design, corridor planning, wildlife epidemiology, reintroductions, translocations, population management, control of invasive species
What is behavioural modifications?
change the behaviour of a target population
applied where behaviour itself is of conservation concern
e.g. training captive bred individuals pre-release, teaching wild animals to use overpasses
What are the two main functions of behavioural indicators?
- detecting anthropogenic threats - e.g. monitoring elephant behaviour in response to tourist numbers
- Monitoring conservation intervention success - e.g. monitoring the response of reintroduced wild ass to artificial water sources
