9 - Conservation and Biology Flashcards
What is the role of behavioural ecology in conservation biology?
Species (re)introduction Captive breeding - what we need to know How to prevent spread of invasive species Behaviour based mangagement Animal sanctuary
How does human behaviour lead to infanticide in some species?
Lion and bear bear males kill non offspring
If males are favoured by hunter, male turnover in groups is high
Leads to more infanticide
How is imprinting impacted by humans?
Learning that occures during critical early period is imprinting
If captive animals imprint on humans, there can be problems reintroducing
Can also imprint on habitat
Must adjsut wild habitat before release and can add provisions to habitat
How does behaviour contribute to declining A. beershebensis repitile populations?
Scrubland habitat
Forestation project began and population decreased in both natural and changed habitat
Trees attracted predators which ate population
Also attracted dispersers from natural habitat (Source and sink)
Mismatch between perceived and actual habitat quality led to the end of the programme
What factors must be considered in lion conservation?
In Zimbabwe, waterholes provide prey on nocturnal routes
Dried holes means less hunting success and range of juvenile males decreases
Prey response to one kill and leave the area
Less hunting success therefore lions move on and fewer lions are supported in the new areas
Juveniles usuallt disperse while adults are territorial
Need to consider this when developng connectivity strategies
Adult male behaviour determines juvenile dispersal age
Success hinges on whether juveniles get to reproduce in new areas
How have conservation efforts for kakaops failed?
Solitary bird Males 40% bigger than females V low reproductive rate Females incubate Provided food to females and females had more reproductive success but rate of reproduction didn't change overall Extreme male biased sex ratio (3:1) Condition dependent sex adjustment Females in good condition produce males bc. sons are costly Supplementry feeding stopped More success
How have we carried out Pilanesberg Elephant conservation?
Young orphaned males introduced in 90s, killed 40 rhinos
Musth causes aggression
Enter musth at 25-30 as they win agonistic interactions with other males
Lasts weeks to months
Intro males lasted 2X longer than avergae
6 older males introduced and rhino killing stopped
Theory: confrontation with older males reduced musth
Behavioural control through being surrounded by more testerone
What is behaviour based management?
Increase or decrease population size
Corridor planning, reserve desgin
Can train captive animals to be predators or to avoid them (?)
What are behavioural indicators?
Indicators of animals state and habitat state, eg. patch use, foraging, home range use
Precedes population dynamics
Monitor effectiveness of management programme at early stages - easier and faster than full ecosystem changes
Describe some behavioural responses to urban environments
Plasticity is key to success
Modification to bird song
Personality differences - dispersal is linked to boldness
Change in reproduction, forages and using human resources
Summarise Berger-Tal et al, 2011
Debate over whether behaviour is important for conservation biology
Currently no framework for this and this leads to independent research with little structure
Should create framework with three themes: Anthropogenic impacts on bioiversity, behaviour based management and behavioural indicators
Behavioural knowledge is needed for all three of these
Three behaviour domains that fitness rests on are movement and space use patterns, foraging predation and prey and social behaviour and reproduction
Strong linkage between these three
Summarise McCleery et al., 2014
Produced modelling framework to asses impact of captive breeding and reintroduction
Current breeding and release programme for woodrat recovery not useful
Removing these woodrats from the wild would not be helpful
Give some random examples of conservation
Przewalski’s horse brought back from the edge of extinction by reserves, captive breeding and realise
Chester zoo release of nothern bald ibis
Reintroduction often lacks scientific evidence and can do more harm than good
Elephants and bees - Kenya, bee honey
