Animal Behavior and Wildlife Conservation

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Abstract

M. Festa-Bianchet, M. Apollonio (eds.). 2003. Animal Behavior and Wildlife Conservation. Island Press, Washington, D.C. 380pp. ISBN 1-55963-959-8, price (paper), $35.00. Efforts to link behavioral ecology and conservation biology have been ongoing for nearly a decade, including a dedicated section in Oikos (Ulfstrand 1996), several reviews (Caro 1999; Curio 1996; Sutherland 1998), and 3 full volumes (Caro 1998; Clemmons and Buchholz 1997; Gosling and Sutherland 2000). Animal Behavior and Wildlife Conservation is the latest contribution to this rapidly growing field. Like the 3 previous books. Animal Behavior and Wildlife Conservation is a multiauthored, edited volume. Its genesis was a workshop held in Erice, Sicily, in 2000, for which the authors were asked to review the theoretical foundations of their subject, explore its implications for wildlife conservation and emphasize both the advantages and limitations of applying knowledge in animal behavior to conservation. The final result, supplemented by a few additional contributions, is a compilation of 15 chapters, arranged in 5 parts, with introductory and concluding chapters by the editors. Part I considers why behavior is important for conservation and contains the introduction by the editors and an overview of adaptive behavior and population viability (Gosling). The latter would make an excellent companion to the previous reviews by Sutherland (1998) and Caro (1999) for anyone seeking a comprehensive summary of the role of behavior in conservation for a graduate or undergraduate lecture. Part II considers resource-use strategies in space and time, emphasizing the roles of dispersal (Woodroffe), migration (Luschi), and movement (Desrochers), with additional chapters on reproductive behavior and the conservation of …