Meeting Abstract
127.5 Monday, Jan. 7 Integrating animal behavior and conservation biology: a case study of invasive crayfish GHERARDI, F.; University of Florence francesca.gherardi@unifi.it
Conservation behavior is a relatively new interdisciplinary field of study that aims at investigating how proximate and ultimate aspects of animal behavior can assist land managers in solving conservation problems (Blumstein and Fernández-Juricic 2010; Berger-Tal et al. 2011). However, its usefulness in promoting practical conservation matters is highly debated, with some scientists arguing that the importance of behavior in conservation practice is overemphasized (Caro 2007). I will show the role of behavioral studies in tackling the problem of the invasions by crayfish species. Two paradigmatic examples will be discussed: (1) the potential use of ‘animal personality’ studies in predicting the invasive potential of species (Gherardi et al. 2012) and (2) the importance of sexual selection, mating strategies, aggression, and other aspects of behavior in helping managers select appropriate techniques for the control of invasive populations (Gherardi et al. 2011). An important take-home message will be that ignoring behavioral data often leads to the failure of management programs (Knight 2001). Berger-Tal O., Polak T., Oron A., Lubin Y., Kotler B.P., Saltz D. 2011. Integrating animal behavior and conservation biology: a conceptual framework. Behavioral Ecology 22: 236–239. Blumstein, D. and Fernández-Juricic, E. 2010. A Primer on Conservation Behaviour, Sinauer Press Caro T. 2007. Behavior and conservation: a bridge too far? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22: 394–400. Knight J. 2001. If they could talk to the animals. Nature. 414: 246–247. Gherardi F., Aquiloni L., Diéguez-Uribeondo J., Tricarico E. 2011. Managing invasive crayfish: is there a hope? Aquatic Sciences 73: 185–200. Gherardi F., Aquiloni L., Tricarico E. 2012. Behavioral plasticity, behavioral syndromes and animal personality in crustacean decapods: an imperfect map is better than no map. Current Zoology 58: 566–578.
