CAREY , C.; University of Colorado, Boulder: How Physiological Methods and Concepts Can Be Used in Conservation Biology

Conservation Biology is dedicated to the study of the causes of species declines and the determination of ways to save threatened species. However, identification of causal mechanism(s) is difficult when a number of environmental factors vary continuously and often independently. Organismal physiology can help conservation biology meet these challenges by contributing methods and standards by which cause and effect relations can be distinguished from correlative events. Additionally, organismal physiology has traditionally studied mechanisms by which animals deal with environmental change: adjustments in tolerance limits, acclimation, behavioral shifts, etc. Two examples of the value of physiological methods and concepts to conservation biology will be taken from the phenomenon of amphibian population declines. Considerable debate has existed about what factors have caused amphibian population declines: habitat destruction, climate change, pathogens, introduction of predators/competitors, acid-rain, UVB, etc. Analysis of the potential effects of climate change on amphibian populations requires not only sophisticated, long-term climate monitoring but also knowledge of thermal and hydric tolerance limits, acclimatory abilities, and energetics of various amphibian species. Understanding of the effects of pathogens, like the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, on the biology of amphibians and the potential roles of environmentally induced stresses on the vulnerability of amphibians to emerging pathogens has required a multidisciplinary approach using physiology, immunology, ecology, molecular biology, and population genetics.