Symposium: Physiology in changing landscapes: an integrative perspective for conservation biology

As natural landscapes continue to be altered due to anthropogenic disturbance and climate change, organisms are faced with new environmental challenges. The growing field of conservation physiology seeks to apply a diversity of physiological traits (immune, metabolic, endocrine, nutritional, etc.) to understand the mechanisms behind organismal, population, and ecosystem responses to environmental change and stressors. This type of physiological approach is highly powerful as it imparts predictive capacity and allows for the assessment of conservation projects in a more sensitive way than traditional demographic techniques. Although the discipline of conservation physiology is gaining momentum, there is still the opportunity to better translate knowledge from eco-physiology into real-world tools. Specifically, many of the current “high-profile” questions in ecological and evolutionary physiology are necessary to our understanding of the applicability of physiological measures to conservation goals. As a result, a vast opportunity for mutual growth in theoretical and applied physiology is at our doorstep.

Through a highly diverse symposium in terms of physiological systems, scale, and taxa, we will promote the application of physiological measures to evolutionary, ecological, and applied endeavours simultaneously. More specifically, the symposium will address current opportunities for growth in the field of conservation physiology by focusing on the following five key considerations: 1) recognizing opportunities for applied components in ecological and evolutionary physiology studies; 2) combining multiple measures of physiology and behaviour; 3) taking into account the context-dependency of physiological variables; 4) combining a within-individual and population-level approach; 5) considering the temporal and logistical limitations of working with populations of conservation concern. Overall, integrative ecologists have detailed knowledge of the physiological systems that they study; communicating theoretical and empirical knowledge in an approachable and applicable way is paramount to the development of conservation tools that will have a tangible impact.

The symposium will be of interest to a broad audience of physiologists, ecologists, and conservation biologists who are interested in how organisms respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in their environment. Overall, by combining the physiological tools and theoretical perspectives underpinning multiple disciplines we can better understand how future changes will affect wildlife populations of interest within evolutionary, ecological, and conservation contexts.

Sponsors: DCE, DCPB
This symposium also received funding from the University of Windsor and the Canadian Society of Zoologists.

 

Organizers

• Christine Madliger, University of Windsor, Canada
• Glenn Crossin, Dalhousie University, Canada – myweb.dal.ca/gl414705/Glenn_T._Crossin_PhD/Research.html
• Oliver Love, University of Windsor, Canada – www.oliverlovelab.com

Speakers

S2.1 Sunday, Jan. 4, 08:00 MADLIGER, C.L.*; LOVE, O.P.:

The power of physiology in changing landscapes: considerations for the continued integration of conservation and physiology

S2.2 Sunday, Jan. 4, 08:30 COOKE, S.J.*; DONALDSON, M.R.; RABY, G.D.; PATTERSON, D.A.; FARRELL, A.P.; GALE, M.; ROBINSON, K.; ELIASON, E.; JEFFRIES, K.; ELIASON, E.; MARTINS, E.; HINCH, S.G.:

Fishing for effective conservation: context and biotic variation key to understanding post-release survival of Pacific salmon

S2.3 Sunday, Jan. 4, 09:00 HUNT, KE*; ROLLAND, RM; KRAUS, SD:

Studying the uncatchable animal: the methods, meaning and madness of conservation physiology research on large whales

S2.5 Sunday, Jan. 4, 10:30 ROHR, Jason R.:

Using physiology to understand climate-driven changes in disease and biodiversity losses: lesson learned from amphibian declines

S2.6 Sunday, Jan. 4, 11:00 SINCLAIR, BJ*; BARTON, MG; MCFARLANE, ML; TERBLANCHE, JS:

What would happen if we used physiological tolerances to design protected areas? Implications of politics and climate change for conservation planning

S2.7 Sunday, Jan. 4, 11:30 HULTINE, Kevin / R*; BEAN, Dan / W; DUDLEY, Tom / L; GEHRING, Catherine / A:

Species introductions and their cascading impacts on native biotic interactions in desert riparian ecosystems

S2.9 Sunday, Jan. 4, 14:00 CRESPI, Erica J*; RISSLER, Leslie J:

Geophysiology of the wood frog: Integrative assessment of population health at different spatial scales and life stages

S2.10 Sunday, Jan. 4, 14:30 SUSKI, Cory/D*; COOKE, Steven/J:

Linking landscape-scale disturbances to stress and condition of resident fishes: implications for restoration and conservation

S2.11 Sunday, Jan. 4, 15:00 WILLIS, Craig:

Using Physiology and Behavior to Tackle Wildlife Disease: Lessons from White Nose Syndrome in Hibernating Bats