Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Conflicts And Triage, Kate E. Lynch, Daniel T. Blumstein

Animal Sentience

To represent diverse interests successfully, a strategy for dealing with conflicts is needed. We discuss an approach to maximizing the interests of the greatest number of individuals, present and future.

Ethical Foundations For The Lethal Management Of Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalocrocorax Auritus) In The Eastern United States: An Argument Analysis, Chelsea Batavia, Michael Paul Nelson

Ethics and Conservation Biology Collection

Lethal management of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalocrocorax auritus) has been implemented in many areas of the United States. In this paper, the philosophical method of argument analysis is used to assess ethical premises underlying the proposition that Double-crested Cormorant populations should be culled to reduce pressures on wild fisheries in the Great Lakes region of the eastern USA. This influential argument has been used to justify the destruction of more than half a million Double-crested Cormorants and hundreds of thousands of their nests and eggs. Three versions of the argument are formulated and assessed. It is shown that each of the …

Competing Activities As Measures Of Fear And Vigilance, Ferenc Mónus

Animal Sentience

In animal behavioural research on vigilance, visual signs of alertness are usually used to estimate perceived risk (an internal “fear” state) of free-ranging animals. Different measures of vigilance and competing activities (e.g., predator vigilance, conspecific vigilance, feeding, food handling) provide clues for better understanding vigilance behaviour. How efficiently does an animal in a vigilant/non-vigilant posture devote attention to threats or invest in other activities, such as searching for or handling food? Several species regularly withdraw to a sheltered spot when feeding in an abundant food patch, spending short periods in complete safety. Frequencies of feeding interruptions or false-alarm flights provide …

International Consensus Principles For Ethical Wildlife Control, Sara Dubois, Nicole Fenwick, Erin A. Ryan, Liv Baker, Sandra E. Baker, Ngaio J. Beausoleil, Scott Carter, Barbara Cartwright, Federico Costa, Chris Draper, John Griffin, Adam Grogan, Gregg Howald, Bidda Jones, Kate E. Littin, Amanda T. Lombard, David J. Mellor, Daniel Ramp, Catherine A. Schuppli, David Fraser

Ethics and Conservation Biology Collection

Human–wildlife conflicts are commonly addressed by excluding, relocating, or lethally controlling animals with the goal of preserving public health and safety, protecting property, or conserving other valued wildlife. However, declining wildlife populations, a lack of efficacy of control methods in achieving desired outcomes, and changes in how people value animals have triggered widespread acknowledgment of the need for ethical and evidence-based approaches to managing such conflicts. We explored international perspectives on and experiences with human–wildlife conflicts to develop principles for ethical wildlife control. A diverse panel of 20 experts convened at a 2-day workshop and developed the principles through a …

What Would The Babel Fish Say?, Monica Gagliano

Animal Sentience

Starting with its title, Key’s (2016) target article advocates the view that fish do not feel pain. The author describes the neuroanatomical, physiological and behavioural conditions involved in the experience of pain in humans and rodents and confidently applies analogical arguments as though they were established facts in support of the negative conclusion about the inability of fish to feel pain. The logical reasoning, unfortunately, becomes somewhat incoherent, with the arbitrary application of the designated human criteria for an analogical argument to one animal species (e.g., rodents) but not another (fish). Research findings are reported selectively, and questionable interpretations are …

Maintaining Ethical Standards During Conservation Crises, Ryan K. Brook, Mark Cattet, Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, Gilbert Proulx

Ethics and Conservation Biology Collection

Many species at risk in Canada and globally are at or approaching a crisis, especially where little or nothing consequential is being done to prevent extirpation. Such is the case of endangered boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southern Alberta, Canada. Expedient but inadequate emergency ‘fixes’ have been experimentally implemented to arrest their decline and potential extirpation, but use of these measures raises important ethical problems. In their study of the effects of killing wolves (Canis lupus) on the Little Smoky woodland caribou population, Hervieux et al. (2014a) employed lethal methods that included shooting a firearm from a helicopter and …

Compassion As A Practical And Evolved Ethic For Conservation, David Ramp, Marc Bekoff

Conservation Collection

The ethical position underpinning decisionmaking is an important concern for conservation biologists when setting priorities for interventions. The recent debate on how best to protect nature has centered on contrasting intrinsic and aesthetic values against utilitarian and economic values, driven by an inevitable global rise in conservation conflicts. These discussions have primarily been targeted at species and ecosystems for success, without explicitly expressing concern for the intrinsic value and welfare of individual animals. In part, this is because animal welfare has historically been thought of as an impediment to conservation. However, practical implementations of conservation that provide good welfare outcomes …

The Evolution Of Lateralized Foot Use In Parrots: A Phylogenetic Approach, Culum Brown, Maria Magat

Sentience Collection

Cerebral lateralization refers to the division of cognitive function in either brain hemisphere and may be overtly expressed as behavioral asymmetries, such as handedness. The evolutionary history of laterality is of considerable interest due to its close link with the development of human language. Although considerable research effort has aimed at the proximate explanations of cerebral lateralization, considerably less attention has been paid to ultimate explanations. The extent to which laterality is constrained by phylogeny or shaped by ecological forces through natural selection has received little attention. Here, the foot preference of 23 species of Australian parrots was examined to …

Faecal-Centric Approaches To Wildlife Ecology And Conservation; Methods, Data And Ethics, C. T. Darimont, T. E. Reimchen, H. M. Bryan, P. C. Paquet

Ethics and Conservation Biology Collection

Abundant and commonly encountered in the field, wildlife faeces have long attracted scientists. Recent advances in molecular techniques, however, especially when coupled with creative study designs, can now yield a great variety of high quality data. Herein, we review the opportunities and challenges of faecal-centric approaches to address ecological and conservation questions using wolves of coastal British Columbia, Canada, as a case system. We begin by discussing methodological considerations, which should have broad applicability to any wildlife study system. We then summarize the extensive and unique variety of data that has emerged from our ‘facts from faeces’ approach with wolves, …

Lack Of Assortative Mating Between Incipient Species Of Stickleback From A Hybrid Zone, F. C. Jones, C. Brown, V. A. Braithwaite

Evolutionary Biology Collection

Both premating and postmating barriers to gene flow can contribute to reproductive isolation but the relative role of these factors, particularly in the early stages of speciation, is not well understood. Evidence suggests that factors contributing to assortative mating and, thus, the development and maintenance of divergent species, can be ecology-dependent. Here, we present results from a study of assortative mating between recently diverged anadromous and freshwater sticklebacks conducted in semi-natural conditions. Sympatric anadromous and freshwater sticklebacks were sampled from a contact zone and multiple male and female morphs were allowed to breed in replicate ponds. Mate choice was determined …

Stable Isotopic Niche Predicts Fitness Of Prey In A Wolf–Deer System, C. T. Darimont, P. C. Paquet, T. E. Reimchen

Evolutionary Biology Collection

Interindividual variation in niche presents a potentially central object on which natural selection can act. This may have important evolutionary implications because habitat use governs a suite of selective forces encountered by foragers. In a free‐living native black‐tailed deer, Odocoileus hemionus, population from coastal British Columbia, we used stable isotope analysis to identify individual variation in foraging niche and investigated its relationship to fitness. Using an intragenerational comparison of surviving and nonsurviving O. hemionus over 2 years of predation by wolves, Canis lupus, we detected resource‐specific fitness. Individuals with isotopic signatures that suggested they foraged primarily in cedar ( …

Cortical Complexity In Cetacean Brains, Patrick R. Hof, Rebecca Chanis, Lori Marino

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Cetaceans (dolphins, whales, and porpoises) have a long, dramatically divergent evolutionary history compared with terrestrial mammals. Throughout their 55–60 million years of evolution, cetaceans acquired a compelling set of characteristics that include echolocation ability (in odontocetes), complex auditory and communicative capacities, and complex social organization. Moreover, although cetaceans have not shared a common ancestor with primates for over 90 million years, they possess a set of cognitive attributes that are strikingly convergent with those of many primates, including great apes and humans. In contrast, cetaceans have evolved a highly unusual combination of neurobiological features different from that of primates. As …

Big Brains Do Matter In New Environments, Lori Marino

Evolutionary Biology Collection

No abstract provided.

Origin And Evolution Of Large Brains In Toothed Whales, Lori Marino, Daniel W. Mcshea, Mark D. Uhen

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Toothed whales (order Cetacea: suborder Odontoceti) are highly encephalized, possessing brains that are significantly larger than expected for their body sizes. In particular, the odontocete superfamily Delphinoidea (dolphins, porpoises, belugas, and narwhals) comprises numerous species with encephalization levels second only to modern humans and greater than all other mammals. Odontocetes have also demonstrated behavioral faculties previously only ascribed to humans and, to some extent, other great apes. How did the large brains of odontocetes evolve? To begin to investigate this question, we quantified and averaged estimates of brain and body size for 36 fossil cetacean species using computed tomography and …

Reconstructing Cetacean Brain Evolution Using Computed Tomography, Lori Marino, Mark D. Uhen, Nicholas D. Pyenson, Bruno Frohlich

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Until recently, there have been relatively few studies of brain mass and morphology in fossil cetaceans (dolphins, whales, and porpoises) because of difficulty accessing the matrix that fills the endocranial cavity of fossil cetacean skulls. As a result, our knowledge about cetacean brain evolution has been quite limited. By applying the noninvasive technique of computed tomography (CT) to visualize, measure, and reconstruct the endocranial morphology of fossil cetacean skulls, we can gain vastly more information at an unprecedented rate about cetacean brain evolution. Here, we discuss our method and demonstrate it with several examples from our fossil cetacean database. This …

The Importance Of Ethics In Conservation Biology: Let's Be Ethicists Not Ostriches, Marc Bekoff

Ecology Collection

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Encephalization Between Odontocete Cetaceans And Anthropoid Primates, L. Marino

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

There have been very few studies of brain size and encephalization in cetaceans and essentially none that have made direct quantitative comparisons of cetaceans and another mammalian group using large normative samples. In the present study two different measures of encephalization were calculated and used to rank and compare 21 odontocete species and 60 anthropoid primate species. Comparisons were made both within and between the two groups. Results show that the encephalization level of Homo sapiens is still extraordinary relative to that of nonhuman species. Nevertheless, a subset of delphinid odontocetes are significantly more highly encephalized than the most highly …

Wildlife Conservation, Zoos And Animal Protection: A Strategic Analysis, Andrew N. Rowan

The publication consists of the proceedings of a workshop, sponsored by the Gilman Foundation, and held in April of 1994 at the White Oak Conservation Center in Florida. About thirty participants were invited from zoos, animal protection groups and academic institutions to discuss concepts such as wild, captive and tame; animal well-being in the wild and in zoos; and protecting individuals versus conserving populations. In order to maximize the time engaged in discussion, several individuals were identified to prepare target articles which were distributed to all participants before the meeting. These articles form the main chapters in this book. Other …

Wildlife And Nature Liberation, Michael W. Fox

Conservation Collection

Humane ethics--animal welfare--and animal rights are not incompatible with ecologically sound wildlife stewardship. They are an integral part of it, from treating wildlife for necessary research purposes humanely, to finding humane ways to control the populations of species that are out of balance and thus threatening the viability of other species and the diversity and integrity of the ecosystem. That mistakes may be made in stewardshipmanagement policies is inevitable. It is, for instance, difficult to know if the sudden abundance of one or more species and the dwindling of others is part of the natural process of succession and should …

Wildlife Conservation And Animal Rights: Are They Compatible?, Michael Hutchins, Christen Wemmer

Conservation Collection

The purpose of this paper is to explore the philosophical tenets of the animal rights/humane ethic as they relate to the environmental ethic and, more specifically, as they relate to wildlife management and conservation. The two ethics will be compared in an effort to identify potential sources of conflict. Recent criticisms of the animal rights ethic, most notably by Fox (1978, 1979), Rodman (1977), Callicott (1980), Gunn (1980), and Hutchins et al. (1982) have identified several major discrepancies. The implications of these differences will be discussed.

Whales Are Not Cetacean Resources, Dale Jamieson, Tom Regan

Conservation Collection

What we know about whales is sufficient for ascribing to them the analogues of human rights, including the fundamental right to be treated with respect. Once we recognize their possession of this right, it follows that whales are not to be used or exploited by us for the promotion of our ends, however "benign" they may appear. In the case of humans, to refrain from killing them is to discharge only a small part of our total duties. We must also refrain from exploiting them, whether "consumptively" or "nonconsumptively." Having come as far as we have in our understanding of …

Edging Toward Extinction: The Status Of Wildlife In Latin America, Douglas R. Shane

eBooks

No abstract provided.