TY - JOUR
T1 - Ecology, social behavior, and conservation in zebras
AU - Rubenstein, Daniel Ian
N1 - Funding Information:
I thank the Kenyan Ministry of Education for permission to carry out research on zebras. I also thank management of Mpala, Segera, Lewa, Ol Jogi, El Karama, and Ol Pejeta for allowing me to work on their lands. Many people assisted with observing zebras and gathering ecological data. I would especially like to thank Mace Hack, Siva Sundaresan, Ilya Fischhoff, Justine Cordingly, Heather Larkin, Belinda Low, Cassandra Nunez, Geoffrey Chege, David Njonjo, Joseph Kirathe, Patrik Akilong, Rikkapo, Peter Lalampaa, Mark Cornwall, Dana Mazo, and Jessica Rogers. I thank the National Science Foundation (IBN-9874523, CNS-025214, and IOB-9874523), St. Louis Zoo, and Earthwatch for funding parts of this project. But most importantly, I thank the government and people of Kenya for enabling me to study their wonderful wildlife. Parts of this chapter were delivered as the Presidential Address at the Animal Behavior Society 2009 Annual Meeting in Pirenópolis, Brazil. I thank Molly Morris for inviting me to give the address and Regina Macedo for comments that have improved this chapter.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Most of African's wildlife lives on landscapes inhabited by people. Nowhere is this more evident than on grasslands and savannas of arid areas where conflict between wildlife and livestock has always been common. In the past, economic development on these landscapes has eclipsed conservation, but in today's Africa, where pastoral herders and small-scale landholders seek enhanced lifestyles, understanding the links between behavior and ecology suggests that the demise of wildlife is not inevitable. Behavioral ecology offers insights into how features of the environment shape behavior. By unraveling the rules for particular species in particular environmental circumstances, it is possible to intervene and adjust peoples' behavior so that landscapes can be modified in ways that allow species to sustain themselves while improving human welfare. In this chapter I examine the socioecology of two zebra species-one thriving, the other verging on extinction-and show how resiliency emerges from understanding the link between a species' ecology and its behavior, demography, and population dynamics. I show that by working with large-scale commercial livestock ranchers, small-scale ranchers, and pastoral communities to apply basic behavioral ecological principles in context specific ways, balancing conservation and development is possible.
AB - Most of African's wildlife lives on landscapes inhabited by people. Nowhere is this more evident than on grasslands and savannas of arid areas where conflict between wildlife and livestock has always been common. In the past, economic development on these landscapes has eclipsed conservation, but in today's Africa, where pastoral herders and small-scale landholders seek enhanced lifestyles, understanding the links between behavior and ecology suggests that the demise of wildlife is not inevitable. Behavioral ecology offers insights into how features of the environment shape behavior. By unraveling the rules for particular species in particular environmental circumstances, it is possible to intervene and adjust peoples' behavior so that landscapes can be modified in ways that allow species to sustain themselves while improving human welfare. In this chapter I examine the socioecology of two zebra species-one thriving, the other verging on extinction-and show how resiliency emerges from understanding the link between a species' ecology and its behavior, demography, and population dynamics. I show that by working with large-scale commercial livestock ranchers, small-scale ranchers, and pastoral communities to apply basic behavioral ecological principles in context specific ways, balancing conservation and development is possible.
KW - Conservation
KW - Grevy's zebras
KW - Pastoral communities
KW - Plains zebras
KW - Social behavior
KW - Sociality
KW - Sustainable development
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U2 - 10.1016/S0065-3454(10)42007-0
DO - 10.1016/S0065-3454(10)42007-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77957009473
SN - 0065-3454
VL - 42
SP - 231
EP - 258
JO - Advances in the Study of Behavior
JF - Advances in the Study of Behavior
IS - C
ER -