Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Behaviour and Conservation »

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, conservationists' concern about the loss of wildlife habitat on farmland escalated into open conflict with farmers, the conflict being heightened by controversy surrounding the passing of the Wildlife and Countryside Act in 1981. An improved understanding of the attitudes of farmers and conservationists would help ensure the most appropriate measures are adopted to resolve or avoid such conflict. This research therefore compared the attitudes of farmers and conservationists in Bedfordshire in two pairs of surveys. In the first, free-ranging interviews were used to establish the range of opinions on farming and conservation held by the two groups. In the second, Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action was used as the framework for a more detailed comparison of the differences in attitudes between the two communities. The correlation of attitudes and social pressures with farmers' behaviour was also explored for three conservation-related activities about which there was conflict: hedge management, pesticide use and straw disposal. The first survey revealed a complex matrix of shared, complementary and conflicting beliefs and values between and within the two communities. Examples of conflicting values included those concerning land ownership and freedom of individual action versus stewardship, and pride in an efficient, productive and tidy farm versus a wilder countryside. The second survey showed that while farmers agreed with conservationists about the advantages of conservation expressed in general terms, once decisions about specific farm practices were involved, attitudes to conservation and wildlife were far outweighed by attitudes to farming and business considerations. Social pressures on farmers from conservationists were minimal; the strongest social pressures came from within the farming community itself and these generally served to perpetuate the dominant farming values. Although the theory of reasoned action provided a valuable means of exploring the role of attitudes, social pressures and behaviour in the conflict, some limitations in the use of the model in these complex circumstances were found. In particular it did not allow a distinction to be made between self-interested and deeply held values; the recommended method of constructing and scoring a behaviourial index was inappropriate where value judgements were involved; and respondents experienced difficulty in distinguishing between beliefs and values when evaluative opinion statements were used. Some suggestions for overcoming these limitations are made.

Determining the dynamic nature of animal movement has been an important component in a wider understanding of animal population ecology. Generally, this is because temporal change in the density of a population at a specific geographic location is not only a function of births and deaths but also of movements, including migration. The increased availability of remote telemetry and biologging systems in recent years has enabled many studies tracking marine predators, such as turtles, seabirds and marine mammals, but a general understanding of spatial dynamics in large sharks remains less well developed. This is in part due to few studies having achieved sufficiently long-term, multi-year tracks to detect changes in movement behaviour over time. Determining the timing, repeatability and potential motivations for movements of large sharks is necessary to understand the ecological and evolutionary role of such behaviour more generally in marine predators. Furthermore, given global concerns of declining shark populations, a detailed appreciation of shark movements can reveal the extent 6 of overlap with area-focused human activities (e.g. fishing), as well as inform assessments of population trends and spatial management options. In order to demonstrate how shark migratory behaviour and spatial dynamics can vary dramatically depending on the species and location, with subsequent contrasting conservation implications, the present work used longterm, remote telemetry to reveal detailed patterns in shark movement behaviour at two very different geographical scales: broad-scale movements of larger species that encompass ocean basins, versus fine-scale movements of reef-associated species at a remote atoll. First, using satellite telemetry, it was revealed for the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier, that adult males undertake annually repeated, roundtrip migrations of over 7,500 km in the northwest Atlantic. Second, acoustic telemetry was used to determine the fine-scale spatial dynamics of a multispecies shark assemblage at a small, remote atoll in the Seychelles, Indian Ocean, where a number of species displayed perennial residency. While the fine-scale movements of reef sharks in the Seychelles suggest an MPA of moderate size may be an effective management option, the long-distance migrations of the tiger sharks in the Atlantic reveal that conservation efforts targeting them must account for dynamic fisheries interactions over large geographical scales, potentially requiring time-area closures to be effective. Examining the long-term movement behaviour of different shark species over contrasting geographical scales has emphasised the importance of understanding spatial dynamics when informing management decisions, and has contributed to a wider understanding of the population ecology of these species.

Artisanal fisheries are a key source of food and income for millions of people worldwide. However, unmanaged or excessive fishing activity can lead to declining returns for fishing effort and livelihood insecurity, and adversely impact wetland ecosystems. Management interventions such as protected areas and temporal closures may improve fishery sustainability and reduce environmental degradation, but often carry costs for fishers. Understanding predictors of fishing behaviour would allow conservation planning to minimise the adverse impacts of interventions, increasing the likelihood of fisher support of change. However, factors influencing fishers’ behaviour are rarely identified or taken into account when implementing conservation actions. Madagascar’s Lake Alaotra wetland supports the nation’s largest and most productive artisanal freshwater fishery, and provides critical habitat for endemic wildlife. Local fishers depend on the fishery for livelihood throughout the year. Catch-monitoring interviews, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and follows were conducted over 16 months with 784 fishers at Lake Alaotra to understand the socioeconomic dynamics of the fishery. Although information from the fishers was sometimes imprecise, participatory monitoring methods engaged fishers and improved understanding of system dynamics. Linear mixed models confirmed that proposed restricted areas and temporal closures would generate direct short-term costs through reduced catch sizes, which vary between gear types. Socioeconomic data, spatial distribution of fishing effort, and fishers’ evaluations of management scenarios were used to explore alternative strategies. The conservation planning tool Marxan was used to identify reserve networks capable of achieving conservation goals while minimising adverse impacts for fishers. The research demonstrates that: interventions can have unequal impacts on local people: information about costs and benefits of interventions can produce more realistic and implementable conservation plans: and actively engaging fishers and understanding their spatial behaviour at relevant scales is critical for managing fisheries sustainability and promoting effective long-term conservation of freshwater ecosystems.