In just the last few years, behavioral ecologists have begun to address issues in conservation biology. This volume is the first attempt to link these disciplines formally. Here leading researchers explore current topics in conservation biology and discuss how behavioral ecology can contribute to a greater understanding of conservation problems and conservation intervention programs. In each chapter, the authors identify a conservation issue, review the ways it has been addressed, review behavioral ecological data related to it, including their own, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the behavioral ecological approach, and put forward specific conservation recommendations. The chapters juxtapose different studies on a wide variety of taxonomic groups. A number of common themes emerge, including the ways in which animal mating systems affect population persistence, the roles of dispersal and inbreeding avoidance for topics such as reserve design and effective population size, the key role of humans in conservation issues, and the importance of baseline data for conservation monitoring and modeling attempts. Each chapter sheds new light on conservation problems, generates innovative avenues of interdisciplinary research, and shows how conservation-minded behavioral ecologists can apply their expertise to some of the most important questions we face today. "Nearly two decades ago, geneticists, evolutionary biologists and ecologists turned their attention to applying their science and talents to provide information that would slow the extinction of species and destruction of ecosystems. Recently behavioural biologists have discovered that they too are conservation biologists. . . . This book joins a growing number of volumes and journal articles aimed at demonstrating that conservation requires an understanding of animal behaviour. It consists of an introduction, an afterword, an epilogue and 17 chapters divided among six sections. . . . Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Biology belongs on the bookshelves of behaviourists and conservation biologists . . . as [a] basic [reference] for understanding how behavioural processes apply to conservation. . . . [It] should help behavioural scientists make greater contributions to conserving the earth's declining biological diversity."-- Animal Behaviour Tim Caro is at Center for Population Biology and Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California at Davis.