VERTEBRATE MATING SYSTEMS, ALLEE EFFECTS AND CONSERVATION

Recent interest has focused increasingly on the role of behavioural research in conservation. Within this field, the study of mating systems can make a highly important contribution. Mating systems both affect, and are affected by, interactions between conspecifics. Of particular importance are Allee effects, which arise as a result of the benefits of conspecific presence. Recognition of the consequences of Allee effects for mating systems, conservation, and behaviour, has also increased recently. The inter-relationship between these areas is highly complex, and both mating systems and Allee effects have consequences for each other, as well as for conservation. In this way, both have direct and indirect consequences for conservation. We discuss these in the light of current, and potential, contributions of the study of mating systems to conservation.

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