Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Genetics

What are the behavioral and ecological adaptations of animals to their natural environments? This is a central zoological research question for a long time. It is clear that all living species are well adapted, since they would already be long extinct otherwise. Adaptation, however, can lead to increasing specialization or to the evolution of a high flexibility in behavior and ecology. The degree of this variability can differ largely between individuals, between populations or between species. We investigate the degree and importance of plasticity in behavior and ecology also in view of the increasing changes in natural environments. Important study species are the nocturnal lemurs and small mammals of Madagascar. Madagascar is one of the hottest hotspots for biodiversity on earth. The island harbors an extraordinary number of animal and plant species that cannot be found anywhere else. The study of the evolutionary history and biogeography of nocturnal lemurs on Madagascar forms another central research question. However, this high species diversity is increasingly threatened by human disturbances, such as wood extraction, slash-and-burn cultivation or hunting. We therefore also employ ecological, parasitological, and molecular methods to study the consequences of forest loss and fragmentation for lemurs and small mammals. Finally, results are used to derive practical recommendations for the effective conservation of species and ecosystems.