Attracting Conspecifics and Manipulating Interspe-cific Interactions to Achieve Conservation Goals

Humans alter ecosystems in ways that can change howspecies interact and behave, presenting challenges toconservation efforts. Behavioral manipulation with so-cial cues may be a valuable management tool to achieveconservation goals. We will highlight two separateresearch studies conducted in Hawaii and Wisconsinwhere we experimentally manipulated social cues for conservation purposes. On Oahu, Hawaii, native fru-givorous birds are extinct and native plant recruitmentis depressed due to poor seed dispersal. To attractintroduced bird species to native plants and facilitateseed dispersal, we broadcast vocalizations of these in-troduced birds at target native plant sites. We foundthat introduced birds were attracted to social cues andsubsequently consumed native seeds, thus facilitatingrestoration efforts to increase seed dispersal and na-tive plant recruitment. In Wisconsin, Kirtland’s War-blers (Setophaga kirtlandii) are state endangered andare found to consistently breed in only one county lo-cated centrally in the state, despite suitable jack pineforests occurring in northern counties. To expand thebreeding distribution of warblers, we broadcast conspe-cific vocalizations at suitable but unoccupied sites innorthern Wisconsin. We successfully established threenew populations of Kirtland’s Warblers at sites located>200 km from the edge of their geographic range. Al-though these two research studies differ in many ways,they both provide opportunities to use behavior in con-servation. We will discuss the implications of these twostudies and how similar techniques may be applied topressing conservation issues (e.g. climate change) formany different bird species.