Our planet is changing at a startling pace. The rate of species extinction is alarmingly high (Barnosky et al. 2011) and unique ecosystems such as coral reefs and tropical forests are rapidly diminishing and disappearing. It is very clear that the only way to prevent, or at least slow down, this mass extinction, is by direct action. The science of conservation biology stands before the ongoing environmental crisis, offering some hope that through the implementation of our accumulating interdisciplinary scientific knowledge we can prevent, and even reverse, the decline of the diversity of life on Earth.

The behavior of an organism is, in a sense, the mediator between the organism and its environment and provides flexibility so the organisms can maintain a adequate fitness over a wider range of environmental conditions. This, of course, has limits, and under extreme changes the organism's behavior will fail to provide a sufficient buffer from the changing environment. Knowledge of a species’ behavioral attributes provides, therefore, important insights into how anthropogenic actions (direct or indirect) will impact the species, and what actions can be taken to minimize this impact.

In this chapter we will start by giving a brief general overview of conservation biology's interdisciplinary foundations. Many excellent volumes have been dedicated to this field (e.g. Groom et al. 2006, Primack 2006, Hunter & Gibbs 2007), and they give a far more comprehensive picture of the history, practice and many challenges of conservation biology. However, we hope we provide enough background in the first part of this chapter to make our readers better understand the goals of conservation, and to have these goals stay in their minds, as they continue reading about the more specific aspects of using behavior in conservation. Before considering the role of behavior in conservation, we will first consider the roots of behavioral ecology, and then discuss the short history of conservation behavior – a field dedicated to the use of the knowledge of animal behavior in conservation biology. To conclude this introductory chapter, we will outline the principles of the conservation behavior framework that serves as the basis for the structure of this book.

Conservation biology has three objectives: (1) Documenting the extant biological diversity on Earth. (2) Locating, defining and investigating anthropogenic threats to biodiversity. (3) Developing and implementing practical approaches to reducing or eliminating these threats (Groom et al. 2006, Primack 2006).