Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T04:01:23.602Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Human Behavioural Ecology and Environmental Conservation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Joel T. Heinen  and
Roberta (‘Bobbi’) S. Low
Joel T. Heinen
Affiliation:
School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
Roberta (‘Bobbi’) S. Low
Affiliation:
Professor, School of Natural Resources, and Evolution and Human Behaviour Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

We contend that humans, as living organisms, evolved to sequester resources to maximize reproductive success, and that many basic aspects of human behaviour reflect this evolutionary history. Much of the environment with which we currently deal is evolutionarily novel, and much behaviour which is ultimately not in our own interests, persists in this novel environment. Environmentalists frequently stress the need for ‘sustainable development’, however it is defined (see Redclift, 1987), and we contend that a knowledge of how humans are likely to behave with regard to resource use, and therefore a knowledge of what kinds of programmes are likely to work in any particular situation, is necessary to achieve sustainability. Specifically, we predict that issues which are short-term, local, and/or acute, such as an immediate health-risk, will be much easier to solve than issues which are broad, and which affect individuals other than ourselves, our relatives, and our friends. The bigger the issue is, the less effective is likely to be the response. Hence, the biggest and most troublesome ecological issues will be the most difficult to solve — inter alia because of our evolutionary history as outlined above.

This may not appear to bode well for the future of the world; for example, Molte (1988) contends that there are several hundred international environmental agreements in place, but Carroll (1988) contends that, in general, none of them is particularly effective if the criterion for effectiveness is a real solution to the problem. There are countless examples of ‘aggressors’ (those nations causing the problem) not complying with an agreement, slowing its ratification, or reducing its effectiveness (e.g. the US versus Canada, or Great Britain versus Sweden, with regard to acid rain legislation: Fig. 1, cf. Bjorkbom, 1988). The main problem in these cases is that the costs are externalized and hence discounted by those receiving the benefits of being able to pollute. Any proposed change is bound to conflict with existing social structures, and negotiations necessarily involve compromise in a quid pro quo fashion (Brewer, 1980). We contend, along with Caldwell (1988) and Putnam (1988), that nations are much too large to think of as individual actors in these spheres. Interest groups within nations can affect ratification of international environmental treaties; for example, automobile industry interests versus those of environmental NGOs in the USA on the acid rain issue. It may even be that our evolutionary history is inimical to the entire concept of the modern nation state.

Barring major, global, socio-political upheaval, we suggest that a knowledge of the evolution of resource use by humans can be used to solve at least some resource-related problems in modern industrial societies. In some cases, these can probably be solved with information alone, and in other cases, the problems can probably be solved by playing on our evolutionary history as social reciprocators; environmental problems which tend to be relatively local and short-term may be solvable in these ways. Economic incentives can provide solutions to many other types of problems by manipulating the cost and benefits to individuals. We suggest that broader, large-scale environmental problems are much more difficult to solve than narrower, small-scale ones, precisely because humans have evolved to discount such themes; stringent regulations and the formation of coalitions, combined with economic incentives to use alternatives and economic disincentives (fines) not to do so, may be the only potential solutions to some major, transboundary environmental issues.

In preparing this argument, we have reviewed literature from many scholarly fields well outside the narrow scope of our expertise in behavioural ecology and wildlife conservation. Our reading of many works from anthropology, economics, political science, public policy, and international development, will doubtless seem naïve and simplistic to practitioners of those fields, and solving all environmental problems will ultimately take expertise from all of these fields and more. In general, however, we have found agreement for many of our ideas from these disparate disciplines, but much of their literature does not allow for a rigorous, quantitative hypothesis-testing approach to analysing the main thesis presented here — an approach that we, as scientists, would encourage. We hope to challenge people interested in environmental issues from many perspectives, to consider our arguments and find evidence, pro or con, so that we (collectively) may come closer to a better analysis of, and ultimately to solutions for, our most pressing environmental problems.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , Summer 1992 , pp. 105 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alcock, J. (1984). Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach (3rd edn). Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA: 596 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Alexander, R.D. (1971). The search for an evolutionary philosophy of man. Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria (Melbourne), 84, pp. 99–120.Google Scholar
Alexander, R.D. (1974). The evolution of social behaviour. Ann. Rev. Ecology and Systematics, 5, pp. 325–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, R.D. (1979). Darwinism and Human Affairs. University of Washington Press, Seattle, Washington, USA: xxiv + 317 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Alexander, R.D. (1987). The Biology of Moral Systems. Aldine De Gruyter, New York, NY, USA: xx + 301 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Axelrod, R. (1984). The Evolution of Cooperation. Basic Books, New York, NY, USA: x + 241 pp.Google Scholar
Axelrod, R. & Dion, D. (1988). The further evolution of cooperation. Science, 242, pp. 1385–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Axelrod, R. & Hamilton, W.D. (1981). The evolution of cooperation. Science, 211, pp. 1390–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bjorkbom, L. (1988). Resolution of environmental problems: the use of diplomacy. Pp. 123–40 in International Environmental Diplomacy (Ed. Carroll, J.E.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: viii + 291 pp.Google Scholar
Bodley, J.H. (1990). Victims of Progress (3rd edn). Mayfield Publishing, Mountain View, California, USA: viii + 261 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Boswell, John (1988). The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. Random House, New York, NY, USA: xviii + 488 pp.Google Scholar
Boulding, K.E. (1977). Commons and community: the idea of a public. Pp. 280–94 in Managing the Commons (Eds Hardin, Garrett & John, Baden). Freeman, San Francisco, California, USA: xii + 294 pp.Google Scholar
Boyd, R. & Richerson, P.J. (1985). Culture and the Evolutionary Process. Chicago University Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA: vii + 331 pp.Google Scholar
Brewer, G.D. (1980). On the theory and practice of innovation. Technology in Society, 2, pp. 337–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, L.R. (1990). The illusion of progress. Pp. 3–16 in State of the World 1990 (Ed. Brown, L.R.). (A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress for a Sustainable Society.) W.W. Norton & Co., New York, NY, USA: 253 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Brown, L.R. (1991). The new world order. Pp. 3–20 in State of the World 1991 (Ed. Brown, L.R.). (A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress for a Sustainable Society.) W.W. Norton & Co., New York, NY, USA: 254 pp.Google Scholar
Byelich, J., DeCapita, M.E., Irvine, G.W., Radtke, R.E., Johnson, N.I., Jones, W.R., Mayfield, H. & Mahalak, W.J. (1985). The Kirtland's Warbler Recovery Plan. US Fish and Wildlife Service Reference Service, Bethesda, Maryland, USA: 78 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Caldwell, L.K. (1988). Beyond environmental diplomacy: The changing institutional structure of international cooperation. Pp. 13–28 in International Environmental Diplomacy (Ed. Carroll, J.E.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: viii+ 291pp.Google Scholar
Carroll, J.E. (1988). Conclusion. Pp. 275–9 in International Environmental Diplomacy (Ed. Carroll, J.E.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: viii + 291 pp.Google Scholar
Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. & Feldman, M.W. (1981). Cultural Transmission and Evolution. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA: xiv + 388 pp., illustr.Google ScholarPubMed
Chagnon, N. (1982). Sociodemographic attributes of nepotism in tribal populations: Man the rule-breaker. Pp. 291–318 in Current Problems in Sociobiology (Ed. Kings' College Sociobiology Group). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: xi + 394 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Chiras, D.D. (1988). Environmental Science: A Framework for Decision-making (2nd edn). Benjamin Cummings, Menlo Park, California, USA: xix + 531 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, T.H. (Ed.). (1988). Reproductive Success: Studies of Individual Variation in Contrasting Breeding Systems. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA: vii + 538 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Colwell, R.K. (1974). Predictability, constancy, and contingency of periodic phenomena. Ecology, 55(5), pp. 1148–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowhey, Peter F. (1985). The Problems of Plenty: Energy Policy and International Politics. University of California Press, Berkeley, California, USA: xiii + 447 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Cronk, L. (1991). Human behavioral ecology. Ann. Review Anthropology, 20, pp. 25–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daly, H.E. & Cobb, J.B. Jr., (1989). For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Beacon Press, Boston, Massachusetts, USA: viii + 482 pp.Google Scholar
Daly, M. & Wilson, M. (1983). Sex, Evolution, and behavior (2nd edn). Willard Grant Press, Boston, Massachusetts, USA: xiv + 402 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Darwin, C. (1859). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. (Facsimile of the first edition, with an introduction by Ernst Mayr, published 1987.) Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: xxvii + 502 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Darwin, C. (1871). The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Vol. I: viii + 475 pp., illustr.; Vol. II: vii + 423 pp., illustr. Appleton, New York, NY, USA.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. (1986). The Blind Watchmaker. W.W. Norton & Co., New York, NY, USA: xiii + 332 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. (1989). The Selfish Gene, new edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, UK: xi + 352 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Dixon, J.A. & Sherman, P.B. (1990). Economics of Protected Areas: A New Look at Benefits and Costs. Island Press, Washington, DC, USA: 234 pp.Google Scholar
Dove, M.R. (1983). Theories of swidden agriculture, and the political economy of ignorance. Agroforestry Systems, 1, pp. 85–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunlap, T.R. (1988). Saving America's Wildlife. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA: xvi + 222 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. & Ehrlich, A.H. (1981). Extinction: The Causes and Consequences of the Disappearance of Species. Random House, New York, NY, USA: xiv + 305 pp.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. & Ehrlich, A.H. (1990). The Population Explosion. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, USA: 320 pp.Google ScholarPubMed
Glick, D., Carr, M. & Harting, B. (Eds) (1991). Environmental Profile of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Bozeman, Montana, USA: 132 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Goodall, J. (1986). The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behavior. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: 673 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Gramlich, E.M. (1990). A Guide to Benefit-Cost Analysis (second edition). Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA: x + 246 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Hackworth, D.H. (1989). About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior. With Julie Sherman. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, USA: 876 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Hamilton, W.D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behavior I, II. J. Theoretical Biology, 1, pp. 1–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, W.D. (1975). Innate social attitudes of Man: An approach from evolutionary genetics. Pp. 133–55 in Biosocial Anthropology (Ed. Fox, R.). John Wiley, New York, NY, USA: xii + 169 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science, 162, pp. 1243–1248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardin, G. & Baden, J. (1977). Managing the Commons. W.H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, California, USA: xii + 294 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Hausfater, G. & Hrdy, S. B. (1984). Infanticide: Comparative and Evolutionary Perspectives. Aldine, New York, NY, USA: xxxix + 598 pp.Google Scholar
Hawkes, R. & Charnov, E.L. (1988). On human fertility: individual or group benefit. Current Anthropology, 29, pp. 469–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hecht, S. & Cockburn, A. (1990). The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers, and Defenders of the Amazon. Harper Collins, New York, NY, USA: x + 357 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Heinen, J.T. (in press). Park/people relations in Kosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal: A socio-economic analysis. Environmental Conservation.Google Scholar
Heinen, J.T. & Kattel, B. (in press a). Parks, people, and conservation: A review of management issues in Nepal's protected area. Population and Environment.Google Scholar
Heinen, J.T. & Kattel, B. (in press b). A review of conservation legislation in Nepal: Past progress and future needs. Environmental Management.Google Scholar
Hill, K. & Kaplan, H. (1988). Tradeoffs in male and female reproductive strategies among the Ache: Part I. Pp. 227–89 in Human Reproductive Behavior: A Darwinian Perspective (Eds Betzig, L., Mulder, M. Borgerhoff & Turke, P.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: vii + 363 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Holmes, R. (1985). Acts of War: The Behavior of Men in Battle. Free Press, New York, NY, USA: xii + 436 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Hough, J.L. & Sherpa, M.N. (1989). Bottom up vs. basic needs: Integrated conservation and development in the Annapurna and Michuru Mountain Conservation Areas of Nepal and Malawi. Ambio, 18(8), pp. 434–41.Google Scholar
Humphrey, N.K. (1983). Consciousness Regained: Chapters in the Development of Mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, UK: xi + 222 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
IUCN (1990). United Nations List of National Parks and Protected Areas. IUCN Publication Services, Cambridge, England, UK: viii + 275 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Ives, J.D. & Messerli, B. (1989). The Himalayan Dilemma: Reconciling Development and Conservation. Routledge, New York, NY, USA: xxvii + 295 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Krebs, J.R. & Davies, N.B. (1991). An Introduction to Behavioral Ecology. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA: x + 292 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Latane, B. & Rodin, J. (1969). A lady in distress: Inhibiting effects of friends and strangers on bystander intervention. J. Experimental Social Psychology, 5, pp. 189–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liverman, M. (1990). The (endangered) Endangered Species Act: Political economy of the Northern Spotted Owl. Endangered Species UPDATE, 7(10), pp. 1–4.Google Scholar
Low, ‘B.’S. (1978). Environmental uncertainty and the parental strategies of marsupials and placentals. American Naturalist, 112, pp. 197–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Low, ‘B.’S. (1989 a). Cross-cultural patterns in the training of children: An evolutionary perspective. J. Comparative Psychology, 103, pp. 311–9, illustr.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Low, ‘B.’S. (1989 b). Occupational status and reproductive behavior in 19th century Sweden: Locknevi parish. Social Biology, 36, pp. 82–101, illustr.Google ScholarPubMed
Low, ‘B.’S. (1990a). Sex, power, and resources: Ecological and social correlates of sex differences. J. Contemporary Sociology, 27, pp. 45–71.Google Scholar
Low, ‘B.’S. (1990 b). Land ownership, occupational status, and reproductive behavior in 19th century Sweden: Tuna parish. Amer. Anthropologist, 92(2), pp. 457–68, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Low, ‘B.’S. (in press). An evolutionary perspective on warfare. In New Thinking in a New World of Security (Eds H. Jacobson & W. Zimmerman). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.Google Scholar
Low, ‘B.’S. & Heinen, J.T. (in press). Population, resources, and environment: Implications of human behavioral ecology for conservation. Population and Environment.Google Scholar
Lumsden, C.J. & Wilson, E.O. (1981). Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: xii + 428 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, J., MacKinnon, K., Child, G. & Thorsell, J. (1985). Managing Protected Areas in the Tropics. IUCN Publications, Cambridge, England, UK: xvi + 295 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
McIntosh, R.P. (1985). The Background of Ecology: Concept and Theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: xiii + 383 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeely, J.A. (1988). Economics and Biological Diversity: Developing and Using Economic Incentives to Conserve Biological Resources. IUCN Publication Services, Gland, Switzerland: 236 pp.Google Scholar
Manson, J. & Wrangham, R. (1991). The evolution of hominid intergroup aggression. Current Anthropology, 32, pp. 369–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minnis, Paul E. (1985). Social Adaptation to Food Stress: A Prehistoric Southwestern Example. University of Chicago Press Prehistoric Archaeology and Ecology Series, Chicago, Illinois, USA: x + 239 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Molte, K. von (1988). International commissions and implementation of international environmental law. Pp. 87–94 in International Environmental Diplomacy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: viii + 291 pp.Google Scholar
Moss, C. (1988). Elephant Memories. Fawcett Columbine, New York, NY, USA: 335 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Myers, D.G. (1990). Social Psychology. McGraw Hill, New York, NY, USA: xxi + 600 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Myers, N. (1984). The Primary Source. W.W. Norton & Co., London, NY, USA: xiv + 399 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, UK: xviii + 280 pp., illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Packer, C. & Pusey, A. (1982). Cooperation and competition within coalitions of male lions: Kin selection or game theory? Nature, 296, pp. 740–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, R.D. (1988). Diplomacy and domestic politics: The logic of two-level games. International Organization, 42(3), pp. 427–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redclift, M. (1987). Sustainable Development: Exploring the Contradictions. Routledge, New York, NY, USA: vii + 221 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Revelle, P. & Revelle, C. (1988). The Environment: Issues and Choices for Society (third edition). Portola Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts, USA: xiii + 749 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Richter, L.K. (1989). The Politics of Tourism in Asia. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA: x + 263 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Schaller, G.B., Jinchu, H., Wenshi, P. & Jing, Z. (1985). The Giant Pandas of Wolong. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA: xix + 298 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Schneider, S.H. (1989). Global Warming: Are We Entering the Greenhouse Century? Vintage Books, New York, NY, USA: xiv + 343 pp.Google Scholar
Seeley, T.D. (1985). Honeybee Ecology: A Study of Adaptation in Social Life. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA: x + 201 pp., illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, Herbert A. (1990). A mechanism for social selection and successful altruism. Science, 250, pp. 1665–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, D.M. (1982). Where the Grass is Greener: Living in an Unequal World. Penguin, Harmondsworth, England, UK: 386 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Stone, R. (1992). Swimming against the PCB tide. Science, 225, pp. 798–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trivers, R.L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quart. Rev. Biology, 46, pp. 35–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trivers, R.L (1985). Social Evolution. Benjamin Cummings, Menlo Park, California, USA: xvii + 462 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Turnbull, C.M. (1972). The Mountain People. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, USA: 309 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Turke, P. & Betzig, L. (1986). Food sharing on Ifaluk. Current Anthropology, 27, pp. 397–400.Google Scholar
Weick, K.E. (1984). Small wins: Redefining the scale of social problems. Amer. Psychol., 39(1), pp. 40–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whelan, T. (Ed.) (1991). Nature Tourism: Managing for the Environment. Island Press, Washington, DC, USA: xii + 223 pp., Illustr.Google Scholar
Williams, G.C. (1966). Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA: x + 307 pp.Google Scholar
Williams, G.C. (1989). A Sociobiological Expansion of Evolution and Ethics. Pp. 179–214 in James Paradis & George C. Williams: T.H. Huxley's Evolution and Ethics, with New Essays on its Victorian and Sociobiological Context. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA: 242 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, E.O. (Ed.) (1988). Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, USA: xiii + 521 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Wolfson, R. (1991). Nuclear Choices. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: xv + 467 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Woolfenden, G.E. & Fitzpatrick, J.W. (1984). The Florida Scrub Jay: Demography of a Cooperatively-breeding Bird. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA: xiv + 406 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Wynne-Edwards, V.C. (1962). Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK: xi + 653 pp., illustr.Google Scholar