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acta ethologica - Impact of global change on social interactions: ecological and fitness implications

Global change due to anthropogenic disturbances, such as climate change, noise pollution, habitat destruction and species introduction, is transforming natural environments at an unprecedented rate and also disrupting environmental predictability. Species persistence under such fast changes is expected to strongly depend on individual plastic responses, including behavioural responses. Understanding behavioural responses is therefore key to predicting global change impact. Yet, some key behavioural responses, such as changes in social interactions, remain relatively unexplored. This is surprising given that social interactions are known to both enhance and buffer effects of environmental conditions on fitness. It is therefore urgent to establish how global change affects interactions between competitors, neighbours, group members, mates, and family members, and how this in turn affects individual fitness.

The aim of this special issue is to bring together studies investigating changes in behavioural interactions in response to global changes. We are particularly interested in highlighting a broad range of studies in terms of taxa (both invertebrates and vertebrates), the type of environmental changes likely associated with global changes (e.g. climate change, noise pollution, habitat destruction, and species introduction), social systems (from solitary to cooperative species) and geographical range.

Guest Editors: 

Dr. Matthieu Paquet (Institute of Mathematics, University of Bordeaux, France). 

Contact: matthieu.paquet@outlook.com

Dr. Mylene Mariette (EBD-CSIC, Doñana Biological Station, Seville, Spain and Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia). 

Contact: m.mariette@deakin.edu.au

Dr. Susana Varela (William James Center for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário  and Integrative Behavioural Biology Group, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência)

Contact: smvarela@igc.gulbenkian.pt


If you are interested in participating or would like more information on the scope of this Special Issue, please do not hesitate to contact Guest Editors.

The submission deadline for this special issue is 1 September 2022, although early submissions are encouraged. We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Submit your articles here (this opens in a new tab)

Accepted articles will be published here (this opens in a new tab).

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