From our oceans to savannas, animals must cope with dynamic environments that are undergoing unprecedented rates of change. How do animals make decisions in the face of such environmental changes, and what are the consequences of those decisions for individuals, populations, ecological communities, and—importantly—interactions with people? Examining these linkages is important for gaining mechanistic insight into how and why animal communities will be affected by global change, and for targeting effective conservation strategies.

In this talk I’ll describe how an understanding of animal behavior and life history provides a valuable lens for linking environmental process to ecological pattern. Using empirical data from predators across terrestrial and marine systems, I show how the differential impacts of environmental change across individuals and species can be understood from a behavioral ecology perspective, which aids the understanding of these species as ecosystem sentinels. Specifically, I’ll discuss: 1) how behavioral adaptations to long-term warming can lead to unexpected fitness outcomes; 2) how multiple climatic changes can impact various life history stages in opposing ways to mediate population decline; 3) how we can apply our understanding of animals’ spatial responses to environmental change towards conservation; and lastly 4) how behavioral responses to climate change can have unanticipated consequences for human-wildlife conflict and coexistence.