Eco Behaviour Digital Framework for Understanding Animal Decision-Making in Changing Habitats

Abstract

Habitat modification and environmental change give rise to new selective pressures that require rapid changes in behaviour of wild animal populations. The Eco Behaviour Digital Model presents an integrated theoretical framework for describing how animals adapt decision-making to changes in habitat conditions. The framework is grounded in the modern literature on behavioural plasticity, decision-making mechanisms, habitat choice, and adaptive responses to environmental disturbance in animal sciences. It focuses on integration of sensory perception, cognitive processes, and experience in habitat-dependent decision-making. Practical applications include predicting behavioural responses of animals to habitat fragmentation, determining critical levels of breakdown in behaviour, and predicting long-term persistence of populations in disturbed habitats. According to the model, adaptation to habitat change requires that animals integrate various sensory information, change learned behaviour, and adapt decision rules concerning habitat and resources utilization. The framework offers useful instruments for wildlife conservation and management since it helps identify behavioural mechanisms by which habitat change impacts animal populations and predict conditions under which populations could survive in changed environment.