The role of public information in ecology and conservation: an emphasis on inadvertent social information

Abstract

Public information is an emerging major topic in ecology and evolution. We review the literature about the role of public information in ecology and conservation while mainly focusing on inadvertent social information (ISI), which constitutes a major form of public information. We first define the terms of biological information that we use. We then review the accruing evidence for ISI use in many fitness-affecting decisions in plants and animals. We generalize concepts of information to encompass interspecific interactions. We then develop how intra- and interspecific information flows actually shape ecological and evolutionary dynamics. We then discuss some of the application of adopting an information-driven approach to ecology and evolution in conservation biology. Our hope is to favor the transfer of knowledge from ecology and evolution to conservation biology. We claim that this is the only way to design efficient conservation actions and illustrate how ignoring concepts of information may lead us to design conservation actions that drive endangered populations toward rather than away from extinction.