On a global scale, environmental change is rapidly occurring as a result of human activities. In certain cases, these changes have dramatically altered the cues animals use to make important life-history decisions. The modified behavioural responses such cues elicit are no longer necessarily associated with adaptive outcomes. A standard example is that of the male Australian Jewel Beetle, which uses colour and texture cues to identify mates; in the 1980’s, the presence of littered brown glass beer bottles in the environment led to significant population decline as males misidentified the bottles as females of the species [1]. Such a phenomenon, known as an evolutionary trap, is of significant concern in conservation ecology [2].
The cognitive mechanism by which animals perceive and prioritize environmental signals is known as a Darwinian Algorithm. By modelling behaviour governed by such decision rules, we present a mathematical framework to investigate the dynamics of evolutionary traps. To this end, we develop expressions for the expected fitness of behavioral strategies in the presence and absence of evolutionary traps. Furthermore, we discuss the ways in which optimal response strategies change as environmental conditions are varied.
The further development of this modeling framework holds promise to guide environmental policy. Such models are necessary to address increasingly urgent concerns in conservation ecology. Predictive models offer substantial utility in their potential ability to identify at-risk species. In cases where expedient corrective action is required, an improper understanding of the dynamics of evolutionary traps could lead to ineffective or deleterious conservation and management protocols.
This is joint work with M.S. Caneff and L.M. Wahl.

References
[1] Gwynne, D.T. and Rentz, D.C.F., 1983. Beetles on the bottle: male buprestids mistake stubbies for females (Coleoptera). Austral Entomology, 22(1), pp.79-80.
[2] Schlaepfer, M.A., Runge, M.C. and Sherman, P.W., 2002. Ecological and evolutionary traps. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 17(10), pp.474-480.