Review Behavioural research priorities for the study of animal response to climate change Richard Buchholz a, b, * , John D. Banusiewicz a, 1 , Stephanie Burgess a , Sarah Crocker-Buta a , Lauren Eveland a, 2 , Lauren Fuller a a Department of Biology, University of Mississippi, University, MS, U.S.A. b Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Research, University of Mississippi, University, MS, U.S.A. article info Article history: Received 31 October 2018 Initial acceptance 17 December 2018 Final acceptance 23 January 2019 MS. number: ARV-18-00802 Keywords: behavioural flexibility climate change conservation evolutionary rescue plasticity Behavioural traits are thought to be important determinants of the resilience of animal species to a rapidly changing global climate. Although increasing temperature has taken centre stage in the debate over climate change, animals will have to survive more than just extreme heat to persist in the Anthropocene. The aim of this review is to stimulate interest in the opportunities for integrative and applied behavioural study of how animals can survive life-threatening weather events, in order to help achieve the societal goal of maintaining viable wildlife populations under future climate scenarios. First, using the thermoregulatory behaviour of a hypothetical ground squirrel species as an example, we explore how different scenarios of behavioural flexibility, plasticity, adaptation, exaptation and man- agement action can lead to population persistence or extinction. Next, we propose that considering weather events such as heatwaves, storms and floods, wildfire and drought as selective pressures worthy of investigation provides a new research framework for climate-related conservation behaviour. In our review we provide examples of the responses of animals to different types of weather extremes and describe behavioural adaptations to environments with extreme climates. We give methodological recommendations to jump start climate change research by behaviourists. Finally, we conclude with suggestions for using citizen science and a public video repository to foster evidence-based decision making for managing habitats and prioritizing species conservation efforts in light of the threats to biodiversity posed by climate change. © 2019 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. There is a growing consensus among biologists that the behavioural responses of animals to climate change will be a deciding factor in predicting species' susceptibility to this threat to biodiversity (Huey et al., 2012; Mason, Stephens, Apollonio, & Willis, 2014; Moritz & Agudo, 2013; Mu~ noz, Marquez, & Real, 2015; Sunday et al., 2014). Unfortunately, we know very little about how individual animals react to acute, extreme weather events, intraspecific variation in these reactions, the fitness trade- offs of behavioural responses to weather events and whether interspecific patterns of behavioural adaptation to stable climates predict species' resilience to climate change. Surprisingly, dur- ing two decades of theoretical development in the field of ‘conservation behaviour’ (reviewed by Berger-Tal & Saltz, 2016), and successful application of behavioural approaches to various other conservation problems, animal behaviourists have taken little interest in behavioural change in the context of weather and climate. This neglect supports the argument that animal behav- iourists uniquely isolate themselves from mainstream conservation science (Angeloni, Schlaepfer, Lawler, & Crooks, 2008) and have been aloof to the dominant interests of conservation biologists (Caro, 2007). Animal behaviourists must play a larger role in climate change biology. The future of our discipline is already threatened by the widespread destruction of natural habitats and the extirpation of wild species (Caro & Sherman, 2011); Even pre- viously common species have declined by 50% over the past 40 years (McLellan, Iyengar, Jeffries, & Oerlemans, 2014). To stem further species' loss and promote a ‘good Anthropocene’ (Madliger et al., 2017), our science must help society plan for and build spe- cies' resilience to climate change (Sgr o, Lowe, & Hoffmann, 2011). Animal behaviourists may be surprised to learn that climate ecologists have been unsuccessful at predicting the largely * Correspondence: R. Buchholz, Department of Biology, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677-1848, U.S.A. E-mail address: byrb@olemiss.edu (R. Buchholz). 1 J. D. Banusiewicz is nowat 36901 County Rd 507, Apt 138, Itta Bena, MS 38941, U.S.A. 2 L. Eveland is now at 2120 El Paseo St Apt 207, Houston, TX 77054, U.S.A. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Animal Behaviour journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/anbehav https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.02.005 0003-3472/© 2019 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Animal Behaviour 150 (2019) 127e137