Biodiversity, Neurodiversity, Ethodiversity

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Tarragnat, O. (2025). Biodiversity, Neurodiversity, Ethodiversity. TRACE ∴ Journal for Human-Animal Studies, 11, 6-28. https://doi.org/10.23984/fjhas.144936

Publication date: 23 Mar 2025 Added to AutiHub: 25 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Ombre Tarragnat *

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between neurodiversity and the life sciences – specifically biodiversity and neurology – in order to call for a more-than-human and more-than-neurological turn in neurodiversity studies. I first examine how Judy Singer’s conception of neurodiversity is based on an ambiguous engagement with biology and directed towards anthropocentric human rights politics. In this conception, neurodiversity constitutes a form of biodiversity without nonhuman animals. This anthropocentric bias in the neurodiversity lexicon reinforces the divide between humans and animals. The article then shows how neurocentrism – the emphasis on nervous systems – in neurodiversity studies often leads to neuroreductionism, which reduces lived experience to the physicochemical. In assimilating neurodivergent people to lesser humans, this rhetoric bestialises neurodivergence. While neurology itself is not fundamentally flawed or regressive, the way it is often taken up in the neurodiversity movement leads to problematic effects, which leads me to conclude that neurological accounts should be decentred. Aiming to renew neurodiversity’s engagement with the life sciences, I call for a more-than-human and more-than-neurological turn. To do so, I turn to ethology and develop the concepts of ethodiversity and ethodivergence. Ethodiversity refers to the intra- and inter-specific variabilities and differences in animal behavioural patterns or existential styles. Ethodivergence describes ways of being and behaving that depart from the ones dominant in one’s species, in one’s ecological and social milieu, and/or imposed by anthropocentric ethonormativity. Both concepts are finally elaborated drawing on conservation biology and philosophical ethology.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 01:04.

Cited references
11
With a DOI
11
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
1 / 11 (9.1%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 11 (9.1%)
References with detected author names
10 / 11 (90.9%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
34
From DOI or external metadata
34
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
6 / 34 (17.6%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 28 / 34 (82.4%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
6 / 34 (17.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 6 / 6 (100.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 6 / 34 (17.6%).
  1. Rachel L. Gunn , Ian R. Hartley , Adam C. Algar , Petri T. Niemelä , Sally A. Keith (2022). Understanding behavioural responses to human‐induced rapid environmental change: a meta‐analysis . Oikos, 2022(4). Wiley.
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    OpenCitations
  2. Tim Caro , Paul W. Sherman (2012). Vanishing behaviors . Conservation Letters, 5(3), 159-166. Wiley.
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  3. Roheela Yasmeen , Irfan Aslam , Mubashir Ahmad , Hassan Ali Shah (2022). Zoochosis: A short review on stereotypical behavior of captive animals . Zenodo.
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    OpenCitations
  4. Genaro A. Coria-Avila , James G. Pfaus , Agustín Orihuela , Adriana Domínguez-Oliva , Nancy José-Pérez , Laura Astrid Hernández et al. (2022). The Neurobiology of Behavior and Its Applicability for Animal Welfare: A Review . Animals, 12(7), 928. MDPI AG.
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    OpenCitations
  5. Adolfo Cordero-Rivera (2017). Behavioral Diversity (Ethodiversity): A Neglected Level in the Study of Biodiversity . Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 5. Frontiers Media SA.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2017.00007
    OpenCitations
  7. Ángela González-Martínez , Susana Muñiz de Miguel , Francisco Diéguez (2024). New Advances in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder-like Dogs . Animals, 14(14), 2067. MDPI AG.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3390/ani14142067
    OpenCitations
  8. Eduardo J. Fernandez , Allison L. Martin (2021). Animal Training, Environmental Enrichment, and Animal Welfare: A History of Behavior Analysis in Zoos . Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens, 2(4), 531-543. MDPI AG.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3390/jzbg2040038
    OpenCitations
  9. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson (2015). Human Biodiversity Conservation: A Consensual Ethical Principle . The American Journal of Bioethics, 15(6), 13-15. Informa UK Limited.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2015.1028663
    OpenCitations
  10. Amanda K. Beckman , Breann M. S. Richey , Gil G. Rosenthal (2022). Behavioral responses of wild animals to anthropogenic change: insights from domestication . Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 76(7). Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
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    OpenCitations
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    Type: Article DOI: 10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.4.nlit2-1604 10.1007/s11673-012-9380-0
    OpenCitations