Animal behavior both influences and is influenced by the interactions between organisms and their environment. What are the immediate and evolutionary benefits and costs of these behaviors? Students will learn about the genetic and social drivers of individual behaviors, as well as how animal behavior influences ecological populations and communities.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students: Students in this course will develop and deliver content-review exercises for their peers. Undergraduates will develop a single content review exercise based on one specific lecture (5-10 minutes). Students enrolled in this course for graduate credit will develop two content review exercises: one based on a specific lecture (10 minutes) and one cumulative review exercise that spans multiple units in the course (20 minutes).
Athena Title
Behavioral Ecology
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ECOL 4540E or ECOL 6540E
Prerequisite
(ECOL 3500 and ECOL 3500L) or (ECOL 3505H and ECOL 3505L)
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Students will discuss and predict the genetic and environmental factors that influence animal behavior, especially in the context of a changing environment.
Students will identify how individual behavior can influence population-level phenomena (i.e. evolution), ecological communities, and animal conservation.
Students will learn how animal behavior research is conducted through reading primary literature articles, and how it can inform animal conservation efforts.
Students will develop skills associated with verbally communicating science and engaging an audience through student-led content review exercises and presentation.
Topical Outline
Genetic Influences on Behavior, Environmental Influences on Behavior
The Four Questions of Animal Behavior, and Types of Behavioral Studies
Reproductive Strategies, Parental Care, Conflict
Mating Systems
Sexual Selection
Cooperation, Altruism, Kin Selection
Game Theory, Animal Social Systems: Solitary to Eusocial
Foraging, Predation, Coevolution
Parasitism, Animal Personality
Animal Communication: Visual and Acoustic
Honest and Dishonest Communication, Individual and Kin Recognition (Learning and Memory)
Human-impacts: Anthropogenic Noise and Light Pollution
