Syllabus:
1 - Introduction to the science of animal behaviour: Why do we study animal behaviour; Animal behaviour and other scientific disciplines; History of the study of animal behaviour; Animal behaviour in the 20th century: Classical ethology, behaviorism, behavioural ecology and sociobiology, neuroethology; Modern trends in behavioural sciences; The scientific method in the study of behaviour; Conceptual, empirical and theoretical approach to the study of animal behaviour; Field vs. laboratory research in animal behaviour.
2 - Genes and behaviour: Behavioural genetics and its goals; How do genes influence behaviour; Methods of behavioural genetics: Artificial selection, hybridization, natural mutants; Molecular methods of behavioural genetics - the advent of sociogenomics; Behavioural genetics in action: The for gene in bees; Genes, environment and behavioural variation; Epigenetics and behaviour.
3 - Natural selection, evolution and behaviour: What is evolution and how does it act on behaviour; The sources of variation; The response of variation to natural selection; Phenotypic variance, its components and their interactions; Fitness and its consequences; How to test the effects of natural selection on behaviour: Comparative vs. experimental vs. theoretical approach. Modeling and the "cost - benefit" analysis of behaviour. Behavioural syndromes and their significance. Evolutionary stable strategies (ESS): Fitness and interactions of animals.
4 - Learning: Definitions of learning; Learning and adaptation; Types of learning in animals: Habituation, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, latent learning, social learning; Cognition in animals. Cognitive abilities of the animals: Current concepts and controversies.
5 - Nerve cells and animal behaviour: Neuroethology, its goals and methods; Neurons and synapses: Transmission of information along and between neurons; Nervous systems and their organization; Sensory processing: Prey-catching in toads, prey location in the barn owl; Neuroethology of predator-prey interactions: Bats vs. moths vs. bats; Motor output: Central pattern generators (CPGs); CPGs and locust flight. CPGs and mammalian walking movements.
6 - Hormones and animal behaviour: Behavioural endocrinology and its goals; Endocrine glands and hormones; How do hormones influence behaviour; Methods of behavioural endocrinology; Organizational and activational actions of hormones; Hormones, behaviour and environment; Examples of complex behaviours influenced by hormones.
7 - Development of behaviour: Spatio-temporal changes in behaviour during life; Physiological and ecological influences on the development of behaviour. Animal play: current research and controversies; Sensitive periods and their significance in the development of behaviour; Filial and sexual imprinting in birds and mammals; Development of bird song: Complex interaction of genes, hormones, nervous system and environment; Role of learning in song development; Sensitive periods in song learning; Species bias and social factors in song learning; Developmental homeostasis.
8 - Migration and spatial distribution of the animals: To stay or to leave; Staying home vs. leaving; Cost and benefits of natal philopatry and dispersal; Sex differences in dispersal; Habitat selection and habitat quality; Habitat search tactics; Habitat selection and conservation; Migration and its consequences; Costs and benefits of migration.
9 - Foraging: Feeding yourself optimally: How and where; Optimal foraging; The diet selection: Simple model; The marginal value theorem: Deciding when to leave the patch. How to eat what you need; Complexity and reality of foraging models: How applicable are the mathematical models; Why predators do not eat all the prey.
10 - Antipredator behaviour: How to avoid being eaten; Camouflage and its evolution; Polymorphism; Warning coloration: The evolution of aposematism; Mimicry and related phenomena; Diverting structures, coloration and behaviour: False heads, autotomy, feigning death and/or injury; Fighting back: Displaying weaponry, increasing body size; Chemical repellents. Group defense: Improved vigilance of the group; the dilution effect, the selfish herd effect, confusion, mobbing behaviour.
11 - Sexual selection and reproductive behaviour: Contemporary view on males and females: Cooperation or fierce battle of the sexes; Intrasexual selection - competition for mates; Intersexual selection - female choice; Evolution of sexual selection: The runaway selection, selection of good genes (the handicap principle), mate choice copying, sensory bias; Cryptic female choice; Physiology, immunity and sexual selection.
12 - Parental care and mating systems: The parental investment and parent-offspring conflict; Allocation of parental resources; Patterns of parental care; Intraspecific brood parasitism; Interspecific brood parasitism: Cuckoo vs. hosts vs. cuckoo. Evolution of interspecific brood parasitism: cuckoos and cowbirds. Mating systems: Definitions and classification; Monogamy, Polygyny, Polyandry; The polygyny threshold model; Specific cases (female defense polygyny, resource defense polygyny).
13 - Sociality and conflict: Why to live in the group; Costs and benefits of social living; Dominance hierarchies; How is dominance determined and maintained; Costs and benefits of being dominant and subordinate; Territoriality: Ideal free distribution and space use; Economics of holding a territory and territory size; Strategies for minimizing costs in territorial defense; Games animal play: The game theory and its role in understanding animal conflicts; "Hawks" vs. "doves" and the prediction of the outcome of the conflict; Asymmetries in contest.
14 - Cooperation, selfishness and altruism: What is altruism; Altruism vs. selfishness; The evolution of altruism: Inclusive fitness and its consequences; Kin selection; How to recognize kin; Reciprocal altruism and its evolution; Manipulation; Cooperation among the animals: Alarm calls, acquiring a mate, cooperative breeding; Eusociality and its evolution.
15 - Communication: Physiology of communication: visual, chemical, electrical, tactile; Functions of communication; Is communication always honest; Signal manipulation; Signals and honesty; Evolution of signals; Evolutionary forces that shape signals and communication; Apes and language.
Animal Behaviour Laboratory:
1 - Describing and quantifying behaviour
2 - Setting up working definitions and measuring observer's reliability
3 - Chermoreception in reptiles
4 - Optimal food foraging
5 - Nonverbal communication in humans
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Animal Behavior: Concepts, Methods, and Applications, 4th ed., The goals of this text are to allow students to learn how knowledge about animal behavior is generated and to promote an inquiry-based process. Each chapter is built around broad organizing concepts, emphasizing an in-depth exploration of selected ideas., Shawn E. Nordell, Thomas J. Valone, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 2025.
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Perspectives on Animal Behavior, 3rd ed., This textbook is written for the students exposed to the science of the animal behaviour for the first time during their study. It is very easy to read and understand. Yet, it confers all the necessary knowledge of the field to its readers., Judith Goodenough, Betty McGuire, Elizabeth Jakob, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2010.
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