BY 340
Animal Behavior
Fall 1999
Dr. Tom Langen: tlangen@clarkson.edu, phone 268-7933
Open Office Hours: 11:30 - 1:00 Mon & Wed in Science Center 163
TEXT: JR Krebs & NB Davies An Introduction to Behavioral Ecology & Supplementary Readings
LECTURES: Monday – Wednesday – Friday @ 10:00 –10:50 in Science Center 354
WEEK DATE
TOPIC
CHAPTER
1
8/30
Natural Selection and Behavior
1
9/1
Methods of Studying Behavior
2
9/3
Discussion & Problem Set: Integrative Studies of Behavior
2
9/6
Behavioral Genetics
9/8
Foraging
3
9/10
Discussion & Problem Set: Optimal Foraging & Jays
3
9/13
Foraging
5 (pp 102-110)
9/15
Social Foraging
6
9/17
Territoriality
5 (pp 110-118)
4
9/20
Evolutionary Game Theory
9/22
Animal Contests
7
9/24
Discussion & Problem Set: Game Theory & Animal Fighting
5
9/27
Animal Contests
9/29
Sexual Selection
8 (except pp 177-182)
10/1
First Midterm: lectures 8/30 – 9/27, 20% of grade
6
10/3
Holiday
10/6
Sexual Selection
10/8
Discussion: Sexual Selection
7
10/11
Sexual Selection
10 (except pp 260-263)
10/13
Mating Systems
10/15
Discussion: Mating Systems
8
10/18
Mating Systems
10/20
Parental Care
9 (except pp 239-241)
10/22
Discussion: Parental Care & Natal Dispersal
9
10/25
Sex Allocation
9 (pp 177-182), 10 (pp 260-263)
10/27
Family Conflict
10/29
Second Midterm: lectures 9/29 – 10/25, 20% of grade
10 11/1
Dispersal
9 (pp 239-241)
11/3
Cooperation
11
11/5
Discussion: Sex Allocation, Family Conflict
11 11/8
Cooperation
11/10
Cooperative Breeding
12
11/12
Discussion & Problem Set: Cooperation
12 11/15
Eusociality
13
11/17
Eusociality
11/19
Discussion: Complex Social Systems
13 11/22
Third Midterm: lectures 10/27 – 11/19, 20% of grade
11/24, 11/26 Happy Thanksgiving!
14 11/29
Coevolution & Arms Races
4
12/1
Communication
14
12/3
Discussion: Coevolution & Communication
15 12/6
Human Behavior
12/8
Human Behavior
12/10
Discussion: Human Behavior
16
Final Exam: cumulative, 30 % of Grade
READINGS: It is essential to read the assigned material to do well in this course. Overheads, figures and
supplementary material will be made available through the copy center.
EXAMS: All exams are ‘closed book’ and include material from the lectures, the texts, supplementary readings and
problem sets. Exams will consist of short answer and essay questions plus a few quantitative problems to solve
(without calculators!). I stress conceptual thinking rather than memorization. I will provide some sample questions
to get you prepared.
GRADES: The grades will be based on three midterm exams (20% grade per exam), one final (30% grade) and
participation during discussion (10 % grade). In the past, 50 % of students received a grade of B or better and very
few students receive lower than a C.
BY 340
Animal Behavior
Fall 1999
MISC. POLICY: Requests for regrades must be submitted in writing within one week of receiving the graded exam. A
grading key will be posted, please refer to it before making a regrade request that is not due to clerical error (i.e. I
added the points incorrectly). Exams cannot be made up except under extraordinary circumstances. Discuss any
conflict with me ASAP.
DISCUSSIONS
Discussion days (usually Fridays) are an integral component of this course. We will work problem sets, discuss papers,
and view video clips of animals behaving. I expect you to have completed the problem set, read the assigned papers and
thought about the discussion questions BEFORE a discussion section. I will not collect homework, but 10% of your
grade will be based on preparedness and participation on discussion days.
Week 1 (9/3) 1. Probability problem set. 2. DA McLennan (1996) Integrating phylogenetic and experimental analyses:
the evolution of male and female nuptial coloration in the stickleback fishes (Gasterosteidae). Systematic Biology
45:261-277.
Week 2 (9/10) 1. Optimal foraging problem set. 2. LN Trut (1999) Early canid domestication: The farm-fox
experiment. American Scientist 160-169. 3. M Milinski (1988) Games fish play: making decisions as a social forager.
Trends in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 3:325-330.
Week 3 - None Scheduled
Week 4 1. Game theory problem set. 2. ER Keeley & JWA Grant (1993) Visual information, resource value, and
sequential assessment in convict cichlids (Cichlasoma fasciatum) contests. Behavioral Ecology 4: 345-349.
Week 5 - None Scheduled
Week 6 – RM Gibson, JW Bradbury & SL Vehrencamp (1991) Mate choice in lekking sage grouse revisited: the roles
of vocal display, female site fidelity, and copying. Behavioral Ecology 1:165-180.
Week 7 – 1. L Rowe, G. Arnqvist, A Sih & JJ Krupa (1994) Sexual conflict and the evolutionary ecology of mating
patterns: water striders as a model system. Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
Week 8 – 1. SJ Schoech (1998) Physiology of helping in Florida Scrub-jays. American Scientist 86:70-77. 2. KE
Holekamp & PW Sherman (1989) Why male ground squirrels disperse. American Scientist 77:232-239.
Week 9 – None Scheduled
Week 10 - 1. DW Mock, H Drummond & CH Stinson (1990) Avian siblicide. American Scientist 78:438-449. 2 RR
Warner (1984) Mating behavior and hermaphroditism in coral reef fishes. American Scientist 77:128-136.
Week 11 – 1. Kin selection problem set. 2. GS Wilkinson (1990) Food sharing in vampire bats. Scientific American
262:76-82. B Heinrich & J Marzluff (1995) Why ravens share. American Scientist 83:342-349.
Week 12 – 1. PW Sherman, JUM Jarvis & SH Braude (1992) Naked mole rats. Scientific American 267:325-330. 2.
NR Franks (1989) Army ants: a collective intelligence. American Scientist 77: 139-145.
Week 13 – None Scheduled
Week 14 – TBA
Week 15 – 1. T. Bereczkei & RIM Dunbar (1997) Female biased reproductive strategies in a Hungarian gypsy
population. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 264:17-22. 2. BI Strassmann (1996) Menstrual hut visits by Dogon
women: A hormonal test distinguishes deceit from honest signaling. Behavioral Ecology 7:304-315.