Module BIOL3561: Behavioural & Evolutionary Ecology

Department: Biological and Biomedical Sciences

BIOL3561: Behavioural & Evolutionary Ecology

Prerequisites

• Evolutionary Biology AND Behaviour AND Ecology

Corequisites

• At least one other Level 3 Biology module.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To promote an appreciation of the evolutionary and adaptive significance of behaviour and life-history in an ecological context.
• To develop students’ appreciation, understanding and application of quantitative modelling within the discipline of behavioural and evolutionary ecology.
• To develop students’ appreciation and understanding of complimentary and conflicting theories of major aspects of behavioural and evolutionary ecology.
• To develop student’s abilities to source supporting literature and to reflect on these within the context of such theoretical frameworks.

Content

• This course first describes the rationale that has led many evolutionary biologists to interpret both behaviour and life-history strategies as adaptations, and considers the different types of natural selection that may act on these traits.
• Throughout the course we highlight a range of problems that an organism might face (e.g. where and what to eat, how many eggs to lay, should it cooperate with its partner), how evolutionary biologists have sought to identify competitively successful solutions to these problems and how these predictions compare to empirical observations.
• We examine the major processes of selection, including: forms of selection (natural, sexual, kin and group selection), modes of selection (balancing, directional, disruptive) and consider levels of selection (comparing genetic, individual and group based perspectives of selection).
• We explore the use of models in behavioural and evolutionary ecology such as: Life history trade offs (e.g. reproductive allocation, optimal reproductive strategies, parent offspring conflict), optimal foraging theory, games theory and the evolution of reciprocity and cooperation.
• We examine the evolution of sociality, forms of social behaviour and the implications of sociality for individual fitness.
• We examine individual variation in behaviour, such as behavioural syndromes (‘personalities’) and the consequences and relevance of such individual variation within the study of behavioural and evolutionary ecology.
• We explore the emergence of culture, cultural evolution and the evolution of ‘intelligence’.
• We explore the behavioural ecology of mating and the operation of sexual selection, including the underlying drivers of mating patterns and individual mating strategies across the animal kingdom, including humans.
• We discuss behavioural ecological responses to environmental change.

Learning Outcomes

• To comprehend how and why behaviour and life-history are shaped by a variety of forms of selection.
• Comprehend how tensions between competing units with different selection pressures may be resolved (e.g. parent offspring conflict, conflict for resources, sexual conflict, reciprocal altruism).
• Apply quantitative modelling procedures, including optimisation techniques and game theory, to understand and predict behaviour and life-history.
• Assess and interpret the relative costs and benefits of behaviours and life-history strategies in ecological and evolutionary contexts.

• Ability to critically assess how and why behaviour and life-history are shaped by a variety of forms of selection.
• Ability to critically assess how tensions between competing units with different selection pressures may be resolved (e.g. parent offspring conflict, conflict for resources, sexual conflict, reciprocal altruism).
• Ability to critically assess the strengths and weakness of alternative theoretical frameworks for major aspects of behavioural and evolutionary ecology.
• Ability to apply quantitative modelling within the discipline of behavioural and evolutionary ecology.
• Critically assess the strengths and weakness of different theoretical frameworks of major behavioural and evolutionary ecological issues.
• How to apply quantitative modelling procedures, including optimisation techniques and game theory, to understand and predict behaviour and life-history.

• Acquire and critically interpret published modeling, experimental and field studies within behavioural and evolutionary ecology.
• Scientific writing.
• Basic understanding of quantitative modeling procedures and cost-benefits analyses.
• Presentation skills.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures, Workshops, Unseen exam and Data handling.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Problem-solving exercise Web-based self-test questions

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University