The Study of Animal Behaviour de Felicity Huntingford

The Study of Animal Behaviour

Felicity Huntingford

en Limba Engleză Paperback – 26 ian 1984

The aim of this book is to identify the main areas of active discussion about, and research into, the biology of animal behaviour, to describe and assess ways in which these can be studied and using selected examples, to illus trate the kinds of results which are emerging. It is not intended to provide an exhaustive review of all we know about animal behaviour, although the examples have been chosen to cover as many as possible of the things that animals do. XlV Preface Acknowledgements I would like to thank C. Swann, M.L.N. Murthy and the Superbrain for typing the manuscript; Linda Partridge, Pat Monaghan, Douglas Fraser and Richard Wilson for constructive criticism of earlier drafts; Alan Crowden for help in planning and producing the book and, particularly, Tim Huntingford for help and encouragement at all stages of its pro duction. Acknowledgements are gratefully made to Jim Tulley fot producing plates 1, 2, 3, 7 and 12 and to Michael Hansell for the remainder.

Citește tot Restrânge

Cuprins

1 Introduction.- 1.1 The ethological approach to the study of behaviour.- 1.2 A brief outline of classical ethological theory.- 1.3 The modern study of animal behaviour.- 1.4 An outline of the book.- 2 The description and measurement of behaviour.- 2.1 Describing behaviour by its function.- 2.2 Describing behaviour by its form.- 2.3 Describing and measuring the relationship between an animal and its environment.- 2.4 What is the point of all this sophisticated analysis?.- 3 The study of the causes of behavioural change.- 3.1 What constitutes a causal explanation of behaviour?.- 3.2 The different kinds of causal explanation.- 3.3 Motivational models.- 3.4 Studying external influences on behaviour.- 3.5 Studying internal influences on behaviour.- 3.6 What is the nature of the mechanisms which cause behavioural change?.- 3.7 Studying the physiological bases of behavioural change.- 4 The development of behaviour.- 4.1 Problems with the instinct-learning dichotomy.- 4.2 Why is the term innate still used?.- 4.3 Describing the ontogeny of behaviour.- 4.4 Characterizing the factors which influence the development of behaviour.- 4.5 Classifying the factors which influence the development of behaviour.- 4.6 Some general features of behavioural development.- 5 The adaptive significance of behaviour.- 5.1 Sources of evidence about the adaptive significance of behaviour.- 5.2 Difficulties in studying the adaptive significance of behaviour.- 5.3 The state of the art.- 5.4 The adaptive significance of the way animals pattern their behavior in time.- 5.5 The adaptive significance of the way animals use space.- 5.6 The adaptive significance of an animal’s aggressive responses.- 5.7 The adaptive significance of an animal’s breeding habits; mating systems.- 5.8 Adaptive significance of behaviour accompanying mating.- 5.9 The adaptive significance of parental care.- 5.10 The adaptive significance of living in groups.- 5.11 Behaviour which cannot be explained by classic natural selection theory.- 5.12 Overview; sociobiology and behavioural ecology.- 6 The phylogeny of behaviour.- 6.1 Sources of evidence about the phylogeny of behaviour.- 6.2 Some representative behavioural phylogenies.- 6.3 Deriving general principles of behavioural evolution.- 7 The role of behaviour in the evolutionary process.- 7.1 The behaviour of other animals as a major selective force.- 7.2 Behaviour dictates the selection pressures to which an animal is exposed.- 7.3 The impact of behaviour on population structure.- 8 Behavioural genetics.- 8.1 The objectives of research into the inheritance of behaviour.- 8.2 Potential contributions of genetics to the study of animal behaviour.- 8.3 Quantitative genetics.- 8.5 Screening known genetic variants for behavioural differences.- 8.6 Characterizing the precise behavioural effects of genetic differences.- 8.7 The mechanisms whereby genes influence behaviour.- 8.8 Genetic mosaics.- 8.9 Animal behaviour and behavioural genetics.- 9 Applied ethology.- 9.1 Clarification of terms; what is applied ethology?.- 9.2 Ways in which etiological research can be applied to practical problems.- 9.3 Pest control.- 9.4 Increasing the productivity of commercially important species.- 9.5 Animal welfare.- 9.6 Conservation.- 9.7 Human behaviour.- References.- Author index.- Species index.