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Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Berhampur

BIO 316: Behavourial Ecology (OE, Credit, 3)

Course Content:

• Introduction to the study of Behaviour, ultimate and proximate questions.
• Instinctive and learned behaviour
• Communication: Modes of Communication, Advantages and Disadvantages, Functions of Communication, Types of Signals.
• Finding food: Optimal foraging theory, Foraging Strategies, Generalists vs Specialists, Marginal Value Theorem and Patch Residence Time
• Finding shelter: Habitat selection, territoriality, dispersal and migration
• Finding mates: Mating system, reproductive behaviour and its evolution
• Sexual selection theories
• Parental care
• Prey-predator interactions
• Social behaviour and evolution of Eusociality
• Neuroethology and Behavioural Genetics: Development of Behaviour, Processing of Sensory Information, Hormonal control of behaviour, Learning, Memory and Cognition.
• Assignments and paper presentation on recent research topics

Suggested Reading::

• Alcock, J. (2001). Animal behavior: An evolutionary approach (No. QL751. A42 1984.). Sunderland: Sinauer Associates.
• Davies, N. B., Krebs, J. R., & West, S. A. (2012). An introduction to behavioural ecology. John Wiley & Sons.
• Dugatkin, L. A. (2020). Principles of animal behavior. University of Chicago Press.
• Gadagkar, R. (2001). Survival strategies: cooperation and conflict in animal societies (Vol. 6). Harvard University Press.

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