Core Concepts in Animal Behavior –
Winter 2008 02/05/2007
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Michael Beecher Professor of Psychology & Biology http://faculty.washington.edu/beecher/ Guthrie
327, 543-6545 beecher@u.washington.edu |
William Searcy Professor of Biology, http://www.bio.miami.edu/searcylab/ Guthrie 339, 543-5625 wsearcy@bio.miami.edu |
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PSYCH
502, 3 credits (graded) Tues Thurs 11:00-12:20 – Guthrie
315 http://courses.washington.edu/ccab/ |
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We will discuss the major concepts and
research approaches in the contemporary study of animal behavior. We will
focus on topics that lie at the interface of animal behavior, evolutionary
biology, neurobiology and psychology. The course will be taught at two
levels: first an introduction to each topic, followed by in-depth discussion
and analysis centering on primary-source readings. |
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Course
requirements and student responsibilities: The focus of the course is on problem
areas that are central to the study of animal behavior. There are more core
concepts than there are days in this course, however, and so we will slant the
course towards topics that are of particular interest to the participants.
Generally Tuesdays will be ‘lecture’ days (peppered with discussion) in which
MB and WS give their take on the historical and theoretical basis for the
question; we will read one or two seminal papers on the topic (sometimes golden
oldies, sometimes hot new papers). Generally Thursdays will stick with the
problem area but focus more narrowly on a particular research and/or
theoretical approach, again with a particular one or two papers we'll read; Thursdays
will be led by one or two students in the class. Each paper will be discussed
in seminar format, with the discussion leader/s responsible for (1) summarizing
and (2) preparing questions for each original paper (questions to be handed out
ahead of time as reading guides). The
only requirement of the course will
be leading two discussions and full participation in others. Students are
welcome to develop a review paper or grant proposal centering on one of the
research areas discussed during the course, but I don’t think it is feasible to
submit such a paper or proposal within the 11-week quarter; this we have made
this an optional task, and would be happy to review such a manuscript submitted
later (by the end of spring quarter). Some potential topics and readings are
listed below. We solicit additional suggestions from the participants, the only
requirement being that the topic can be reasonably viewed as a "core
concept" in this very broad field. We'll winnow the list down to our top
10 or so (roughly one for each week of the quarter). Thus the final selection
of topics will take on the flavor of the particular interests of the folks who
enroll in the class.
Altruism.
Evolution of sociality based on kin selection or reciprocity or neither. (1)
Sexual
selection 1. Classics, theory & review. (1) R.A. Fisher. The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, Clarendon Press
(1930). (2) Trivers,
R. L. 1972. Parental investment and sexual selection. In Campbell, B. (ed.), Sexual Selection and the descent of man. Heinemann, London. Extract. (3) Zahavi, A.
1975. Mate selection - A selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical
Biology 53: 205-213. (4)
Emlen, S. T. & Oring, L. W. 1977. Ecology, sexual selection, and the
evolution of mating systems. Science
197: 215-314. (5) R. Lande, R. 1981.
Models of speciation by sexual selection on polygenic traits. PNAS
78: 3721–3725. (6) Kirkpatrick,
M. 1982. Sexual selection and the evolution of female choice. Evolution 36: 1-12.
(7) Searcy, W.A. and M. Andersson. 1986. Sexual selection and song. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 17: 507-533. (8) M. Andersson. 1994. Sexual Selection,
Sexual
selection 2: Empirical studies. (1)
Andersson, M. 1982. Female choice selects for extreme tail length in a
widowbird. Nature 299: 818-820.
(2) Bakker, T. C. M. 1993. Positive genetic correlation between female
preference and preferred male ornament in sticklebacks. Nature 363 (1993), pp.
255–257. (3) Wilkinson, G. S.
& Reillo, P. R. 1994. Female choice response to artificial selection on an
exaggerated male trait in a stalk-eyed fly. Proc.
Roy. Soc. Lond B 255: 1-6. (4)
Wilkinson, G. S. et al. 1998. Male eye span in stalk-eyed flies indicates
genetic quality by meiotic drive suppression. Nature 391, 276-279. (5)
Sexual
selection 3: Paradox of the lek. Kirkpatrick,
M. & Ryan, M. J. 1991. The evolution of mating preferences and the paradox
of the lek. Nature 350: 33-38. (11) Kokko,
H., R. Brooks, et al. 2003. The evolution of mate choice and mating biases. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 270: 653-664. Kokko,
H., R. Brooks, et al. 2002. The sexual selection continuum. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 269: 1331-1340.
(12) Jones, T. M.,
R. J. Quinnell, et al. 1998. Fisherian flies: benefits of female choice in a
lekking sandfly. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B
265: 1651-1657. Nature 391: 276-278. (14)
Hoglund, J. & Alatalo, R. V. 1995. “A review of hypotheses”, Chapt 7 from
their book Leks.
Communication:
Handicap theory and index signals. (1)
Zahavi, A. 1975. Mate selection - A selection for a
handicap. Journal of Theoretical Biology 53: 205-213. (2) Grafen,
A. 1990. Biological signals as handicaps, Journal of Theoretical Biology,
144: 517-546. (3) Bergstrom, C. T. 2002. Tutorial: Theory of honest signaling.
UW website. (4) Zahavi, A. 2003.
Indirect selection and individual selection in sociobiology: My personal views
on theories of social behavior. Animal
Behaviour 65: 859-863. (5) Siefferman, L. & Hill, G. E. 2003.
Structural and melanin coloration indicate parental effort and reproductive
success in male eastern bluebirds. Behavioral
Ecology 14: 855-861. (6) Nowicki,
Phylogenetic
approaches to behavior. (1)
Felsenstein, J. 1985. Phylogenies and the comparative method. American Naturalist 125: 1-15. (2) Gittleman, J. L. 1988. The comparative
approach in ethology: Aims and limitations. Perspectives
in Ethology 8: 55-83. (3) Ryan,
M. J. 1996. Phylogenetics and behavior: some cautions and expectations. pp.
1-21. In: Martins, E. editor, Phylogenies and the Comparative Method in
Animal Behavior.
Animal
Mind. (1) Gallup et al on the mirror test. (2)
Epstein et al on ‘self-awareness’ in the pigeon. (3) Hauser on primates'
capacity for deception. (4) Staddon, J. E. R. 1988. Animal psychology: The
tyranny of anthropocentrism. Pages 123-135 in P. Klopfer & P. P. G. Bateson
(eds.) Perspectives in ethology. Vol. 8:
Whither ethology?.
Human
language learning, bird song learning, chimp language learning. (1) Marler, P. 1970. Birdsong and speech development: could
there be parallels? American Scientist 58: 669-673.
(2) Beecher,
M. D. & Brenowitz, E. A. 2005. Functional aspects of song learning in
birds. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20: 143-149. (3) Doupe, A. J. & Kuhl, P. K. 1999.
Birdsong and human speech: Common themes
and mechanisms. Annual Review of
Neuroscience 22: 567-631. (4) Kuhl,
P. 2007. Is speech learning ‘gated’ by the social brain? Developmental Science 10:
110-120. (5) Hauser,
M. D., Chomsky, N. & Fitch, W. T. 2002. The faculty of language: what is
it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science 298: 1569-1579. (6) Savage-Rumbaugh, E.
S. et al. 1993. Language comprehension in ape and child. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 58: 1-252.
Evolutionary
psychology. (1) Tooby & Cosmides primer
on evolutionary psychology. (2) Daly,
M. & Wilson, M. 1985. Child abuse and other risks of not living with both
parents. Ethology and Sociobiology 6:
197-210. (3) Wilson, M.
& Daly, M. 1997. Life expectancy, economic inequality, homicide, and
reproductive timing in Chicago neighbourhoods. BMJ 314: 1271. (4) Mulder,
M. M. 2004. Are men and women really so different? Trends in Ecology &
Evolution 19: 3-6. (5) Various topics and
references in evolutionary psychology.
Neuroethology. (1) Bass, A. H. and C. D. Hopkins (1985)
Hormonal control of sex differences in the electric organ discharge (EOD) of
mormyrid fishes. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 156: 587-605. (2) Brenowitz
D, Margoliash K, Nordeen W (1997) An Introduction to Birdsong and the Avian
Song System. Journal of Neurobiology 33: 495-500. (3) DeZazzo J, Tully T (1995) Dissection of
memory formation: from behavioral pharmacology to molecular genetics. TINS
18: 212-218. (4) Edwards DH,
Kravitz EA (1997) Serotonin, social status and aggression. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 7(6): 812-819. (5) Glanzman
DL (1995) The cellular basis of classical conditioning in Aplysia californicus
- it's less simple than you think. TINS 18: 30-36. (6) Hagedorn M, Vischer HA,
Heiligenberg W (1992) Development of the jamming avoidance response and its
morphological correlates in the Gymnotiform electric fish Eigenmannia. Journal of Neurobiology 23: 1446-1466.
(7) Keller, C., H.H. Zakon, and D.Y. Sanchez (1986) Evidence for a direct
effect of androgens upon electroreceptor tuning. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 158: 301-310. (8) Konishi
M (2000) Study of sound localization by owls and its relevance to humans. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology A
126: 459-469. (9) Konishi M, Menzel
R (2003) Neurobiology of behaviour. Current
Opinion in Neurobiology 13: 707-709.
(10) Mason AC, Oshinsky ML, Hoy RR. 2001. Hyperacute directional hearing
in a microscale auditory system. Nature
410: 686-690. (11) Panksepp J,
Burgdorf J (2003) ‘‘Laughing’’ rats and the evolutionary antecedents of human
joy? Physiology & Behavior 79:
533-547. (12) Robert D, Amoroso J,
Hoy RR (1992) The Evolutionary Convergence of Hearing in a Parasitoid Fly and
it’s Cricket Host. Science 258: 1135-1137. (13) Sisneros, J. A. & Bass, A. H. 2003.
Seasonal plasticity of peripheral auditory frequency selectivity. Journal of Neuroscience 23: 1049-1058. (14) Teramitsu
I, Kudo LC, London SE, Geschwind DH, White SA (2004) Parallel FoxP1 and FoxP2
expression in songbird and human predicts functional interaction. Journal of Neuroscience 24: 3152-3163.
Gene
Effects on Behavior. (1) Lim, M. M. et al. 2004. Enhanced partner
preference in a promiscuous species by manipulating the expression of a single
gene. Nature 429: 754-757. (2) Ding,
Y.-C. et al. 2002. Evidence of positive selection acting at the human dopamine
receptor D4 gene locus. Proceedings of
the National
Migration
and Dispersal: Mechanisms, Genetics, Development. (1) Emlen, S. T. 1975. The
stellar-orientation system of a migratory bird. Scientific American 233: 102-111. (2) Berthold, P. & Pulido, F.
1994. Heritability of migratory activity in a natural bird population. Proceedings of the Royal Society of