Animal behavior: evolution and mechanisms

The study of animal behaviour is one of the fastest growing sub-disciplines in biology. The resulting diversity of conceptual approaches and methodologicalinnovations makes it increasingly difficult for professionals and students tokeep abreast of important new developments. This edited volume provides up-to-date reviews that facilitate orientation in key areas of animal behaviour, including communication, cognition, conflict, cooperation, sexual selection and behavioural variation. The contributions address evolutionary and proximate aspects of behaviour and also cover both invertebrates and vertebrates. Important concepts are dealt with in separate glossaries and key examples highlighted in separate text boxes. Richly illustrated with colour figures, this volume offers a well structured overview of all the main developments in current animalbehaviour research. It is ideal for teaching upper-level courses, where it will be essential reading for advanced students familiar with basic concepts andideas. Articulate summaries of main ideas and approaches in the current studyof animal behaviour Tests of theories with the most recent empirical examplesComprehensive reviews by leaders in their respective fields Especially for the master courses INDICE: Animal communication.- Visual communication: evolution and functional mechanisms.- The trouble with recognizing kin.- Honeybee cognition.- Conflict and conflict resolution in social insects.- Multilevel selection and the ecology of social insects.- Cooperation between unrelated individuals – a game-theoretical approach.- Cooperation and coordination in complex animal societies.- Parental care: cooperation and conflict.- The study of sexual and natural selection in the wild and in the laboratory.- Alternative reproductive tacticsand life history phenotypes.- Conflict and cooperation in hermaphrodite reproduction.- Extra-pair paternity in birds.- Mating strategies in spiders.- Mating systems, social behaviour and hormones.- The environmental modulation of behavioural development: mechanisms and function.- Individual performance in complex social systems.- Polyandry and worker task specialization in social insects.- Animal personalities and behavioural syndromes.- Culture in nature.- Constraints and flexibility in behavioural ecology: the roles of phylogeny and lifehistory.

• ISBN: 978-3-642-02623-2
• Editorial: Springer
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 620
• Fecha Publicación: 01/03/2010
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés