Fundamentals of Animal Behavior
Fall 2015
Instructor: Jeff Schank (original instructor: Don Owings)
Email: jcschank@ucdavis.edu
Office: 268D Young Hall
Phone: 752-6332
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 10:30-11:50 and by appointment
Course description: This is the first of a two-quarter sequence. ANB 218B will be offered Winter 2014, and led by Andy Sih, Environmental Science and Policy. The goal of this course is to sample current and traditional topics in the field of animal behavior. You will learn about the basic phenomena, concepts, and theoretical approaches of animal behavior, but no two-quarter sequence can provide the entire breadth and depth of animal behavior.
When:
Speakers: TW: 4:30 PM to 6:20 PM
Discussion: TBA
Adjustments: Due to the nature of this course adjustments may be required for some speakers and discussion.
Where:
Lectures: 145 Young Hall (with possible exceptions)
Discussion: 145 Young Hall
Grading:
40% from position papers and leading discussion (you will write 3 papers and lead or co-lead 2 discussions), 15% from review papers on 3 of the position papers (you will write 3 review papers on 3 of the discussion papers), 20% participation in discussions, 25% final exam
Course Website:
http://www.agent-based-models.com/
Look under the “Courses” menu.
Course details:
(1) As noted below, different topics will be the responsibility of different speakers. Each speaker has been asked to lecture on the assigned topic, and then moderate a 1-hour (when possible) with a student-led discussion on the topic.
(2) This means that you, the students, will be leading the discussions (this task will rotate among you). Because of the number of people registered, there will often be co-discussants. Please be thinking about what topic you would prefer.
(3) Each speaker will provide readings prior to the beginning of his/her lectures. Please prepare for lectures by reading that material.
(4) Each speaker will assign the associated discussion topic at the beginning of his/her lectures.
(5) Preparation for each discussion will involve
(a) reviewing the lecture and reading material so that
you can lead the discussion, but everyone else is expected
to join in (this is the main part of the 20% participant
discussion);
(b) for a subset of you each time, you will write a
short position paper on the topic (no longer than 2
single-spaced pages)that you will circulate to all
parties to read exactly one week after the topic is
discussed. You should look into additional reading
and include references for these papers. You will send
it using the class email list; and
(c) A subset of you, will write a short review of the
position paper (between 1/2 and 1 page
spaced pages). The review will briefly
discuss the the strong points of the position
paper and the weak points (e.g., "I think the author
should have included more about X", or "I do not
think that topic X is fundamental to the topic."
or "I think that that X is better, explained or
articulated as this..."). The short review will
be due 3 days after you receive the discussion paper.
You will send out your review using the
class email list.
CLASS SCHEDULE – FALL, 2015
Fundamentals of Animal Behavior (ANB/PSC 218A – Schank Instructor)
Lecture times – MW 4:30–6:20 PM; Discussion times – F 2:00–3:00 PM
1. Thursday – Sep 24 – Organize Jeff Schank
2. Tuesday – Sep 29 – Communication, Gail Patricelli
Readings (1) Animal Signals: Models and Terminology (2) What do animal signals mean? (3) The central importance of information in studies of animal communication (4) Information and Communication Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio/assignments:
(28.9 mb)
3. Thursday – Oct. 1 – Communication, Gail Patricelli
Readings (1) Avian psychology and communication (2) Complex signal function: developing a framework of testable hypotheses Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
5. Tuesday – Oct. 6 – Communication, Gail Patricelli
Readings
(1) The cost of honesty and the fallacy
of the handicap principle
Discussion – Hannes Schraft, – Dicussion Leader(s):
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
6. Thursday Oct 8 – Animal Cognition and Learning – Dick Coss
Readings
(1) Burrhus F. Skinner: Radical Behaviorism
(2) The Structure of Learning
(3) Précis of How monkeys see the world
(4) I. P. Pavlov: Classical Conditioning
(5) Recognition of Heterospecific Alarm Vocalizations by
bonnet Macaques (Macaca radiate)
(6) Effect of spatial context on the mobbing reaction
of pied flycatchers to a predator model
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
Discussion – – Dicussion Leader(s): Group Discussion
7. Tuesday Oct. 13 – Behavioral endocrinology, Tom Hahn
Readings (1) Hormonal control and evolution of alternative male phenotypes: generalizations of models of sexual differentiation (2) The role of sex steroids in the acquisition and production of birdsong (3) The organizational-activational hypothesis as the foundation for a unified theory of sexual differentiation of all mammalian tissues (4) Differential effects of global versus local testosterone on singing behavior and its underlying neural substrate
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
8. Thursday Oct. 15 – Behavioral endocrinology, Tom Hahn
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
9. Tuesday Oct. 20 – Behavioral Schedules, Tom Hahn
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
10. Thursday Oct 22 – Behavioral Schedules, Tom Hahn
Readings
(1) Experimental ‘Jet Lag’ Inhibits Adult
Neurogenesis and Produces Long-Term Cognitive
Deficits in Female Hamsters
(2) Circadian clocks and the measurement of
daylength in seasonal reproduction
(3) Organization of vertebrate annual cycles:
implications for control mechanisms
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
11. Tuesday Oct 27 – Genomics, Brian Trainor
Readings
(1) Natural variations in maternal care are
associated with estrogen
receptor expression and estrogen sensitivity
in the medial preoptic area.
(2) Serotonin transporter genotype x construction
stress interaction in rats.
(3) Gene expression profiles in the brain predict
behavior in individual honey bees.
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
Discussion –
– Dicussion Leader(s):Alex Kowalczyk
12. Thursday Oct 29 – Sensory behavior, Jamilynn Poletto
Readings
(1) Neural Processing, Perception, and Behavioral
Responsesto Natural Chemical Stimuli by Fish
and Crustaceans
(2) Conservation physiology
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
Discussion –
– Discussion Leader(s):Hannes Schraft
13. Wednesday Nov 4 – Conservation and Animal Behavior, John Eadie (6:00–7:50 PM)
Readings
(1) A reassessment of the interface between
conservation and behaviour
(2) Integrating animal behavior and conservation
biology: a conceptual framework
(3) Endangered species and a threatened discipline:
behavioural ecology
(4) Eighteen reasons animal behaviourists avoid
involvement in conservation
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
Discussion –
– Dicussion Leader(s):Alicia Bird, Eridia Pacheco
14. Thursday Nov 5 – Social Behavior – Margaret Crofoot
Readings
(1) An evolutionary frame work for studying
mechanisms of social behavior
(2) Constraints and flexibility in mammalian
social behavior: introduction and synthesis
(3) Expanded social fitness and Hamilton's rule
for kin, kith, and kind
(4) Evo-devo and the evolution of social behavior
(5) The social lives of microbes
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
Discussion –
– Discussion Leader(s): Ericaa Orcutt, Alicia Bird
15. Monday – Nov 9 – Quantitative genetics, Andy Sih (7:00 – 8:50 PM)
Readings (1) Multivariate inheritance and evolution: a review of concepts (2) The genetics of fish behavior (3) The genetics of politics: discovery, challenges, and progress Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
16. Tuesday– Nov 10 – Quantitative genetics, Andy Sih
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
Discussion –
– Dicussion Leader(s): Group Discussion
16. Thursday Nov 12 – Animal Circadian Clock, Joanna Chiu
Readings (1) Circadian timekeeping and output mechanisms in animals Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
17. Tuesday Nov 17 – Animal Welfare — YeunShin Lee (5:00 PM – 6:20 PM)
Readings
(1) Evolution and animal welfare (2) Using behavior to assess animal welfare (3) A user's guide to animal welfare science (4) Conflicting and complementary ethics of animal welfare considerations in reintroductions
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
18. Thursday Nov 19 – Animal Welfare — YeunShin Lee (5:00 PM – 6:20 PM)
Readings
Discussion –
– Dicussion Leader(s): Amilia Munson, Alex Kowalczyk, Eridia Pacheco
19. Tuesday Nov 24 – Genomic Approaches to Social Behavior, Brian Johnson
Readings
(1) Large-Scale Coding Sequence Change Underlies ...
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
Discussion –
– Dicussion Leader(s):Group Discussion
20. Tuesday Dec 1 – The Evolution of Play Behavior – Jeff Schank
Readings
(1) Current perspectives on the biological study
of play: signs of progress
(2) Mammalian play: training for the unexpected
(3) The evolution of social play by learning to
cooperate
Slides/Lecture Notes/Audio:
Discussion – – Dicussion Leader(s):Cameron Jones, Amelia Munson 21.
21. Thursday Dec 3 – Nothing scheduled
FINAL EXAM – Tuesday Dec. 8, 9:00 AM (24 hour take home)