BIOL 458 - Animal Behavior

Units: 4
Behavioral patterns of animals with emphasis on their evolution and ecological significance. Topics to be considered include social living, mating and reproduction, antipredator strategies, and the influence of genetics and the environment on behavioral activities. Lecture Units: 3; Lab Units: 1

Prerequisites: BIOL 140B.
Equivalent Quarter Course: BIOL 4518.
Possible Instructional Methods: Entirely On-ground.
Grading: A-F grading only.
Course Typically Offered: Variable Intermittently

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Discuss how behaviors in areas such as communication, foraging, habitat selection, antipredator behavior, social living, mating and reproduction and parental care differ across various animal groups;
Describe proximate influences on animal behavior, including genetic, developmental, and physiological.
Elaborate on evolutionary and ecological pressures that shape animal behavior;
Describe important environmental influences on behaviors including surrounding geography, climate, conspecifics, heterospecifics, hormones, and other living and non-living factors;
Apply the scientific method to the study of animal behavior, including drawing inferences from observations;
design a study to test a hypothesis(es) about a specific animal behavior;
distinguish between several behavioral data-collecting strategies to select one most appropriate for an observational or experimental study designed to test a specified hypothesis;
choose and effectively use a non-parametric statistical analysis to analyze collected behavioral data;
communicate their findings verbally and in writing.