BIOL 204 Animal Behavior (Not offered 2006-2007)
Making sense of what we see while watching animals closely is both an
enthralling pastime and a discipline that draws on many aspects of biology.
Explanations can be found on many levels: evolutionary theory tells us why
certain patterns have come to exist, molecular biology can help us understand
how those patterns are implemented, neuroscience gives insights as to how the
world appears to the behaving animal, endocrinology provides information on
how suites of behaviors are regulated. The first part of the course focuses upon
how descriptive studies provide the basis for formulating questions about
behavior as well as the statistical methods used to evaluate the answers to these
questions. We then consider the behavior of individuals, both as it is mediated by
biological mechanisms and as it appears from an evolutionary perspective. The
second half of the course is primarily concerned with the behaviors of groups of
animals from a wide variety of vertebrate and invertebrate species,
concentrating upon the stimuli, responses, and internal mechanisms that
maintain social systems and on the selection pressures that drive animals toward
a particular social system.
Format: lecture/laboratory, six hours per week. Evaluation will be based on
examinations, lab reports, and a research paper.
Prerequisites: Biology 102, or Psychology 101, or permission of instructor.
Enrollment limit: 28 (expected: 24). Preference given to seniors, Biology
majors, and Neuroscience concentrators.
Satisfies distribution requirement in the major.