Behavioural Ecology

You’ve probably watched nature documentaries and heard the narrator say that a behaviour ensures the survival of the species, or is designed to maintain nature’s balance. This is scientifically nonsense. But do you know why? Do you understand, for example, why the existence of worker ants and meerkats that help others breed is so hard to explain? The answers are found in behavioural ecology. In this course, we aim to understand how natural selection generates animals that are adapted to both their physical and social environment. We emphasize how to test evolutionary hypotheses about animal behaviour and performance. Our lectures are in five modules that cover key topics: the trade-off between survival and reproduction, evolutionary arms races, the evolution of cooperation, the principles of animal communication, the perils of sex, and animal culture. We consider such questions as: How do animals balance the need to get food yet avoid predators? Can animals lie? Why are males usually bad parents? Why don’t parents produce only daughters? Why are animals choosy when mating? Why do lions cooperate to hunt? We also emphasise the importance of behavioural ecology to conservation. If we know the predictors of fitness for individuals, we can better predict population growth and responses to environmental change. Behavioural ecology therefore provides the holistic understanding needed for practical conservation. ANU has a word-class behavioural ecology group, and we include our current research alongside that carried out worldwide. Our overall aim is to help you develop a logical approach to understand and test any question in evolutionary biology.