Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology

by David Westneat, Charles Fox

Overview

Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology is intended to be used as a text for graduate students and a sourcebook for professional scientists seeking an understanding of the evolutionary and ecological processes shaping behavior across a wide array of organisms and a diverse set of behaviors. Chapters are written by leading experts in the field, providing a core foundation, a history of conceptual developments, and fresh insight into the controversies and themes shaping the continuing development of the field. Essays on adaptation, selection, fitness, genetics, plasticity, and phylogeny as they pertain to behavior place the field in the broader context of ecology and evolution. These concepts, along with a diversity of theoretical approaches are applied to the evolution of behavior in a many contexts, from individual decision-making of solitary animals through to complex social interactions.

Chapters integrate conceptual and theoretical approaches with recent empirical advances to understand the evolution of behavior, from foraging, dealing with risk, predator avoidance, and an array of social behaviors, including fighting and cooperation with conspecifics and conflict and cooperation between the sexes. The material emphasizes integrative and novel approaches to behavior, including cognitive ecology, personality, conservation biology, the links between behavior and evolution, the evolution of human social behavior, and ways in which modern genetic analyses can augment the study of behavior.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195331929
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/05/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	664
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

David F. Westneat is a Professor at the University of Kentucky whose career has focused on studying social and reproductive behavior in birds. He has served as member of the editorial boards of Molecular Ecology and Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, as Editor-in-Chief for Behavioral Ecology, and is currently on the Board of Ecology Letters.

Charles Fox is a Professor at the University of Kentucky and is the co-editor of four previous books, Maternal Effects as Adaptations (1998; with Tim Mousseau), Evolutionary Ecology: Concepts and Case Studies (2001; with Derek Roff and Daphne Fairbairn), Evolutionary Genetics: Concepts and Case Studies (2006; with Jason Wolf), and Conservation Biology: Evolution in Action (2008; with Scott Carroll). Charles is also Executive Editor of the journal Functional Ecology.

Table of Contents

Contributors
Section I. Foundations
Section II. Decision-Making
Section III. Ecology of Behavior
Section IV. Social Behavior
Section V. Reproductive Behavior
Section VI. Extensions
Literature Cited

Editorial Reviews

"There is no denying that this volume will set behavioral ecology's research path for the near future. The book does an admirable job of highlighting new ideas and approaches that are shaping the future of behavioral ecology with discussions of powerful techniques as well as boundary-challenging ideas. The chapters in Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology are short, concise and to-the-point. The material is presented in an engaging and enthusiastic style - a quality that will certainly appeal to graduate students and other newcomers to the field. The presentation, format, and style are consistent and flow very well from one chapter to the next. Credit the editors with this achievement."—Integrative and Comparative Biology

"Impressive. It's completeness, the fact that chapters are written by leading international experts in each field, and the inclusion of those equations necessary to explain topics in depth, all serve to widen the coverage of ideas and therefore the potential readership compared to other books in behavioral ecology. This will make the book an important, if not a standard source for students and professionals alike. This book would be a valuable addition to the personal bookshelf of a reader of TREE or to the shelves of any life science library."—Trends in Ecology and Evolution

"[This book] allows a serious exploration of the many relevant and important aspects of behavioural ecology, with the evolutionary thread running through it. The reasonable paperback price puts this within grasp of most ecologists who want to understand the behavioural background of their work."—Bulletin of the British Ecological Society

"As evidenced by the title alone, which emphasizes the role of evolutionary biology, the field of behavioral ecology has expanded greatly beyond studies of animal behavior over the last few decades. This book succeeds in highlighting not only many of the discipline's classic themes and newer developments, it also has a portion devoted partly to future directions. Just as Krebs and Davies's classic textbook spanned four editions and nearly 20 years, I would not be surprised if this volume did the same."—Dustin R. Rubenstein for The Quarterly Review of Biology

From the Publisher