Animal Behavior: Mechanisms, Ecology and Evolution - Hardcover

Drickamer, Lee C.; Vessey, Stephen H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0697074714 ISBN 13: 9780697074713

Publisher: Brown (William C.) Co ,U.S., 1992

Synopsis

Designed for a one-semester introductory course in Animal Behavior. Animal behavior is a broad discipline with investigators and contributions from diverse perspectives, including anthropology, comparative psychology, ecology, ethology, physiology, and zoology. The authors goal in this textbook is to use evolutionary principles as a unifying theme to provide students exposure to a number of approaches to the field of animal behavior. They also demonstrate that the varied perspectives used to study behavior are complementary and often integrated; they are not mutually exclusive. The subtitle, “Mechanisms, Ecology, and Evolution,” reflects the broad themes that dominate the book.

About this title

From the Publisher

Greater detail has been added where necessary to clarify key topics, such as genes and evolution, applied animal behavior, and neuronal and sensory mechanisms.
Addition of co-author Elizabeth Jakob of the University of Massachusetts promises an even greater level of expertise.
Features include several new boxed essays, updating to examples and references, a new interior design, and new and revised photos and art figures throughout the text.
Balanced presentation of the mechanistic and evolutionary factors that influence an animal's life (choice of habitat, mate, food, etc.).
Pedagogical elements include: chapter outlines; end-of-chapter summary, discussion questions, suggested readings, and full glossary and references sections at the end of the text.
In each of the major parts of the book and within each chapter, the authors first define the concepts and processes that form the foundation for an area of investigation. Then, using appropriate research examples, they present the methods and techniques used to understand the problems that are explored in that subarea of behavior. By using this approach, students are introduced to a variety of viewpoints that have contributed to the richness and strongly integrative nature of the discipline.
The contents of Chapters 5 and 6 have been reversed and reorganized. New material on behavioral genetics and the evolution of behavior was added, including a discussion of phylogenetic analysis and the comparative method.
Many new neurobiological examples and a discussion of motor programs is included.
Material covering animal cognition has been greatly expanded as part of the chapter on learning behavior.
The glossary contains many new and revised definitions of all terms that appear in boldface in the text material.
Additional material on applied animal behavior has been added in several chapters, reflecting the increased importance of this subfield of animal behavior.
Updated examples and references can be found throughout the book, as well as new illustrations and photos where appropriate.

About the Author

Lee Drickamer received a PhD in zoology from Michigan State University and is currently teaching at Northern Arizona University. His research interests include population biology, behavioral ecology of rodents, reproductive traits in field mice, comparative mating behavior of stink bugs, and dominance in domestic swine. Lee has been very active in the Animal Behavior Society and the American Society of Zoologists. He also is a member of the American Society of Mammalogists, American Society of Primatologists, British Ecological Society, Ecological Society of America, Illinois Academy of Science, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, Society of American Naturalists, and Wilson Ornithological Society. Lee is lead author of Drickamer et al: Animal Behavior, 4e, also published by WCB/McGraw-Hill.

Stephen H. Vessey is Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at Bowling Green State University. His research interests include the behavioral ecology of mammals, especially primates and rodents. He has been studying a population of white-footed mice in northwestern Ohio for more than 25 years. He is a formed associate editor of the Journal of Mammalogy and is a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society. He has taught mammalogy and animal behavior at Bowling Green for 28 years, and is co-author of Animal Behavior, 4/e with Lee Drickamer.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brown (William C.) Co ,U.S.
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0697074714
• ISBN 13: 9780697074713
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 496