Ethology - 2nd semester
Code
711001025
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Antropologia
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Tânia Minhós Condeço Rodrigues
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
Ethology, as the discipline that studies animal behaviour, combines knowledge from different study areas, such as evolutionary biology, ecology, fisiology, psicology or neurosciences. During our classes we will approach the study of animal and human behaviour, using an evolutionary and adaptative perpective and integrating knowledge from all these study areas.
There will be a strong practical component in this discipline, based on practical exercises on bahavioural data collection, analyses and discussion of scientific papers and presentation of case studies. The ultimate goal of the practical component is to provide the students with the opportunity to understand the underlying process of conducting a research project on animal behaviour
Prerequisites
None.
Subject matter
Natural selection, adaptation and behaviour
Historical perspective of ethology
Motivation and Development of behaviour
Evolutuion and Funtion of behaviour
Groups vs Individual Selection
Altruism
Reproductive strategies and Parental care
Evolutionar Stable Strategies
Comunication
Function
Comunication between predators and prey
Manipulation
Language
Language in non-humans
Function and specificities of human language
Human Behaviour
Sexual Selection and mating systems
Aggression
Animal Cognition and Culture
Methods in Ethology
Observation methods
Data handling and analyses
Bibliography
Barret, L., Dunbar, R. & Lycett, J., 2002. Human Evolutionary Psychology. Hampshire e New York, Palgrave Publishers. [CP 1098]
Cartwright, J., 2000. Evolution and Human Behavior. Cambridge, The MIT Press. [CP 1099]
Dawkins, M. S. 2000. Compreender o comportamento Animal. 2ª Ed. Lisboa, Fim de Século.
Martin, P. & Bateson, P., 1994. Measuring Behaviour: an introductory guide. 2nd Ed. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Ridley, M., 1995. Animal Behavior.An introduction to behavioral mechanisms, development, and ecology. Boston, Blackwell Scientific Publications.
Slater, P. J. B., 1999. Essentials of Animal Behaviour. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Teaching method
The classes will be conducted following 3 formats:
1) Contents presented by the professor, always providing the opportunity for questions and discussion
2) Analysis and discussion of scientific papers
3) Pratical assays on observation, collection, processing and analyses of behavioural data
The evaluation will be with no exam. There will be one written test covering all the teached contents and written/practical assays.
Evaluation will be conducted following the criteria below:
1) Written test (50% );
2) Attendance/participation on pratical/written assays (20%);
3) Final written assay (30%)
Evaluation method
The evaluation will be with no exam. There will be one written test covering all the teached contents and written/practical assays.
Evaluation will be conducted following the criteria below:
1) Written test (50% );
2) Attendance/participation on pratical/written assays (20%);
3) Final written assay (30%)