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Gedragsecologie Behavioural Ecology Syn. Ethologie der Dieren Prof. Dr. Farid Dahdouh-Guebas     Biocomplexity Research Focus Laboratorium van Algemene Plantkunde en Natuurbeheer   telefoon: 02/629.34.22 - e-mail : fdahdouh@vub.ac.be

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The start of the last course was scheduled in March 2006 (see schedule)

Course description

Aims and objectives :

Overview of behaviour in the light of the four basic questions in ethology : function, causation, development and evolutionary history.
Upon completion of the course a student must be able to comprehensively discuss examples of behaviour in the light of the above questions.

Compulsory or advised pre-knowledge :

Nil

Content :

The course consists of lectures with theoretical introductions, followed by practical, experimental and analytical examples.  A few presentations are devoted to worked-out case studies that reflect scientific research in behavioural ecology, including their relationship with ecological and ecosystem research.

The lectures cover the following topics :

·      What is ethology ?  Behavioural diversity.

·      Behavioural economy in feeding, fighting, egoism and altruism.

·      Predator-prey relationships, and living in groups.

·      Orientation and navigation.

·      Natural selection : link to development, adaptation and (co-)evolution.

·      Testing hypotheses in ethology.

·      Potential case-studies :

o   Homing in mangrove decapods : a link between animal behaviour and forest structure and rejuvenation.

o   Visual, chemical and auditive communication in aquatic animals : oysters, crabs, frogs, dolphins and whales.

o   Detecting and competing for natural resources : feeding ecology of insects, birds and bats, and impact on the ecosystem.

o   Externally invited case-studies.

Compulsory study material :

Didactical material used during the course, incl. selected chapters and sections from :

Alcock, J., 2001.  Animal Behaviour : an evolutionary approach.  Seventh Edition.  Sinauer Associates Inc. Publishers, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA.  560 pp.

Alcock, J., 1993.  Animal Behaviour : an evolutionary approach.  Fifth Edition.  Sinauer Associates Inc. Publishers, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA.  525 pp.

Dugatkin, L.A., 2004.  Principles of Animal Behavior.  W.W. Norton & Co, New York, USA.  675 pp.

Gould, J.L. & C.G. Gould, 1995.  The Honey Bee.  Scientific American Library, New York, U.S.A.  239 pp.

Krebs, J.R. & N.B. Davies, 1993.  An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology.  Third edition.  Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, U.K.  420 pp.

Zupanc, G.K.H., 2004.  Behavioral Neurobiology. An integrative approach.  Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.  342 pp.

Additional study material :

Sherman, P.W. & J. Alcock, 1998.  Exploring Animal Behaviour : readings from American Scientist.  Second Edition.  Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publishers, Sunderland, U.S.A.  300 pp.

+ Current international research publications.

Type of examination :

Ethological assignment + oral examination with written preparation.  The examination matter is the oral and written matter covered during the lectures.

The type of exam questions can also be found in the discussion questions and topics of the compulsory study material. 

Schedule (Academic year 2005-2006)

The start of the next course is scheduled in March 2006

Lectures

There are 7 lecture days and each lecture of 2h is interrupted by a short break.

Lecture 1 : Introduction (incl. details on research, thesis topics and ethological assignment) : 22/03/06 : 16h-17h30 - D.2.13

Lecture 2 : Ethological economy and antipredator behaviour : 30/03/06 : 09h-12h - D.309

Lecture 3 : Selfishness and altruism : 30/03/06 : 13h-16h - F.5.207

Lecture 4 : Aggression and assessment display : 30/03/06 - 13h-16h - F.5.207

Lecture 5 : Learning, signals and communication : 31/03/06 : 13h-15h - D.2.14

Lecture 6 : Spatial orientation and navigation : 27/04/06 : 09h-12h -D.2.06

Lecture 7 : Case-studies : 27/04/06 : 09h-12h -D.2.06

Exams

Students are requested to take contact with the lecturer for the planning of the examination.

All exams take place in room 7F412.

• Exam first session : please sign up for the day of exam at your secretariat, or with the class responsible who will interact over this with the lecturer.  Students that hand in a joint-assignment (see below) need to present themselves consecutively at the examination.

1^e Lic. Biologie : 12 June 2006 at 9h00 in 7F412

2^e Lic. Biologie : 12 June 2006 at 9h00 in 7F412

• Exam second session (September 2006) : please sign up for the day of exam at your secretariat, or with the class responsible who will interact over this with the lecturer.

All curricula : 

Course material

The downloadable material documents the course overview, the matter dealt with in the course, all references made to scientific literature, as well as additional detailed notes about some topics.  It does not replace, but complements what has been presented during the lectures.  It is offered in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format (if you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download it by clicking the logo below).  You can download the lectures either as a large file (with 2 large and clearly legible slides per A4 page in black & white, good for studying) or as a small one (with 6 mini-slides per A4 page in colour, good for following in class).  Alternatively, you can obtain a print-out using a public VUB network computer, or request it from your programme secretariat that is responsible for the distribution of the course material.  There is no use in contacting your secretariat when the files are not yet available.  All downloads proceed through the course's documents section of the VUB e-learning platform PointCarré.

Notice : The files of the course material for the current academic year are made available during the course.  The small files from the previous academic year remain on this site as reference material.  For your information : below is a list of files that you can obtain as course material from the PointCarré website. 

	LARGE file (2 B/W slides/page)	SMALL file (6 colour slides/page)
Introduction	nil	nil
Lecture 1 : Introduction	ethosI_maxi.pdf	ethosI_mini.pdf
Lecture 2 : Ethological economy and antipredator behaviour	ethosII_maxi.pdf	ethosII_mini.pdf
Lecture 3 : Selfishness and altruism	ethosIII_maxi.pdf	ethosIII_mini.pdf
Lecture 4 : Aggression and assessment display	ethosIV_maxi.pdf	ethosIV_mini.pdf
Lecture 5 : Learning, signals and communication	ethosV_maxi.pdf	ethosV_mini.pdf
Lecture 6 : Spatial orientation and navigation	ethosVI_maxi.pdf	ethosVI_mini.pdf
Case-study 1 : homing in brachyuran mangrove crabs	consult in scientific literature
Case-study 2 : distribution of spiders in coastal grey dunes - spatial patterns and evolutionary-ecological importance of dispersal	ethosVII_spider_Dries_Bonte.pdf
Case-study 3 :
Notes :	ethos_notes.pdf

The material made available through the above links will be kept up-to-date (typing errors, comments from students,...), but is normally not changing significantly during the academic year.  Nevertheless, check this site regularly to assure that you have the most recent version.  The final version of the course material, which is subject to assessment, will be made available at the latest at the start of the study week(s) before the examination sessions.

Ethological assignment

• Submit a self-shot compilation of 3 minutes of film OR 30 digital photographs about selected aspects of the behaviour of one or more animals.

• You are free to choose any aspect of animal behaviour (including aspects that we did not treat in detail during the course due to a lack of time), provided that your material shows it clearly, i.e. long enough in case of a video, or sequential images in case of photographs.  You are free to focus on multiple behavioural aspects of a single species or on a single behavioural aspect of more than one species.  However, you are not allowed to focus on species related to your thesis research.

• You are free to focus on domesticated animals or animals in captivity (zoo, aquarium,...) provided the animals do not display a psychologically disturbed behaviour (e.g. running about in circles) or no behaviour at all (e.g. do not focus on a sleeping animal).

• You are free to introduce elements of disturbance (e.g. noise while focusing on risk-sensitive foraging behaviour) or experiments (e.g. feeding behaviour).

• Species choice is restricted to the Phylum Arthropoda and/or the Subphylum Vertebrata (within Phylum Chordata), with Homo sapiens sapiens excluded.  It is your own responsibility to find out whether the animals that you choose to observe are part of these taxa.  You are also required to identify each species observed with the vernacular name (in Dutch or in English) as well as with the biological Latin name.  The latter must include the correct name of the author who first described the species (incl. the year), and a justification of the source where you found this information.  Hence, this is also an exersise in retrieving information on systematics and nomenclature correctly.  Trustworthy sources are the Zoological Record (available at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences library) and recent peer-reviewed publications (preferably more than one).  Beware of casual internet sources !

• Logistic support for this assignment is provided by Facility Management (building E.3, Mevr. Sonia DEWULF, Tel. 02/629.22.94; Fax. 02/629.39.43; sonia.dewulf@vub.ac.be) free of charge in case you do not own a camera.  However, all material that they lend to students has to be booked 14 days in advance (availability obviously depends on bookings), has to be returned within a few working days, and is under responsibility of students.  Bookings can be made from the start of the second semester.

• You may work alone or together with maximum one fellow-student.  However, joint-assignment does not necessarily mean same examination questions.  All students will be assessed separately during the oral exam.

• You are required to hand in your individual assignment on a CD or DVD medium (photographs or film), that may or may not be returned.  Make sure that you make a back-up version and that you retain a copy for yourself.  It is your own responsibility to make sure that that any material submitted on CD-Rom is either saved as JPG format (photographs) or is readable within Windows Media Player version 9.x (film).

• The assignment should be labeled with your name(s), roll number(s), complete vernacular and Latin names and behavioural aspect(s), e.g. "Farid Dahdouh-Guebas (40116), Mangrove mud crab Scylla serrata Forskål 1775, foraging and orientation behaviour".

• Your assignment is due on the first day of the examination session at the latest.