Learning objectives
The aim of the teaching is to provide the bases of the study of animal behaviour, from the first researches of European Ethologists, through the developments of the last decades, to the new gains of the modern knowledge on animal behaviour.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
1) History of the study of animal behaviour: from the origin to the eco-ethological approach. <br />
2) Aims, methods and fields of ethology. <br />
3) An evolutionary approach to animal behaviour. <br />
4) Reflexes and complex behaviour. <br />
5) The behaviour as a response to the stimula: stimula filtration; releaser stimula; fixed action patterns; supernormal stimula; supernormal stimula and parasitism. <br />
6) Instincts and learning: behaviorism and ethology. <br />
7) The genetics of behaviour: gernetic methods in behaviour-genetic analysis. <br />
8) The evolution of behaviour. <br />
9) Learning: individual and social learning. <br />
10) Play activity; Tool use. <br />
11) Communication: the origins and evolution of communication systems. <br />
12) The motivation.<br />
13) Replacement activity; redirected behaviour; ambivalent behaviour.<br />
14) Aggression; agonistic behaviour; territoriality. <br />
15) Male and female reproductive strategies; mating systems: monogamy, polygyny, polyandry. <br />
16) The evolution of societies: the costs and benefits of social living; the evolution of altruism. <br />
17) The evolution of eusocial insects. <br />
18) Feeding Behaviour<br />
19) Predatory and Antipredatory Behaviour<br />
20) Orientation<br />
21) Pathological Behaviour<br />
22) Symbiosis
Full programme
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Bibliography
Alcock J.: 'Etologia - Un approccio evolutivo' Ed.: Zanichelli, 2007. <br />
Krebs J.R. e Davies N.B.: 'Ecologia e comportamento animale' Ed.: Bollati Boringhieri, 2002. <br />
Manning A., Dawkins M.S.: 'Il comportamento animale' Ed.: Boringhieri, 2003. <br />
AA.VV.: 'Dizionario di Etologia' Ed.: Einaudi, 1992. <br />
Campan R., Scapini F.: 'Etologia' Ed.: Zanichelli, 2005. <br />
Teaching methods
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Other information
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