BIOL-534 FUNDAMENTALS OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR-

UNIT I-

Selection of habitat: Factors affecting survival, dispersal, behaviour, Physical and chemical factors, Choice of breeding sites, Environmental cues and Determinants of habitat preference, Patterns of behaviour: Tropism, Taxes, Reflexes, Drives.

UNIT II-

Territoriality and Aggression, Conflict:Territory and foraging, Territory and breeding, Interspecific territoriality and Aggression Types, Endogenous factors and aggression, External stimuli and aggression, Threat displays.
Antipredator behaviour: Strategies adopted to escape from predators.

UNIT III-

Learning: Characters, types, learning in invertebrates and vertebrates.
Motivation: Measurements, Studies of motivation on guppies, newts and Phesus monkeys, Lorenz’s model and neurophysiology of motivation.

UNIT IV-

Biological communication and Biological clock: Crypsis, forms of signals, receptors for communication, nature of biological clock, types of rhythms.
Social behaviour: Types, advantages, social behaviour in insects.

UNIT V-

Sexual Behaviour: Mating systems, courtship patterns and significance.
Hormones and behaviour: Hormones important to behavioural regulation, hormones controlling sexual behaviour, maternal behaviour.

Suggested Reading:

  1. Animal Behaviour: M.P. Arora
  2. Animal Behavior: Reena Mathur
  3. Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach: John Alcock