Download or read book Sensory Ecology Behaviour and Evolution written by Martin Stevens and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout their lives animals must complete many tasks, including finding food, avoiding predators, attracting mates, and navigating through a complex and dynamic environment. Consequently, they have evolved a staggering array of sensory organs that are fundamental to survival and reproduction and shape much of their evolution and behaviour. Sensory ecology deals with how animals acquire, process, and use information in their lives, and the sensory systems involved. It investigates the type of information that is gathered by animals, how it is used in a range of behaviours, and the evolution of such traits. It deals with both mechanistic questions (e.g. how sensory receptors capture information from the environment, and how the physical attributes of the environment affect information transmission) and functional questions (e.g. the adaptive significance of the information used by the animal to make a decision). Recent research has dealt more explicitly with how sensory systems are involved with and even drive evolutionary change, including the formation of new species. Sensory Ecology, Behaviour, and Evolution provides a broad introduction to sensory ecology across a wide range of taxonomic groups, covering all the various sensory modalities (e.g. sound, visual, chemical, magnetic, and electric) relating to diverse areas spanning anti-predator strategies, foraging, mate choice, navigation and more, with the aim being to illustrate key principles and differences. This accessible textbook is suitable for senior undergraduates, graduate students, and professional academics taking courses or conducting research in sensory ecology/biology, neuroethology, behavioural and evolutionary ecology, communication, and signalling. It will also be of relevance and use to psychologists interested in sensory information and behaviour.
Download or read book Sensory Ecology Behaviour and Evolution written by Martin Stevens and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-02-08 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout their lives animals must complete many tasks, including finding food, avoiding predators, attracting mates, and navigating through a complex and dynamic environment. Consequently, they have evolved a staggering array of sensory organs that are fundamental to survival and reproduction and shape much of their evolution and behaviour. Sensory ecology deals with how animals acquire, process, and use information in their lives, and the sensory systems involved. It investigates the type of information that is gathered by animals, how it is used in a range of behaviours, and the evolution of such traits. It deals with both mechanistic questions (e.g. how sensory receptors capture information from the environment, and how the physical attributes of the environment affect information transmission) and functional questions (e.g. the adaptive significance of the information used by the animal to make a decision). Recent research has dealt more explicitly with how sensory systems are involved with and even drive evolutionary change, including the formation of new species. Sensory Ecology, Behaviour, and Evolution provides a broad introduction to sensory ecology across a wide range of taxonomic groups, covering all the various sensory modalities (e.g. sound, visual, chemical, magnetic, and electric) relating to diverse areas spanning anti-predator strategies, foraging, mate choice, navigation and more, with the aim being to illustrate key principles and differences. This accessible textbook is suitable for senior undergraduates, graduate students, and professional academics taking courses or conducting research in sensory ecology/biology, neuroethology, behavioural and evolutionary ecology, communication, and signalling. It will also be of relevance and use to psychologists interested in sensory information and behaviour.
Download or read book An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology written by Nicholas B. Davies and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-07-17 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third edition of this successful textbook looks again at the influence of natural selection on behavior - an animal's struggle to survive by exploiting resources, avoiding predators, and maximizing reproductive success. In this edition, new examples are introduced throughout, many illustrated with full color photographs. In addition, important new topics are added including the latest techniques of comparative analysis, the theory and application of DNA fingerprinting techniques, extensive new discussion on brood parasite/host coevolution, the latest ideas on sexual selection in relation to disease resistance, and a new section on the intentionality of communication. Written in the lucid style for which these two authors are renowned, the text is enhanced by boxed sections illustrating important concepts and new marginal notes that guide the reader through the text. This book will be essential reading for students taking courses in behavioral ecology. The leading introductory text from the two most prominent workers in the field. Second colour in the text. New section of four colour plates. Boxed sections to ilustrate difficult and important points. New larger format with marginal notes to guide the reader through the text. Selected further reading at the end of each chapter.
Download or read book Behavioural Ecology written by Etienne Danchin and published by American Chemical Society. This book was released on 2008-02-14 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Behavioural Ecology gives a fresh, contemporary account of the evolutionary and ecological processes that underpin animal behaviour. Contributions from subject experts and meticulous editing yield a text with all the qualities of a multi-author book, but without the potential drawbacks.
Download or read book Cognitive Ecology of Pollination written by Lars Chittka and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-08-22 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Important breakthroughs have recently been made in our understanding of the cognitive and sensory abilities of pollinators, such as how pollinators perceive, memorize, and react to floral signals and rewards; how they work flowers, move among inflorescences, and transport pollen. These new findings have obvious implications for the evolution of floral display and diversity, but most existing publications are scattered across a wide range of journals in very different research traditions. This book brings together outstanding scholars from many different fields of pollination biology, integrating the work of neuroethologists and evolutionary ecologists to present a multidisciplinary approach.
Download or read book The Evolution of Social Behaviour written by Michael Taborsky and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-26 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can the stunning diversity of social systems and behaviours seen in nature be explained? Drawing on social evolution theory, experimental evidence and studies conducted in the field, this book outlines the fundamental principles of social evolution underlying this phenomenal richness.To succeed in the competition for resources, organisms may either 'race' to be quicker than others, 'fight' for privileged access, or 'share' their efforts and gains. The authors show how the ecology and intrinsic attributes of organisms select for each of these strategies, and how a handful of straightforward concepts explain the evolution of successful decision rules in behavioural interactions, whether among members of the same or different species. With a broad focus ranging from microorganisms to humans, this is the first book to provide students and researchers with a comprehensive account of the evolution of sociality by natural selection.
Download or read book Cognition Evolution and Behavior written by Sara J. Shettleworth and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-10 with total page 715 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do animals perceive the world, learn, remember, search for food or mates, communicate, and find their way around? Do any nonhuman animals count, imitate one another, use a language, or have a culture? What are the uses of cognition in nature and how might it have evolved? What is the current status of Darwin's claim that other species share the same "mental powers" as humans, but to different degrees? In this completely revised second edition of Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior, Sara Shettleworth addresses these questions, among others, by integrating findings from psychology, behavioral ecology, and ethology in a unique and wide-ranging synthesis of theory and research on animal cognition, in the broadest sense--from species-specific adaptations of vision in fish and associative learning in rats to discussions of theory of mind in chimpanzees, dogs, and ravens. She reviews the latest research on topics such as episodic memory, metacognition, and cooperation and other-regarding behavior in animals, as well as recent theories about what makes human cognition unique. In every part of this new edition, Shettleworth incorporates findings and theoretical approaches that have emerged since the first edition was published in 1998. The chapters are now organized into three sections: Fundamental Mechanisms (perception, learning, categorization, memory), Physical Cognition (space, time, number, physical causation), and Social Cognition (social knowledge, social learning, communication). Shettleworth has also added new chapters on evolution and the brain and on numerical cognition, and a new chapter on physical causation that integrates theories of instrumental behavior with discussions of foraging, planning, and tool using.
Download or read book Visual Ecology written by Thomas W. Cronin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-08-10 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive treatment of visual ecology Visual ecology is the study of how animals use visual systems to meet their ecological needs, how these systems have evolved, and how they are specialized for particular visual tasks. Visual Ecology provides the first up-to-date synthesis of the field to appear in more than three decades. Featuring some 225 illustrations, including more than 140 in color, spread throughout the text, this comprehensive and accessible book begins by discussing the basic properties of light and the optical environment. It then looks at how photoreceptors intercept light and convert it to usable biological signals, how the pigments and cells of vision vary among animals, and how the properties of these components affect a given receptor's sensitivity to light. The book goes on to examine how eyes and photoreceptors become specialized for an array of visual tasks, such as navigation, evading prey, mate choice, and communication. A timely and much-needed resource for students and researchers alike, Visual Ecology also includes a glossary and a wealth of examples drawn from the full diversity of visual systems. The most up-to-date overview of visual ecology available Features some 225 illustrations, including more than 140 in color, spread throughout the text Guides readers from the basic physics of light to the role of visual systems in animal behavior Includes a glossary and a wealth of real-world examples
Download or read book Secret Worlds written by Martin Stevens and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-10 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Martin Stevens explores the extraordinary variety of senses in the animal kingdom, and discusses the cutting-edge science that is shedding light on these secret worlds. Our senses of vision, smell, taste, hearing, and touch are essential for us to respond to threats, communicate and interact with the world around us. This is true for all animals - their sensory systems are key to survival, and without them animals would be completely helpless. However, the sensory systems of other animals work very differently from ours. For example, many animals from spiders to birds can detect and respond to ultraviolet light, to which we are blind. Other animals, including many insects, rodents, and bats can hear high-frequency ultrasonic sounds well beyond our own hearing range. Many other species have sensory systems that we lack completely, such as the magnetic sense of birds, turtles, and other animals, or the electric sense of many fish. These differences in sensory ability have a major bearing on the ways that animals behave and live in different environments, and also affect their evolution and ecology. In this book, Martin Stevens explores the remarkable sensory systems that exist in nature, and what they are used for. Discussing how different animal senses work, he also considers how they evolve, how they are shaped by the environment in which an animal lives, and the pioneering science that has uncovered how animals use their senses. Throughout, he celebrates the remarkable diversity of life, and shows how the study of sensory systems has shed light on some of the most important issues in animal behaviour, physiology, and evolution.
Download or read book The Sensory Ecology of Birds written by Graham Martin and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first integrated synthesis of avian sensory ecology, explaining the broad principles and taking the reader into the sensory world of birds from an evolutionary and ecological perspective.
Download or read book Sensory Evolution on the Threshold written by J. G. M. Thewissen and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-02-04 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ranging from crocodiles and penguins to seals and whales, this synthesis explores the function and evolution of sensory systems in animals whose ancestors lived on land. It explores the dramatic transformation of smell, taste, sight, hearing, and balance that occurred as lineages of reptiles, birds, and mammals returned to aquatic environments.
Download or read book The Behavior Ecology and Evolution of Cichlid Fishes written by Maria E. Abate and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-19 with total page 832 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume constitutes the most recent and most comprehensive consideration of the largest family of bony fishes, the Cichlidae. This book offers an integrated perspective of cichlid fishes ranging from conservation of threatened species to management of cichlids as invasive species themselves. Long-standing models of taxonomy and systematics are subjected to the most recent applications and interpretations of molecular evidence and multivariate analyses; and cichlid adaptive radiations at different scales are elucidated. The incredible diversity of endemic cichlid species in African lakes is revisited as possible examples of sympatric speciation and as serious cases for management in complex anthropogenic environments. Extreme hydrology and bathymetry as driver of micro-allopatric speciation is explored in the African riverine hotspot of diversity of the lower Congo River. Dramatic new molecular evidence draws attention to the complex taxonomy and systematics of Neotropical cichlids including the crater lakes of Central America. Molecular genetics, genomics, imaging tools and field study techniques assess the roles of natural, sexual and kin selection in shaping cichlid traits and beyond. The complex behavioral adaptations of cichlids are considered from a number of sub-disciplines including sensory biology, neurobiology, development, and evolutionary ecology. Most importantly, this volume puts forth a wealth of new interpretations, explanatory hypotheses and proposals for practical management and applications that will shape the future for these remarkable fishes in nature as well as their use as models for the study of biology.
Download or read book The Behavior of Animals written by Johan J. Bolhuis and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-12-29 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Behavior of Animals An updated view of animal behavior studies, featuring global experts The Behavior of Animals, Second Edition provides a broad overview of the current state of animal behavior studies with contributions from international experts. This edition includes new chapters on hormones and behavior, individuality, and human evolution. All chapters have been thoroughly revised and updated, and are supported by color illustrations, informative callouts, and accessible presentation of technical information. Provides an introduction to the study of animal behavior Looks at an extensive scope of topics- from perception, motivation and emotion, biological rhythms, and animal learning to animal cognition, communication, mate choice, and individuality. Explores the evolution of animal behavior including a critical evaluation of the assumption that human beings can be studied as if they were any other animal species. Students will benefit from an updated textbook in which a variety of contributors provide their expertise and global perspective in specialized areas
Download or read book A Spider s World written by Friedrich G. Barth and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spiders are wonderful creatures. Their varied and complex range of behavior and highly developed sensory systems are excellently adapted to the environmental conditions - as is proven by their evolutionary success. Over 400 million years, spiders have developed their sensory organs to a fascinating technical perfection and complexity. In his intriguing book, Professor Friedrich G. Barth puts this technical perfection into the context of "biology", in which the interaction between environment and sensory organs and the selectivity of the senses as a link between environment and behavior play a major role.
Download or read book Animal Vigilance written by Guy Beauchamp and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Animal Vigilance builds on the author's previous publication with Academic Press (Social Predation: How Group Living Benefits Predators and Prey) by developing several other themes including the development and mechanisms underlying vigilance, as well as developing more fully the evolution and function of vigilance. Animal vigilance has been at the forefront of research on animal behavior for many years, but no comprehensive review of this topic has existed. Students of animal behavior have focused on many aspects of animal vigilance, from models of its adaptive value to empirical research in the laboratory and in the field. The vast literature on vigilance is widely dispersed with often little contact between models and empirical work and between researchers focusing on different taxa such as birds and mammals. Animal Vigilance fills this gap in the available material. - Tackles vigilance from all angles, theoretical and empirical, while including the broadest range of species to underscore unifying themes - Discusses several newer developments in the area, such as vigilance copying and effect of food density - Highlights recent challenges to assumptions of traditional models of vigilance, such as the assumption that vigilance is independent among group members, which is reviewed during discussion of synchronization and coordination of vigilance in a group - Written by a top expert in animal vigilance
Download or read book Insect Sounds and Communication written by Sakis Drosopoulos and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2005-11-02 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While we may have always assumed that insects employ auditory communication, our understanding of it has been impeded by various technical challenges. In comparison to the study of an insect's visual and olfactory expression, research in the area of acoustic communication has lagged behind. Filling this void, Insect Sounds and Communication is the
Download or read book Cognitive Ecology II written by Reuven Dukas and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-11-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merging evolutionary ecology and cognitive science, cognitive ecology investigates how animal interactions with natural habitats shape cognitive systems, and how constraints on nervous systems limit or bias animal behavior. Research in cognitive ecology has expanded rapidly in the past decade, and this second volume builds on the foundations laid out in the first, published in 1998. Cognitive Ecology II integrates numerous scientific disciplines to analyze the ecology and evolution of animal cognition. The contributors cover the mechanisms, ecology, and evolution of learning and memory, including detailed analyses of bee neurobiology, bird song, and spatial learning. They also explore decision making, with mechanistic analyses of reproductive behavior in voles, escape hatching by frog embryos, and predation in the auditory domain of bats and eared insects. Finally, they consider social cognition, focusing on alarm calls and the factors determining social learning strategies of corvids, fish, and mammals. With cognitive ecology ascending to its rightful place in behavioral and evolutionary research, this volume captures the promise that has been realized in the past decade and looks forward to new research prospects.
