ETHOLOGY
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2015/2016
- Teacher
- AUGUSTO GIUSEPPE LORENZO FOA'
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- BIO/05
Training objectives
- The main aim of the course is to provide knowledge of the basic concepts of classic ethology and of modern eco-ethology and sociobiology by using a comparative approach.
The student will be guided to observe and understand the behavior of animals in laboratory and wild conditions. Prerequisites
- knowledge of general and systematic zoology
Course programme
- The course consists of 48 hours of lectures (6 CFU). No practice will be accomplished. The detailed content of the course is given below:
Innate behaviour;Key stimuli and releasers; Motivation; Conflict behaviour; Ritualisation of behaviour; Aggression; Animal comunication; Maturation and learning; Classification of animal societies; Territories; hierarchic order; Evolution of eusociality in Insects; Sexual conflicts, sexual selection; Altruism and parental care; Migration, orientation in birds; sun, star and magnetic compass; Navigation in homing pigeons. Didactic methods
- Lectures with slides concerning in detail all the topic of the course. The course does not include practice.
Learning assessment procedures
- Oral examinations consist of 3 questions: one dealing on classical etology, another on eco-ethology and the last one on animal orientation. To go through the exam it is necessary to answer exhaustively all 3 questions.
Reference texts
- J. Alcock. Etologia - Un approccio evolutivo. (Zanichelli Bologna)
J. R. Krebs and N. Davies -Ecologia e comportamento animale (Bollati - Boringhieri)
I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt - I fondamenti dell'etologia - (Adelphi, Milano)
