Recent progress in the field of wildlife disease ecology demonstrates that infectious disease plays a crucial role in the lives of wild animals. Parasites and pathogens should be especially important for social animals in which high contact among individuals increases the potential for disease spread. As one of the best studied mammalian groups, primates offer a unique opportunity to examine how complex behaviours (including social organization) influence the risk of acquiring infectious diseases, and the defences used by animals to avoid infection. This book explores the correlates of disease risk in primates, including not only social and mating behaviour but also diet, habitat use, life history, geography and phylogeny. The authors examine how a core set of host and parasite traits influence patterns of parasitism at three levels of biological organization: among individuals, among populations, and across species. A major goal is to synthesize, for the first time, four disparate areas of research: primate behavioural ecology, parasite biology, wildlife epidemiology, and the behavioural and immune defences employed by animals to counter infectious disease. Throughout, the authors provide an overview of the remarkable diversity of infectious agents found in wild primate populations. Additional chapters consider how knowledge of infectious diseases in wild primates can inform efforts focused on primate conservation and human health. More generally, this book identifies infectious disease as an important frontier in our understanding of primate behaviour and ecology. It highlights future challenges for testing the links between host and parasite traits, including hypotheses for the effects of disease on primate social and mating systems.

Our ability to 'think' is really one of our most puzzling characteristics. What it would be like to be unable to think? What would it be like to lack self-awareness? The complexity of this activity is striking. 'Thinking' involves the interaction of a range of mental processes--attention, emotion, memory, planning, self-consciousness, free will, and language. So where did these processes arise? What evolutionary advantages were bestowed upon those with an ability to deceive, to plan, to empathize, or to understand the intention of others? In this compelling new work, Peter Gardenfors embarks on an evolutionary detective story to try and solve one of the big mysteries surrounding human existence--how has the modern human being's way of thinking come into existence. He starts by taking in turn the more basic cognitive processes, such as attention and memory, then builds upon these to explore more complex behaviors, such as self-consciousness, mindreading, and imitation. Having done this, he examines the consequences of "putting thought into the world" -i.e., using external media like cave paintings, drawings, and writing. Immensely readable and humorous, the book will be valuable for students in psychology and biology, and accessible to readers of popular science.

This book presents a framework for development, optimization, and evaluation of behavioral, biobehavioral, and biomedical interventions. Behavioral, biobehavioral, and biomedical interventions are programs with the objective of improving and maintaining human health and well-being, broadly defined, in individuals, families, schools, organizations, or communities. These interventions may be aimed at, for example, preventing or treating disease, promoting physical and mental health, preventing violence, or improving academic achievement. This volume introduces the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST), pioneered at The Methodology Center at the Pennsylvania State University, as an alternative to the classical approach of relying solely on the randomized controlled trial (RCT). MOST borrows heavily from perspectives taken and approaches used in engineering, and also integrates concepts from statistics and behavioral science, including the RCT. As described in detail in this book, MOST consists of three phases: preparation, in which the conceptual model underlying the intervention is articulated; optimization, in which experimentation is used to gather the information necessary to identify the optimized intervention; and evaluation, in which the optimized intervention is evaluated in a standard RCT. Through numerous examples, the book demonstrates that MOST can be used to develop interventions that are more effective, efficient, economical, and scalable. Optimization of Behavioral, Biobehavioral, and Biomedical Interventions: The Multiphase Optimization Strategy is the first book to present a comprehensive introduction to MOST. It will be an essential resource for behavioral, biobehavioral, and biomedical scientists; statisticians, biostatisticians, and analysts working in epidemiology and public health; and graduate-level courses in development and evaluation of interventions.

The hunger for sodium has been used as a model system in which to study how the brain produces motivated behaviour. In this account of the field Jay Schulkin draws together information across a range of disciplines and topics, ranging from the ecology of salt ingestion to the sodium molecule and the action of various hormones. The phenomenon of sodium hunger was discovered by Curt Richter, the great American psychobiologist, over 50 years ago. Its study has been of interest for some time: to naturalists, psychologists, endocrinologists, physiologists and neuroscientists. This book offers a systematic account of the behaviour of the sodium hungry animal, the endocrine and physiological mechanisms that act to maintain sodium balance and then act on the brain to promote the search for and the ingestion of salt. Finally, the book provides a description of a neural network that orchestrates the behaviour of salt seeking and salt ingestion. Graduate students and research workers in psychology, physiology and neuroscience will find valuable information in this review.

Migration is a key process in the population dynamics of many insects, including some of the most damaging pests. Multidisciplinary research into the importance of migration, in recent decades, has produced many new insights. This book reviews current understanding of the ecological, behavioural, physiological and genetic bases of insect migration. The first part describes migration systems in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and America, with an emphasis on the role of regional weather and climate. The second part considers insects adaptation to migration; it covers: aerodynamics and energetics; the integration of migration in insect life cycles; environmental and genetic regulation of migratory potential; and the evolutionary implications of habitat heterogeneity and variability. The book then addresses the application of this knowledge to operational pest forecasting.

This innovative book challenges the perceived view, based largely on long observation of artificially-fed chimpanzees in Gombe and Mahale National Parks, Tanzania, of the typical social behaviour of chimpanzees as aggressive, dominance seeking, and fiercely territorial. In polar opposition, all reports from naturalistic (non-feeding) field studies are of non-aggressive chimpanzees living peacefully in non-hierarchical groups, on home ranges open to all. These reports have been ignored and downgraded by most of the scientific community. By utilising the data from these studies the author is able to construct a model of an egalitarian form of social organisation, based on a fluid role relationship of mutual dependence between many charismatic chimpanzees of both sexes and other more dependent members. This highly and necessarily positive mutual dependence system is characteristic of both (undisturbed) chimpanzees and (undisturbed) humans who live by the 'immediate-return' foraging system.

Kin recognition, or the ability to recognize one's genetic relations, is universal throughout the animal kingdom, from amebas to humans. This trait benefits the organism by helping to insure the survival of a specific gene group, and it is also an important factor in mate choice. Indeed, kin recognition is one of the fastest growing and most exciting areas of behavior. The study of kin recognition requires a multidisciplinary approach, and Dr. Hepper has brought together leading researchers from zoology, biology, psychology, and sociology to create a thought-provoking and critical analysis of our current knowledge of the phenomenon, with particular emphasis on the underlying processes involved and their significance for the evolution of social behavior. Together they attempt to answer the questions of how individuals recognize other individuals as kin, nonkin, or different classes of kin and why they respond differently to kin and nonkin.

As seen on ITV's This Morning 'You really can learn to talk to your pet' - Daily Mail We all want what's best for our pets, but what if we simply don't understand what that is? With this easy introductory guide to animal communication, you can leave out the guesswork and open yourself to a deeper, richer relationship with your pet. In this book, you will: * Learn exactly what animal communication is, how it differs from being a pet psychic and the different types of ways you can psychically communicate with your pet, including Beth's unique PACT method * Receive important messages from your pet, learn to communicate with other people's pets, as well as read messages via photographs * Understand how to solve behavioural issues in your pet and help them with their wellbeing * Be able to learn how to use animal communication to help cope with the loss of a beloved pet as well as learn how to use your new skills to locate a missing animal. Your pet is part of your family, they know what you are feeling, and now you can really understand what they are feeling too.

Construction behaviour occurs across the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom and affects the survival of both builders and other organisms associated with them. Animal Architecture provides a comprehensive overview of the biology of animal building. The book recognizes three broad categories of built structure: homes, traps, and courtship displays. Even though some of these structures are complex and very large, the behaviour required to build them is generally simple and the anatomy for building unspecialized. Standardization of building materials helps to keep building repertoires simple, while self-organizing effects help create complexity. In a case-study approach to function, insects demonstrate how homes can remain operational while they grow, spiderwebs illustrate mechanical design, and the displays of bowerbirds raise the possibility of persuasion through design rather than just decoration. Studies of the costs to builders provide evidence of optimal designs and of trade-offs with other life history traits. As ecosystem engineers, the influence of builders is extensive and their effect is generally to enhance biodiversity through niche construction. Animal builders can therefore represent model species for the study of the emerging subject of environmental inheritance. Building, and in particular building with silk, has been demonstrated to have important evolutionary consequences. This book is intended for students and researchers in comparative animal biology, but will also be of relevance and use to the increasing numbers of architects and civil engineers interested in developing ideas from the animal kingdom.

This book presents a series of review chapters on the various aspects of primate kinship and behavior, as a fundamental reference for students and professionals interested in primate behavior, ecology and evolution. The relatively new molecular data allow one to assess directly degrees of genetic relatedness and kinship relations between individuals, and a considerable body of data on intergroup variation, based on experimental studies in both free-ranging and captive groups has accumulated, allowing a rather full and satisfying reconsideration of this whole broad area of research. The book should be of considerable interest to students of social evolution and behavioral ecology.

How do ant colonies get anything done, when no one is in charge? An ant colony operates without a central control or hierarchy, and no ant directs another. Instead, ants decide what to do based on the rate, rhythm, and pattern of individual encounters and interactions--resulting in a dynamic network that coordinates the functions of the colony. "Ant Encounters" provides a revealing and accessible look into ant behavior from this complex systems perspective.

Focusing on the moment-to-moment behavior of ant colonies, Deborah Gordon investigates the role of interaction networks in regulating colony behavior and relations among ant colonies. She shows how ant behavior within and between colonies arises from local interactions of individuals, and how interaction networks develop as a colony grows older and larger. The more rapidly ants react to their encounters, the more sensitively the entire colony responds to changing conditions. Gordon explores whether such reactive networks help a colony to survive and reproduce, how natural selection shapes colony networks, and how these structures compare to other analogous complex systems.

"Ant Encounters" sheds light on the organizational behavior, ecology, and evolution of these diverse and ubiquitous social insects.

Unlike most other large mammals, the Soay sheep population of Hirta in the St. Kilda archipelago show persistent oscillations, sometimes increasing or declining by more than 60% in a year. This study explores the causes of these oscillations and their consequences for selection on genetic and phenotypic variation within the population, drawing on studies over the past twenty years of the life-histories and reproductive careers of many sheep. It will be essential reading for vertebrate ecologists, demographers, evolutionary biologists and behavioral ecologists.

Foraging is fundamental to animal survival and reproduction, yet it is much more than a simple matter of finding food; it is a biological imperative. Animals must find and consume resources to succeed, and they make extraordinary efforts to do so. For instance, pythons rarely eat, but when they do, their meals are large--as much as 60 percent larger than their own bodies. The snake's digestive system is normally dormant, but during digestion metabolic rates can increase fortyfold. A python digesting quietly on the forest floor has the metabolic rate of thoroughbred in a dead heat. This and related foraging processes have broad applications in ecology, cognitive science, anthropology, and conservation biology--and they can be further extrapolated in economics, neurobiology, and computer science.
"Foraging "is the first comprehensive review of the topic in more than twenty years. A monumental undertaking, this volume brings together twenty-two experts from throughout the field to offer the latest on the mechanics of foraging, modern foraging theory, and foraging ecology. The fourteen essays cover all the relevant issues, including cognition, individual behavior, caching behavior, parental behavior, antipredator behavior, social behavior, population and community ecology, herbivory, and conservation. Considering a wide range of taxa, from birds to mammals to amphibians, "Foraging" will be the definitive guide to the field.

A charismatic naturalist, bird-watcher, teacher, artist, photographer, film-maker, and winner of the Nobel Prize, Niko Tinbergen was a prominent and influential scientist. Jointly with Konrad Lorenz, he laid the foundation for a new science, the biological study of animal behaviour. 'Ethology', and his talent for devising behaviour-testing experiments, provided an outlet for Niko's enthusiasm for gulls and sticklebacks, snow-buntings and foxes, wasps and falcons, and even children. This first full-length biography of Niko Tinbergen, lavishly illustrated with many of Niko's own drawings, describes his background in Holland, a naturalists' paradise, and the beginnings of his investigations into the behaviour of birds, fish, and insects. Hans Kruuk also explores is Niko's relationship with his colleague and co-Nobelist Konrad Lorenz. These were two men full of contrasts: Niko a charming, self-effacing field man and experimenter; Konrad a flamboyant and egocentric German, always full of new ideas. Niko's Nature goes on to follow Niko's progress in Oxford after the Second World War, where he became the world authority on the behaviour of animals in the wild: his inspiring book The Study of Instinct remains an all-time classic. As a scientist Niko will always be known for the four fundamentally different ways in which he asked the question 'why does an animal do this?' These questions, about physiology, development, evolution, and function, became known as 'Tinbergen's four whys'. But Niko's successes came at a price - severe and devastating depressions that were to plague him throughout his career. In this fascinating and engaging story, Niko's long-time friend and student Hans Kruuk argues that his impact as a scientist and naturalist was in large part due to his skills as a communicator, photographer, and film-maker. Niko's Nature is an intimate and insightful portrait of an extraordinary figure.

Why do birds often live in pairs and rear chicks together, whereas female mammals usually live in groups and rear their young without male help? Why do males sometimes live with a single mate when they are capable of fertilizing more than one female's eggs? Is male helping behavior important for monogamous partnerships? This book provides answers concerning the biological roots of social monogamy in animal groups as diverse as ungulates, carnivores, rodents, birds and primates (including humans) for students and researchers in behavioral ecology, evolutionary anthropology and zoology.

In exploring socially-maintained behavioral traditions in animals other than humans, this study treats traditions as biological phenomena amenable to comparative evaluation in the same way as other biological phenomena. Concerned with how widely shared features of social life and learning abilities can lead to traditions in many species, it differs from other books in its emphasis on explicit evaluation of alternative theories and methods, and in the breadth of species covered. It is essential reading for students and researchers in animal behavior, anthropology and psychology.

Hans Kruuk, a life-long naturalist, tells the fascinating story of carnivores and humans' intricate relationships with them. The book is illustrated with specially commissioned drawings, and deals not only with the wild beauty of carnivores and their conservation, but also with the topics of furs and medicine, man-eaters and sheep-killers. Kruuk explains in simple terms the role of carnivores in nature, how they impact human life, art and literature, and how we instinctively respond to them and why.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) are the only two species of the genus Pan, and are humans' nearest relatives. This book is an extensive review of the most recent observations from field studies on the diversity of Pan social behavior, with contributions from many of the world's leading experts. A wide range of social behavior is discussed including tool use, hunting, reproductive strategies, conflict management, demographic variables and ecological constraints. In addition to interspecies behavioral diversity, this text describes exciting new research into variations between different populations of the same species.

In most terrestrial and aquatic habitats, the vast majority of animals transmitting and receiving communicative signals are arthropods. This book presents the story of how this important group of animals use pheromones, sound, vibration, and light for sexual and social communication. Because of their small to minute body size most arthropods have problems sending and receiving acoustic and optical information, each of which have their own severe constraints. Because of these restraints they have developed chemical signaling which is not similarly limited by scale. Presenting the latest theoretical and experimental findings from studies of signaling, it suggests that close parallels between arthropods and vertebrates reflect a very limited number of solutions to problems in behavior that are available within the confines of physical laws.

This book provides an overview of recent research presenting conflicting interpretations of children's understanding of the psychology of pretense and describes sociocultural factors which influence children's pretenses. Studies of nonhuman primates provide examples of their pretenses and other simulative activities, explore their representational and imaginative capacities and compare their skills with children. Although the psychological requirements for pretending are controversial, evidence presented in this volume suggests that great apes and even monkeys may share capacities for imagination with children and that children's early pretenses may be less psychological than they appear.

This text unifies conceptual and empirical advances in evolutionary ecology and provides a volume that can be used as a primary textbook or supplementary reading in an advanced undergraduate or graduate course. The focus is on current concepts in evolutionary ecology and the empirical study of these concepts. Chapters are written by prominent biologists who have made significant contributions to this field and both synthesize the current state of knowledge and identify areas for future investigation. It is divided into five major sections: an overview of the major topics in evolutionary biology for ecologists, and sections on life histories, behaviour, co-evolution, and adaptation to athropogenic change.

Bird migration is a charismatic topic that has fascinated naturalists for centuries. This book, the only concise and accessible synthesis of the area, describes not only the migrations, the incredible stamina and navigational skills of the birds, the effects on their distributions, survival, and evolution, but also the scientific skills and studies that underlie the information that has been gleaned about migration.

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.

This book brings together the behavioral, physiological, and neuroendocrine regulation of calcium. An understanding of how the brain orchestrates whole-body demands for calcium is introduced. The approach is one in which behavior in addition to physiology serves bodily maintenance. The book links basic and clinical literature surrounding calcium homeostasis, as a wide variety of clinical syndromes are tied to calcium metabolism. Because calcium is so important during life stages particular to women, an emphasis is placed on the relevance of calcium to women's health throughout the book, though not exclusively since calcium is fundamental to both sexes.

Infanticide by males is relatively common in primates, carnivores, and rodents, although it tends to be rare even in species in which it occurs. Is this behavior pathological or accidental, or does it reflect a conditional reproductive strategy for males in certain circumstances? In this book, case studies and reviews confirm the adaptive nature of infanticide by males in primates, and help to predict which species should be vulnerable to this phenomenon. Much of the book is devoted to exploring the evolutionary consequences of the threat of infanticide by males for social and reproductive behavior and physiology. Written for graduate students and researchers in animal behavior, behavioral ecology, biological anthropology, and social psychology, this book shows that social systems are shaped by ecological pressures, as well as social pressures such as infanticide risk.