- History
- Object of study
- Research Methods of Behavioral Ecology
- Research example: studies on animal personality
- References
The ecology of behavior is the branch of ecology that is responsible for the study of the behavior exhibited by animals, taking as its starting point an evolutionary approach.
This means that it considers that the process of evolution, which confers its own characteristics to each organism, is closely related to the behavior that can be observed in animals today.
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The rabbit is genetically prepared to flee from its predators as soon as it detects any threat.
The process of evolution allows each specimen to receive certain genetic information that will prepare it to be more or less fit within its system. Through the process of natural selection, only the fittest individuals will have the tools that will allow them to possess the agility required to flee from predators, obtain food, and reproduce.
This genetic information that the animal inherits will condition its behaviors and determine its actual survival capabilities in the environment that surrounds it.
History
Behavioral ecology, as it is known today, emerged in the 70s. However, before this date there was already great curiosity regarding animal behavior.
The study of animals before the birth of behavioral ecology focused on the analysis of their behaviors from a descriptive point of view. That is, the scientists only focused on the description of the behaviors exhibited by the animals through the method of simple observation.
The factors to be analyzed included the set of all observable behaviors such as feeding, interactions in general and reproduction.
Another aspect that was taken into consideration for the study focused on the relationship of the animal's physiology with respect to its behaviors.
Consequently, the science that was responsible for the approach to animal behavior until the emergence of behavioral ecology was known as ethology.
The birth of behavioral ecology coincides with a change in the focus of the study that includes evolutionary characteristics within the behavioral analysis.
These new perspectives, which were part of many studies carried out during the 1970s and 1980s, took up evolutionary theories and incorporated them into the study of animal behavior.
Object of study
The object of study of behavioral ecology is animal behavior, but not only from a descriptive perspective based on the observation of their actions.
Although their actions are part of the observable behaviors, more important is the relationship of that individual in the environment in which they develop, which in a certain way is determined by their biological inheritance.
That is, evolution has allowed specialization processes in individuals that lead them to adapt and overcome changes in their environment successfully.
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The process of natural selection allows only the fittest individuals to survive and reproduce.
According to the dominant genetic factors, he will be more or less likely to overcome the adversities that the interaction with his environment may present him.
It is on this that behavioral ecology focuses, to analyze the actions undertaken by animals and, based on this, try to create laws or models that explain the observable phenomena between different species.
In addition to taking into account the behavior for the study of animals, it focuses on the relationships that these carry out with the other members of the ecosystem to which they belong.
The factors that intervene directly on animal behavior are linked to genetic inheritance, which will be a determining factor in their development. In this sense, behavioral ecology has adopted research models from other sciences in order to analyze genetic samples from multiple species.
Research Methods of Behavioral Ecology
Behavioral ecology is a scientific advance as far as the study of animal behavior is concerned; the first change that was introduced was the research method.
In congruence with the scientific advances surrounding animal research, which until recently was carried out only by mere observation, reliable scientific methods were assumed.
The change in the study methodology is given by the need to explore in depth the variables that determine animal behavior and establish laws that lead to understanding.
For this, the scientific method was introduced and quantitative studies were undertaken whose results go beyond a mere description of behavior.
The new methods will allow, through genetic and quantitative analysis, to obtain answers regarding questions, such as why some individuals in adverse conditions fail to survive while others develop the mechanisms required for survival.
This is the purpose of the studies undertaken in the area of behavioral ecology and, although much remains to be done given the complexity and enormity of the population, the course has already been defined.
Research example: studies on animal personality
Among the various proposals related to behavioral ecology in order to explain the behaviors of animals, one of them is linked to the study of animal personality.
For the study of personality in animals, rigorous experiments have been started in which several methods are combined in order to obtain the most exact results.
Through the combination of observation and the scientific method, it is sought to explain the differences in personality between individuals of the same species through genetic analysis.
What began as a simple hypothesis product of observation regarding differences in personality in animals, has become a subject of study that is just beginning to give its first results.
For the analysis, a variable called repeatability has been selected, associated with the type of responses obtained at the behavioral level according to certain stimuli.
Likewise, it starts from the study of some behaviors considered atypical for the species that, in combination with others already established, could be indicative of the existence of a syndrome.
References
- Beekman, M, Jordan, A, (2.017). Does the field of animal personality provide any new insights for behavioral ecology. Behavioral ecology magazine.
- Behavioral Ecology. Obtained from ecured.cu
- Martínez, R. M, Avilés, J. M, (2.017). Role of behavioral studies in Ecology. Ecosystems magazine.
- Behavioral ecology. Retrieved from nature.com
- Behavioral ecology. Retrieved from Wikipedia.org