BIO202: Behaviour and ecology

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Animal Behaviour: Ethology. Approaches to the study of behaviour. Learning and instinct. Development of behaviour. Communication as a key element in many animal behaviours. Circadian rhythms.
Behavioural ecology: Evolution forces shape behaviour. Foraging behaviour. Territorial behaviour. Reproductive behaviour. Competition and sexual selection. Mating systems. Evolution of social behaviour. Examples of kin selection. Group living and the evolution of social systems.
Population ecology: Single population growth models in continuous and discrete time Importance of time lags. Stable points, cycles and chaos. Effects of perturbations. Metapopulation dynamics.
Community Ecology: Species interactions Lotka-Volterra models of competition and predation. Competitive exclusion, resource partitioning and other outcomes of competition.
Conservation biology: Quantifying biodiversity. Overview of biodiversity crisis. Accelarating extinction rates. Why conservation is important. Speices endemism and hotspots. Vulnerable species. Factors responsible fore extinction: overexploitation, introduced species, disruption of ecological relationships, loss of genetic variation, Habitat loss and fragmentation. Approaches for preserving endangered species.