What Is "Behavioral Ecology"? A White Paper (by Clara B. Jones, 12/28/2017)
Definition of Behavioral Ecology: Variations in behavior relative to ecological [economic] factors, in particular, spatial & temporal dispersion [distribution & abundance] of limiting resources; Ways in which Dispersion [Distribution & Abundance in Time & Space] of organisms "maps" onto Dispersion of limiting resources [in T & S in a given population]--the [John Hurrel] Crook-ian Model of Behavioral Ecology [Behaviour Supplement X, 1964]...limited by energetics x sex [on average & ceteris paribus]--males expected to be Time-Minimizers, females expected to be Energy-Maximizers
FIRST PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY:: E[nergy]: Acquisition->Consumption->Allocation====> Worker &/or Reproductive &/or Dependent...(Males, T[ime] Minimizers; Females, E[nergy] Maximizers)
The organizing principle of this White Paper is that "Behavioral Ecology" is a sub-field of Ecology, not a sub-field of Animal Behavior, Comparative Psychology, Ethology, or Anthropology.
Definition of Behavioral Ecology: Variations in behavior relative to ecological [economic] factors, in particular, spatial & temporal dispersion [distribution & abundance] of limiting resources; Ways in which Dispersion [Distribution & Abundance in Time & Space] of organisms "maps" onto Dispersion of limiting resources [in T & S in a given population]--the [John Hurrel] Crook-ian Model of Behavioral Ecology [Behaviour Supplement X, 1964]...limited by energetics x sex [on average & ceteris paribus]--males expected to be Time-Minimizers, females expected to be Energy-Maximizers
FIRST PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY:: E[nergy]: Acquisition->Consumption->Allocation====> Worker &/or Reproductive &/or Dependent...(Males, T[ime] Minimizers; Females, E[nergy] Maximizers)
The organizing principle of this White Paper is that "Behavioral Ecology" is a sub-field of Ecology, not a sub-field of Animal Behavior, Comparative Psychology, Ethology, or Anthropology.
As
such, Behavioral Ecologists will study behavioral, including,
social*, traits as they operate/function at population, community,
and ecosystem levels, incorporating concerns for scale, mechanisms,
development, tradeoffs, mediating factors, and filtering, among other
related issues.
Students of Behavioral Ecology will demonstrate an awareness of the roots of their field, including, but, not limited to, the early work of John Eisenberg, John Hurrell Crook, Stephen Emlen, Jack Bradbury, and Sandy Vehrencamp.
Students of Behavioral Ecology will demonstrate an awareness of the roots of their field, including, but, not limited to, the early work of John Eisenberg, John Hurrell Crook, Stephen Emlen, Jack Bradbury, and Sandy Vehrencamp.
Many
of the traits of interest to Behavioral Ecologists will be
genetically correlated; thus, genetic and genomic studies will be
employed to identify genes, gene complexes, and/or circuits
underlying behavioral, including, social*, traits--relative to abiotic
and biotic environmental factors and interactions.
The
journal, Behavioral
Ecology,
will be viewed as an Ecology journal on par with the journals,
Functional
Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology,
Ecology
and Evolution,
and Journal
of Applied Animal Ecology.
Behavioral
Ecology will reflect the intimate links between Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EcoEvo)**.
Behavioral
Ecology will become a predictive discipline, not only a project of
descriptive work. As such, a truly predictive Behavioral Ecology will
be a hypothetico-deductive enterprise based on First Principles.
Like
its parent discipline, Ecology, Behavioral Ecology methodology will
incorporate modeling and simulation, as well as, field and laboratory
experiments and will investigate tradeoffs and alternative hypotheses. Practitioners can conduct experiments with agent-based
[individual-based] methods.
Behavioral
Ecologists will be trained by Ecologists and Evolutionary Biologists (EcoEvo) from Departments of Ecology
and Evolution and, in addition, will study Ethology, Animal Behavior, & Population Genetics.
Behavioral
Ecology will be characterized by strong theory, and students will be
trained in quantitative methods, at minimum, statistics, biostatistics, coding, calculus, agent-based [individual-based] modeling. Higher-order quantitative skills might incorporate Fisher's Fundamental Equation, the Price Equation, inclusive fitness ("kin selection") & Hamilton's Rule, as well as, the Nash Equilibrium. As in other sub-fields of Ecology, theory will take the form of Mathematics, though verbal formulations will often be a preliminary step. Marshall's book, Social Evolution and Inclusive-Fitness Theory, might be incorporated into any graduate student's program:
https://www.amazon.com/Social-Evolution-Inclusive-Fitness-Theory/dp/0691161569/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=james+marshall+social+biology&qid=1558917758&s=books&sr=1-1-catcorr
https://www.amazon.com/Social-Evolution-Inclusive-Fitness-Theory/dp/0691161569/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=james+marshall+social+biology&qid=1558917758&s=books&sr=1-1-catcorr
The
practitioner of Behavioral Ecology will study virtually any topic
investigated by other Ecologists. A good exercise is to peruse the
contents of the journals mentioned above, interpolating and/or reframing most any
paper into a study of Behavioral Ecology, including, Social* Biology. Once the practitioner gets
the knack of doing this, s/he/they can advance to other topics generated
by books such as The
Princeton Guide To Ecology or
any good Ecology textbook. In 2013, the British Ecological Society identified "100 fundamental questions in Ecology" that can be re-framed as questions for research in Behavioral Ecology and Social Biology: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2745.12025
Behavioral Ecology will include a new sub-field, Applied Behavioral Ecology, that may be of particular interest to students of Human Behavior and Conservation Biology.***
Behavioral Ecology will embrace a new sub-field, Behavioral MacroEcology, that will, in part, investigate ecosystem, regional, and global patterns of diversity in Behavioral Ecological factors and traits (including Sociobiological* factors and traits) and that may require assembly of large databases (as per a new sub-field, Computational Behavioral Ecology).
Behavioral Ecology will include a new sub-field, Applied Behavioral Ecology, that may be of particular interest to students of Human Behavior and Conservation Biology.***
Behavioral Ecology will embrace a new sub-field, Behavioral MacroEcology, that will, in part, investigate ecosystem, regional, and global patterns of diversity in Behavioral Ecological factors and traits (including Sociobiological* factors and traits) and that may require assembly of large databases (as per a new sub-field, Computational Behavioral Ecology).
Behavioral
Ecology will be an active special interest group of ESA****.
*Group-formation,
Group-maintenance, Group-living, Intraspecific/Interspecific
interactions, Cooperative and/or Altruistic traits, Facilitation,
and Co-existence. Intraindividual traits ["behavioral syndromes"] will be studied as they may influence group and/or population effects.
**"...tending,
in the course of generations, to modify organic structures in
accordance with external circumstances, as food, the nature of the
habitat, and the meteoric agencies...." Charles Darwin, Origin
of Species,
1861 (3rd Edition)
***See, for example, Palkovacs EP, Moritsch MM, Contolini GM, Pelletier F (2018) Ecology of harvest-driven trait changes and implications for ecosystem management. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 16(1): 20-28, doi: 10.1002/fee.1743
****An organism's use of energy (E) is the essence of Behavioral ECOLOGY [1st Principles of Ecology= Acquisition, Consumption, Allocation (e.g., to Behavior]. Similarly, a group-living organism's use of energy (E) is the essence of Social Biology [a sub-field of Behavioral ECOLOGY]. All Behaviors [action patterns, motor patterns] are a function of the laws of thermodynamics.
***See, for example, Palkovacs EP, Moritsch MM, Contolini GM, Pelletier F (2018) Ecology of harvest-driven trait changes and implications for ecosystem management. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 16(1): 20-28, doi: 10.1002/fee.1743
****An organism's use of energy (E) is the essence of Behavioral ECOLOGY [1st Principles of Ecology= Acquisition, Consumption, Allocation (e.g., to Behavior]. Similarly, a group-living organism's use of energy (E) is the essence of Social Biology [a sub-field of Behavioral ECOLOGY]. All Behaviors [action patterns, motor patterns] are a function of the laws of thermodynamics.
Primary Citation: John Hurrel Crook, Behaviour. Supplement No. 10, The Evolution of Social Organisation and Visual Communication in the Weaver Birds (Ploceine) (1964)