Background and Definition
Behavioral ecology studies ecological dynamics that drive behavioral adaptations within evolutionary context. This approach was developed from research of ethologists, such as Lorenz and Tinbergen (Krebs and Davies 1997). Lorenz and Tinbergen examined animal behavior in their natural environment in which the focus of the research was determining the function and fruition of the behaviors. Another contributor to the development of behavioral ecology was the field of sociobiology (Wilson 1975). Sociobiology “is a field of study in which principles of population biology and evolutionary theory are applied to social organizations” (Olmstead and Kuhlmeier 2015, p. 17). Behavioral ecology emerged from research within ethology and sociobiology. Questions in the field of behavioral ecology initially explored were related to predictions of survival and reproductive success. More specifically, how is the behavior traditionally used and does it increase survival?...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Altmann, J., & Alberts, S. C. (2005). Growth rates in a wild primate population: Ecological influences and maternal effects. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 57(5), 490–501.
Bradbury, J. W., & Vehrencamp, S. L. (2014). Complexity and behavioral ecology. Behavioral Ecology, 25(3), 435–442.
Gurven, M. (2006). Human behavioral ecology. In H. Birx (Ed.), Encyclopedia of anthropology. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Hausfater, G. (1975). Dominance and reproduction in baboons (Papio cynocephalus). Contributions to Primatology, 7, 1–150.
Krebs, J. R., & Davies, N. B. (Eds.). (1997). Behavioural ecology: An evolutionary approach. Hoboken: Wiley.
Nettle, D., Gibson, M. A., Lawson, D. W., & Sear, R. (2013). Human behavioral ecology: Current research and future prospects. Behavioral Ecology, 24(5), 1031–1040.
Olmstead, M. C., & Kuhlmeier, V. A. (2015). Comparative cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Saino, N., Ferrari, R., Romano, M., Martinelli, R., & Møller, A. P. (2003). Experimental manipulation of egg carotenoids affects immunity of barn swallow nestlings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 270(1532), 2485–2489.
Shettleworth, S. J. (2010). Cognition, evolution, and behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wilkinson, G. S., & Reillo, P. R. (1994). Female choice response to artificial selection on an exaggerated male trait in a stalk-eyed fly. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 255(1342), 1–6.
Wilson, E. O. (1975). Sociobiology: The new synthesis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Zhang, G., Lu, J., & Gao, Y. (2015). Multi-level decision making: Models, methods and applications (Vol. 82). New York: Springer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Walker, R.T., Hill, H.M. (2018). Behavioral Ecology. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1610-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1610-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences