• Purchase
• Request Exam Copy
• Tell a Colleague About This Title

Title Information

• About This Title
• About the Author
• NEW! eBook
• Reviews and Commentary
• Media and Supplements
• Table of Contents
• Pricing and Options

• Samples Page

Related subject areas

Animal Behavior

Catalog

• List by Author
• List by Subject Area
• List by Title

Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach, Ninth Edition

John Alcock

March 1, 2009
546 pages, 536 illustrations
paper

About This Title

Sample chapter available on the Samples Page.

This new edition of Animal Behavior has once again been thoroughly rewritten with coverage of much recent work in animal behavior, while retaining the many successful features of previous editions. The writing style is clear and engaging; the book is well illustrated with many new photographs; and the discussion questions are embedded in the text to encourage the development of problem-solving skills of students. This now-classic text continues to offer a balanced treatment of the underlying mechanisms and evolutionary bases of behavior with a focus on the importance of evolutionary theory for the unification of the different behavioral disciplines.

Back to top

About the Author

John Alcock is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Biology at Arizona State University. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University under the direction of Ernst Mayr. His research deals with the behavioral ecology of insect mating systems, with projects that have taken him from Arizona to Costa Rica and Australia. He wrote The Triumph of Sociobiology (2001) and coauthored The Evolution of Insect Mating Systems (1983) with Randy Thornhill. Alcock has also written six other books on animal behavior and natural history for general audiences. One of these, In a Desert Garden, received the Burroughs’ Award for natural history writing in 1998. Dr. Alcock also received the Dean’s Quality Teaching Award the first year it was given at Arizona State University.

Back to top

NEW! eBook

New for the Ninth Edition, Animal Behavior is available as an eBook via CourseSmart (www.coursesmart.com/9780878932252), at a substantial discount off the price of the printed textbook. The eBook reproduces the look of the printed book exactly, and is available either online or as a download. Features include convenient tools for searching the text, highlighting passages of text, and adding notes. For more information please contact:

Linda VandenDolder
vandendolder@sinauer.com

Back to top

Reviews and Commentary

“This ninth edition is both comfortably familiar and thoroughly updated. The order and titles of the 14 chapters are the same … Within this structure, however, the book is rewritten throughout with virtually every paragraph altered. The reference list has grown by nearly 300, and seemingly every citation has been considered for replacement. Similarly, clearly serviceable pictures and figures have often been replaced by even better ones. … What unites all editions of this work is Alcock's ability to impart the excitement of doing science. … this textbook remains unmatched in conveying that sense to its readers. I will use this new edition, and look forward to future versions for as long as John Alcock is excited about producing them. The excitement is contagious.”
—Peter A. Bednekoff, The Quarterly Review of Biology

“… Alcock's ‘Animal Behavior’ continues to be one of the most popular textbooks used in animal behavior courses, and for good reason. The writing is easy to read and understand, it is packed with detailed examples, figures, and illustrations (all complete with full bibliographic information), and it presents a well-balanced view of proximate and ultimate causes of behavior, both of vertebrates and invertebrates. In addition, for the professor of the course, the ancillaries are useful and diverse … It is in general a highly enjoyable book to read, both for those who know the field well and for those just being introduced to the wonders of animal behavior.”
—Miles Engell, Integrative and Comparative Biology

Back to top

Media and Supplements

See the Samples Page for samples of the Ninth Edition instructor resources.

If you have adopted Animal Behavior for course use (within the U.S. or Canada) and are interested in the instructor’s supplements that accompany the text, please contact Linda VandenDolder, vandendolder@sinauer.com. Outside the U.S. and Canada? Check our ordering page for your local distributor.

For the Instructor (Available to qualified adopters)

Instructor’s Resource Library
(ISBN 978-0-87893-285-6)

The Animal Behavior, Ninth Edition Instructor’s Resource Library contains a variety of teaching and laboratory resources. Included on the IRL disc are the following:

1. NEW! Animal Behavior Video Collection
New for the Ninth Edition, this collection of video segments brings to life many of the specific behaviors discussed in the textbook. The majority of these high-quality segments were selected by the author from the collection of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library. Great for use in class, the segments are short and easy to incorporate into lectures. All segments are provided as QuickTime movies and are also provided in ready-to-use PowerPoint presentations.

2. Learning the Skills of Research: Animal Behavior Exercises in the Laboratory and Field
Edited by Elizabeth M. Jakob and Margaret Hodge
Students learn best about the process of science by carrying out projects from start to finish. Animal behavior laboratory classes are particularly well-suited for independent student research, as high-quality projects can be conducted with simple materials and in a variety of environments. The exercises in this electronic lab manual are geared to helping students learn about all stages of the scientific process: hypothesis development, observing and quantifying animal behavior, statistical analysis, and data presentation. Additional exercises allow the students to practice these skills, with topics ranging from habitat selection in isopods to human navigation. Both student and instructor documentation is provided. Data sheets and other supplementary material are offered in editable formats that instructors can modify as desired.

CONTENTS

Section 1. The Skills of Research

Part A. Observing Animal Behavior: Taking a Closer Look

1. Chance Favors the Prepared Mind: A Role-Playing Exercise in Observation, Paul Andreadis
2. Generating Ideas from Observations, Elizabeth M. Jakob
3. Watching, Operational Definitions, and Observing, Michael J. Renner and Catherine Hackett Renner
4. Constructing an Ethogram: Cricket Behavior, R. Stimson Wilcox and Margaret A. Hodge

Part B. Collecting Behavioral Data

1. Candid Camera: Comparing and Contrasting Sampling Methods, Susan W. Margulis
2. The Collection of Behavioral Data, Susan W. Margulis
3. Observing and Quantifying Behavior with JWatcher, Daniel T. Blumstein and Janice C. Daniel

Part C. Statistics and Experimental Design

1. An Introduction to Descriptive and Nonparametric Statistics, Elizabeth M. Jakob and Marta J. Hersek
2. Multiple Approaches to Testing Hypotheses: An Example using Isopod Moisture Preferences, Matthew H. Persons
3. Designing Testable Hypotheses, Marta J. Hersek and Elizabeth M. Jakob

Part D. Interpretation and Presentation

1. Scientific Writing, Elizabeth M. Jakob
2. How to Give a Talk, Elizabeth M. Jakob and Adam H. Porter
3. Participating in a Poster Session, Catherine Hackett Renner and Michael J. Renner
4. Communicating Scientific Information on a Web Page, Anne Houde

Section 2. Practicing Research Skills

1. Neurotransmitters and Aggressive Behavior in Crayfish, Kimberley A. Phillips, Lisa M. Shauver Goodchild, Larry N. Reinking and David A. Zegers
2. Path Integration in Humans, Mitchell B. Baker
3. Number vs. Body Size of Offspring in Biparental Burying Beetles, Stephen T. Trumbo, Garrison Smith, and Derek S. Sikes
4. Simulating the Evolution of Honest Signaling, Paul E. Brunkow and Teresa A. Cochran
5. Food and Fitness: A “First-Person” Simulation of Dragonfly Mating Ecology, Michael R. Maxwell and Paul V. Switzer

3.Teaching Animal Behavior An Instructor’s Manual to Accompany Animal Behavior, Ninth Edition
Teaching Animal Behavior provides instructors several resources to facilitate the preparation of lectures, quizzes, and exams. Contents include:

• Answers to the discussion questions presented in the textbook
• Sample quiz questions and answers
• Sample exam questions and answers
• Descriptions to accompany the new collection of animal behavior videos
• A listing of films on animal behavior for use in the classroom

4. Textbook Figures and Tables
All of the textbook’s figures, tables and photographs are provided in both JPEG (high- and low-resolution) and PowerPoint formats. All of the images have been formatted and optimized for excellent projection quality.

Back to top

Table of Contents

1. An Evolutionary Approach to Animal Behavior

• Understanding Monogamy
• Levels of Analysis
• Proximate and Ultimate Explanations in Biology
• How to Discover the Causes of Behavior&3151;Scientifically
• Darwinian Theory and Ultimate Hypotheses
• Darwinian Theory and the Study of Behavior
• The Problem with Group Selection
• Testing Alternative Hypotheses
• Certainty and Science

2. Understanding the Proximate and Ultimate Causes of Bird Song

• Different Songs: Proximate Causes
• Social Experience and Song Development
• The Development of the Underlying Mechanisms of Singing Behavior
• How the Avian Song Control System Works
• Different Songs: Ultimate Causes
• The Reproductive Benefits of Song Learning
• The Benefits of Learning a Dialect
• Female Preferences and Song Learning
• Proximate and Ultimate Causes Are Complementary

3. The Development of Behavior

• The Interactive Theory of Development
• The Nature-or-Nurture Fallacy
• Behavioral Development Requires Both Genes and Environment
• What Causes Individuals to Develop Differently?
• Environmental Differences and Behavioral Differences
• Genetic Differences and Behavioral Differences
• Hereditary Differences in the Food Preferences of Garter Snakes
• Single-Gene Effects on Development
• Evolution and Behavioral Development
• Adaptive Features of Behavioral Development
• Developmental Homeostasis: Protecting Development against Disruption
• The Adaptive Value of Developmental Switch Mechanisms
• The Adaptive Value of Learning

4. The Control of Behavior: Neural Mechanisms

• How Neurons Control Behavior
• Sensory Receptors and Survival
• Relaying and Responding to Sensory Input
• Central Pattern Generators
• The Proximate Basis of Stimulus Filtering
• Cortical Magnification in the Tactile Mode
• Adaptation and the Proximate Mechanisms of Behavior
• Adaptive Mechanisms of Human Perception
• Adaptive Mechanisms of Navigation
• Adaptive Mechanisms of Migration

5. The Organization of Behavior: Neurons and Hormones

• Neural Command Centers Organize Behavior Behavioral Schedules
• How Do Circadian Mechanisms Work?
• Long-Term Cycles of Behavior
• The Physical Environment Influences Long-Term Cycles
• Changing Priorities in Changing Social Environments
• Hormones and the Organization of Reproductive Behavior
• The Variable Role of Testosterone

6. Behavioral Adaptations for Survival

• Mobbing Behavior and the Evolution of Adaptations
• The Comparative Method for Testing Adaptationist Hypotheses
• The Cost–Benefit Approach to Antipredator Behavior
• The Costs and Benefits of Camouflage
• Some Darwinian Puzzles
• Optimality Theory and Antipredator Behavior
• Game Theory Applied to Social Defenses

7. The Evolution of Feeding Behavior

• Optimal Foraging Behavior
• How to Choose an Optimal Mussel
• Criticisms of Optimal Foraging Theory
• Game Theory and Feeding Behavior
• More Darwinian Puzzles in Feeding Behavior
• Why Do Some Spiders Make Their Webs Conspicuous?
• Why Do Humans Consume Alcohol, Spices, and Dirt?
• The Adaptive Value and History of a Complex Behavior
• The Adaptive Value of Honey Bee Dances
• The Origin and Modification of Honey Bee Dances

8. Choosing Where to Live

• Habitat Selection
• Habitat Preferences of a Territorial Aphid
• The Costs and Benefits of Dispersal
• Migration
• The Costs of Migration
• The Benefits of Migration
• Migration as a Conditional Tactic
• Territoriality
• Territorial Contests

9. The Evolution of Communication

• The Origin and Modification of a Signal
• The Adaptive Value of a Signal
• An Adaptationist Hypothesis
• The History of a Signal-Receiving Mechanism
• The History of Insect Wings
• Sensory Exploitation of Signal Receivers
• Adaptationist Questions about Communication
• Why Do Baby Birds Beg So Loudly?
• How to Deal with Illegitimate Receivers
• Why Settle Disputes with Harmless Threats?
• How Can Deception Evolve?

10. The Evolution of Reproductive Behavior

• The Evolution of Differences in Sex Roles
• Testing the Evolutionary Theory of Sex Differences
• Sexual Selection and Competition for Mates
• Alternative Mating Tactics
• Conditional Mating Strategies
• Distinct Mating Strategies
• Sperm Competition
• Mate Guarding
• Sexual Selection and Mate Choice
• Mate Choice without Material Benefits
• Does Male Courtship Signal Mate Quality?
• Testing the Healthy Mate, Good Genes, and Runaway Selection Theories
• Sexual Conflict

11. The Evolution of Mating Systems

• Is Male Monogamy Adaptive?
• Male Monogamy in Mammals
• Male Monogamy in Birds
• What Do Females Gain from Polyandry?
• Polyandry and Good Genes
• Polyandry and Material Benefits
• The Diversity of Polygynous Mating Systems
• Female Defense Polygyny
• Resource Defense Polygyny
• Scramble Competition Polygyny
• Lek Polygyny

12. The Evolution of Parental Care

• The Cost–Benefit Analysis of Parental Care
• Why More Care by Mothers than Fathers?
• Exceptions to the Rule
• Why Do Male Water Bugs Do All the Work?
• Discriminating Parental Care
• Why Adopt Genetic Strangers?
• The History of Interspecific Brood Parasitism
• Why Accept a Parasite’s Egg?
• The Evolution of Parental Favoritism
• How to Evaluate the Reproductive Value of Offspring

13. The Evolution of Social Behavior

• The Costs and Benefits of Social Life
• The Evolution of Helpful Behavior
• The Reciprocity Hypothesis
• Altruism and Indirect Selection
• The Importance of Relatedness
• Indirect Selection and the Alarm Call of Belding’s Ground Squirrel
• The Concept of Inclusive Fitness
• Inclusive Fitness and the Pied Kingfisher
• Inclusive Fitness and Helpers at the Nest
• The Evolutionary History of Helping at the Nest
• Insect Helpers at the Nest
• The Evolution of Eusocial Behavior
• Haplodiploid Sex Determination and the Evolution of Extreme Altruism
• Testing the Haplodiploid Hypothesis
• Eusociality in the Absence of Very Close Relatedness
• The Ecology of Eusociality

14. The Evolution of Human Behavior

• The Adaptationist Approach to Human Behavior
• The Sociobiology Controversy
• Arbitrary Culture Theory
• Cultural Evolution Theory
• Adaptive Mate Preferences
• Adaptive Mate Preferences of Women
• Conditional Mate Preferences of Men and Women
• Sexual Conflict
• Coercive Sex
• Adaptive Parental Care
• Helping Children Marry
• Applications of Evolutionary Psychology

Back to top

Pricing and Options

Titles	Product Code	Price (USD)
CourseSmart eBook - purchase or request exam copy via CourseSmart	978-0-87893-344-0	$52.95
Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach, Ninth Edition	978-0-87893-225-2	$87.95	Purchase	Request Exam Copy
Alcock: Animal Behavior, Ninth Edition with Blumstein and Daniel: Quantifying Behavior the JWatcher Way Bundle available in US and Canada only. This bundle includes: Quantifying Behavior the JWatcher Way Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach, Ninth Edition	978-0-87893-357-0	$101.60	Purchase	Request Exam Copy
Alcock: Animal Behavior, Ninth Edition with Sherman and Alcock: Exploring Animal Behavior: Readings from American Scientist, Fifth Edition Bundle available in US and Canada only. This bundle includes: Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach, Ninth Edition Exploring Animal Behavior: Readings from American Scientist, Fifth Edition	978-0-87893-505-5	$106.10	Purchase	Request Exam Copy
View Cart
Outside the U.S., Canada, or the Caribbean? Check our ordering page for local distributors.

Home || Contact Us || About Ordering || List by Author
List by Subject Area || List by Title || View Shopping Cart