Dustin Rubenstein, Animal Behavior 12e

This title provides a comparative and integrative overview of how and why animals as diverse as insects and humans behave the way that they do, linking a diversity of behaviors and their adaptive functions to the brain, genes, and hormones, as well as to the surrounding ecological and social environments. Just as so many modern studies in animal behavior are taking advantage of neurobiological and molecular approaches, this book introduces these and other techniques to its readers, all while maintaining a focus on the theoretical aspects of the field in an explicit hypotheses testing framework. Pedagogical approaches in this edition emphasize hypothesis testing, data interpretation, and problem solving. Ultimately, Animal Behavior highlights both the evolutionary and comparative approaches to studying animal behavior, as well as the inter-disciplinary approaches that emphasize the neural, genetic, and physiological mechanisms underlying adaptive behaviors.