Behavioural Ecology

Knowledge

The candidate

• can use theories and perspective in evolutionary biology to interpret animal behaviour.
• can analyse how resource distribution, prey selection and predation affect optimal behavioural decisions.
• can evaluate central trade-offs involved in mate choice, parental investment, communication and signalling.
• can explain fundamental mechanisms for the evolution of cooperation and social behaviours
• can recognize central research question and controversies in behavioural ecology

 Skills

The candidate

• can apply evolutionary theory and relevant research findings on case studies and practical problems
• can formulate research questions and scientific hypotheses and suggest ways to test them in field and lab experiments.
• can conduct simple experiments in behavioural ecology and record, analyse and illustrate the results with figures and tables.
• can use simple analytical and numerical models to study optimal behavioural choices and evolutionally stable strategies

General competences

The candidate

• can find, evaluate and refer to relevant scientific literature and use this to discuss a research question or own observations
• can discuss different experimental designs to test hypotheses in behavioural ecology.
• can plan and conduct experiments with living organisms in collaboration with others, and in accordance with ethical guidelines and research standards
• can exchange views and participate in academic discussions based on research in evolutionary biology.
• can present scientific theories, research results and methods both in writing and orally