BIO4081 – Animal Behaviour 1
Course description
Course content
This subject is no longer available
See BIO3081 – Animal Behaviour 1 (continued).
The first half of the course will give an introduction to ethological terminology and proximate mechanisms that are essential to understand the behaviour of animals (from protozoans to vertebrates). Genetical and physiological mechanisms and development of behaviour in the individual, the nuture-nature controversy, learning, motivation and communication will be treated. The second half of the course will concentrate on behaviour from an ecological and evolutionary perspective and cover reproduction, sexual selection, foraging and territoriality. Central to these subjects are terms like fitness, altruism, optimality, game theory and evolutionary stable strategies.
Learning outcome
Knowledge about animal behaviour that is a requisite for doing a master on the subject. It wiill also give important insights for students in physiology, ecology and evolutionary biology. It is not meant as a course only for biology students, but also for students in medicine, psychology and philosophy.
Admission
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.
Prerequisites
Recommended previous knowledge
It is an advantage with some biological background.
Overlapping courses
5 credits against BIO4080. Also some overlap against BIO4090.
Teaching
Lectures and colloquia.
Examination
Two written exams. (Each on 2 hours).
This subject offer new examination in the beginning of the
subsequent term for candidates who withdraw during an ordinary
examination or fail an ordinary examination. For general information
about new examination, see
http://www.uio.no/studier/admin/eksamen/sykdom-utsatt/mn/index.html
and http://www.matnat.uio.no/english/studies/examination/repeat.html
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Evaluation
The course is subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students to participate in a more comprehensive evaluation.
Other
It is an advantage with some biological background. The course is offered if the number of students registered are more than 3.