NBIA04105U Social behavior and communication

Volume 2013/2014
Education
MSc Programme in Biology
Content
Levels of socialization, social organization in time and space. Game theory and evolutionarily stable strategies. Physiological background of social behaviour. Cognition. Mating systems. Social processes at the pair, family and group level. Cooperation and conflict. Multimodal signalling, reception and interpretation of communicative behaviour under constraints, sensory ecology. Communication networks and neighbourhood dynamics.
Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

By completing the course the student will have obtained detailed knowledge of behavioural and communicative processes fundamental for animal social behaviour and organisation.

Skills:

By completing the course the student can:

  • explain animal social behaviour and organization in terms of function, mechanism, ontogeny and evolution;
  • present in details the connecting and organizing function of signals for animal social behaviour and explain the evolutionary forces that shape signals and signaling;
  • explain the relative effects of physical, biological and social environments on individual behaviour;

Competencies:
By completing the course the student can: 
  • propose alternative hypotheses to explain a behaviour, design an appropriate experiment to test them and suggest predictions;
  • measure behaviour using different methods and extensively analyse the data obtained;
  • critically discuss results with respect to the hypothesis tested, place them in a broad general context, link to other behaviour issues and propose further lines of enquiry;
  • explain the costs and benefits of different experimental designs, data collection and analysis methods and identify sources of error;
  • present her/his work (in oral and written form) at a level approaching the scientific standard;
  • extract, present and critically discuss in detail the results of a scientific article about animal behaviour;
  • identify and explain strengths and weaknesses in scientific articles, suggest solutions to the weaknesses and further enquiries inspired by the strengths.
Literature
See Absalon.
We recommend that the course participants have basic knowledge about evolutionary biology and animal physiology, for instance obtained by following the courses "Evolutionsbiologi" and "Menneskets fysiologi".
2 lectures and 2 discussion confrontations of two hours each plus one practical of four hours per week for a total of six weeks, followed by an individual project consisting of a 5 page essay during the seventh week of the course. The course ends with an individual oral defence of the project and an oral examination on the rest of the course contents.
The course is part of the qualification profile Ecology and Evolution. For all courses of the qualification profiles, see Course Portal for Department of Biology.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Colloquia
  • 26
  • Exam
  • 30
  • Guidance
  • 4
  • Lectures
  • 12
  • Practical exercises
  • 24
  • Preparation
  • 80
  • Project work
  • 30
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Oral examination, 30 minutes
Essay, defence and a 30-minute oral examination will be judged in combination. Re-examination is oral.
Exam registration requirements
Attendance and active participation in at least 80% of discussion confrontations and practicals, including one oral presentation of the recommended literature, are compulsory.
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment
To achieve the grade 12 the student should give an excellent performance representing a high level of knowledge of all aspects of the relevant material, with no or only a few minor weaknesses.