Behavioral biology
About
In this course, you gain knowledge of, and curiosity for, animal behaviours, their mechanisms, and their original or current adaptive functions. Behavioural traits comprise the most complex gene-environment interactions in nature and many of the most fascinating products of evolution by natural selection. Prominent examples include social and sexual communication and organization, predation and foraging, orientation, cooperation, as well as human nature and culture. The course integrates ethology, behavioural ecology and biological psychology, with emphasis on evolutionary explanations (phylogeny, selection and adaptation), but also central genetic and neurobiological mechanisms, and applications in e.g. animal care, conservation biology, and ecotoxicology.
Through a combination of lectures, group discussions and literature projects, the main theme is to illustrate how animal behaviours, disregarding complexity (from frowning to fraternization) or heritability (from dexterity to depression), can be explored with regard to all of ‘Tinbergen’s four questions’: Mechanism, Ontogeny, Phylogeny, and Adaptation.
This course is open to
Exchange students at the Faculty of Science and exchange students on a university-wide agreement. Please contact your international coordinator at the University of Gothenburg if you need to know more.
Entry requirements
To be accepted on the course the following education (or equivalent) is required:
Alternative 1: Approved basic courses BIO900 Cell Biology (15 hec), BIO905 Molecular Genetics (15 hec), BIO910 Biological Form and Function (15 hec), BIO915 Ecology and Evolution (15 hec), and BIO920 Biodiversity and Systematics (15 hec).
Alternative 2: Approved courses ES1201 Environmental Sciences: Natural Science (15 hec), ES1300 Natural Resources Management (15 hec), ES1305 Pollutants effects and dispersal on Biological Systems (15 hec), BIO915 Ecology and Evolution (15 hec), and at least one approved course of the following options: BIO900 Cell Biology (15 hec), BIO905 Molecular Genetics (15 hec), BIO910 Biological Form and Function (15 hec), or BIO920 Biodiversity and Systematics (15 hec).
Alternative 3: Approved courses totalling at least 90 hec within the two first years of the Marine Sciences Bachelor's Programme, University of Gothenburg.
In addition to any of the 3 alternatives above, at least one approved course (15 hec) in Biology at the Bachelor level, in a relevant subject, is required. For example: BIO214 Dynamics in Natural Populations, BIO209 Behavioural Biology, BIO217 Evolutionary Biology, or equivalent.
Application
Do you want to apply for exchange studies at the University of Gothenburg?