This lesson is designed to teach students that behavior is a trait shaped by both genes and the environment. Students will read a scientific paper, discuss and generate predictions based on the ideas and data therein, and model the relationships between genes, the environment, and behavior. The lesson is targeted to meet the educational goals of…

Presents an experiment that teaches the evolutionary approach to the study of animal behavior. (ASK)

Describes methods and materials for an innovative laboratory exercise that centers on the concept of mimicry and illustrates the importance of adaptation, natural selection and coevolution. Students are used as predators and raisins as prey. Included are directions for preparation of unpalatable raisins using alum dissolved in reconstituted lemon…

An indirect procedure that uses the foraging behavior of animals at experimental food patches to address questions in animal behavior is discussed. Suggested projects that include the concepts of predation risk, harvest rates and metabolic costs, missed opportunity costs, and competition are described. (KR)

The great diversity of mating systems found within the insects is described. This description provides an insight into the extraordinary explanatory power of Darwinian selection theory. (JN)

Discusses topics to aid in understanding animal behavior, including the value of the biological approach to psychology, functional systems, optimality and fitness, universality of environmental effects on behavior, and evolution of social behavior. (DS)