Readings
Lab / Discussion

Adaptation (Week of Jan 26):
As a supplement to the handout given in class (Jan. 21), there are several papers assigned as reading. You should at least read the abstracts, but the best approach is to skim the papers to get an idea for what some of the issues are in order to be prepared to engage in discussion. Here they are:

• Gould and Vrba (PDF, 1.8MB) introduce a (at the time) new concept into the debate of adaptation. This is more than just an argument over terms and gets at some of the major conflicts over the term adaptation.
• Reeve and Sherman (PDF, 4.6MB) defend the non-historical definition of adaptation, as well as the "adaptationist" view held by many behavioral ecologists.
• Gould and Lewontin (PDF, 3.5MB) critique the idea that everything is adaptive and propose alternate mechanisms for the presence of traits.

Cricket Lab Report (due April 28, in lecture)
Here's a hot-off-the-press article from behavioral Ecology that is relevant to your work:
Male dominance and immunocompetence in a field cricket (PDF, 76KB)

Lecture
Critiques
Critique #1 (due February 4, 2004)
Be sure to get the handout for this assignment if you don't have it yet.
Link to the required reading for this critique (requires username and password).

Critique #2 (due March 3, 2004)
Be sure to get the Critique #2 handout.
Link to the article (requires username and password).

Supplementary reading for critiques on reading scientific papers (courtesy of Alan Krakauer).

Text Readings
Readings for Lecture in Behavioral Ecology by Krebs and Davies (January 26 - February 23)
Following are readings from the suggested textbook so you can get up to speed with the concepts used in lecture.
Lecture 1:  Chapter 1 on natural selection
Lecture 2:  Chapter 2 on testing adaptive hypotheses
Lectures 3-8: Chapter 8 sexual selection

Supplementary Journal Readings
Following are the citations for papers that have been mentioned in class. You can look them up at the Biosciences Library.

BARASH D. MALE RESPONSE TO APPARENT FEMALE ADULTERY IN MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD (SIALIA-CURRUCOIDES) - EVOLUTIONARY INTERPRETATION. AMERICAN NATURALIST 110 (976): 1097-1101 1976

Rohwer, S. A. & Rohwer, F. C. 1978: Status signalling in harris sparrows: experimental deceptions achieved. Anim. Behav. 26 ,10121022.

Bateman AJ. 1948. Intra-sexual selection in Drosophila. Heredity 2, 349368.

King, B. H. 2000. Sperm depletion and mating behavior in the parasitoid wasp Spalangia cameroni (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). The Great Lakes Entomologist 33:117-127

Kasumovic MM, Gibbs HL, Woolfenden BE, et al. Primary sex-ratio variation in two brood parasitic birds: Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) and Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) AUK 119 (2): 561-566 APR 2002

Jones, A. G. and J. C. Avise. 2001. Mating systems and sexual selection in male-pregnant pipefishes and seahorses: insights from microsatellite-based studies of maternity. Journal of Heredity 92:150-158.