Phylogenies and the Comparative Method in Animal Behavior [Hardcover]

In the last ten years, the comparative method has been revolutionized by modern statistical ways of incorporating phylogenies into the design and analysis of comparative studies. The results of this revolution are particularly important in the study of animal behavior, which has relied on interspecific comparisons to infer universal trends and evolutionary patterns. The chapters of this edited volume consider the impact of modern phylogenetic comparative methods on the study of animal behavior and discuss the main issues that need to be considered in design and analysis of a comparative study, considers possible differences between the evolution of behavior and the evolution of morphology, and reviews how phylogenetic comparative studies have been used in certain areas of behavioral research.

1. Phylogenetics in Behavior
2. The Statistical Analysis of Interspecific Data
3. How to Study Comparative Methods for Discrete Characters
4. The Mechanistic Bases of Behavioral Evolution
5. Geographic Variation in Behavior
6. Phylogenetic Lability and Rates of Phenotypic Evolution
7. Comparing Behavioral and Morphological Characters as Indicators of Phylogeny
8. The Phylogenetic Content of Avian Courtship Display and Song Evolution
9. Comparative Analysis of the Origins and Losses of Eusociality
10. Using Comparative Approaches to Integrate Behavior and Population Biology
11. Phylogenetic Interpretations of Primate Socioecology
12. Using Cladistic Analysis of Comparative data to reconstruct the Evolution of Cognitive Development in Hominids

Should prove insightful for anyone studying animal behavior, behavioral ecology, neuroethology, sociobiology, and for biologists in general. --BIOSIS