BIO3052 Animal behaviour
Faculty of Science
BIO3052 Animal behaviour is a level 3, 6-credit-point, undergraduate unit from the Faculty of Science, offered in 2024 in Semester 2 at Clayton. It has no prerequisites.
- Credit points
- 6
- Offered in 2024
- Semester 2
- Clayton
- Assessment
- Exam 50%
- and 3 other tasks
This is the 2024 handbook entry. See the 2027 entry.
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Requisites
Overview
This unit deals with several key areas of animal behaviour. We investigate animal communication systems, with particular emphasis on how signals are produced, transmitted and received, their information content and how they are sometimes used in social manipulation. We then go on to explore the way in which behaviour develops during the animal's early life and the various influences that shape this development before moving on to examine the genetic regulation of behaviour, how behaviour evolves and how we can use comparative methods to study this process. The rest of the unit is then devoted to behavioural ecology which deals with the role of behaviour in the animal's interactions with its environment and the ways in which the environment shapes adaptive behaviour on an evolutionary time scale. Topics covered in this area include foraging and anti-predator behaviour, social organisation, mating systems and parental care.
Offerings in 2024
| Teaching period | Campus | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Second semester | Clayton | On campus |
Assessment
- Project outline5%
- Project report35%
- Group poster presentation10%
- Examination (2 hours and 10 minutes)50%
Learning outcomes
When you finish this unit, you should be able to:
- 1
Describe the mechanisms underlying animal behaviour;
- 2
Explain how behaviour develops and why it is adaptive;
- 3
Evaluate the ways in which the environment shapes adaptive behaviour;
- 4
Design, conduct and analyse the results of an extended research project;
- 5
Communicate findings to a scientific and a general audience in individual and group settings.
Workload and teaching
- Laboratories36 hours
- Seminars23 hours
- Teaching approachActive learning
- Two 1-hour seminars and
- Three 3 hours of laboratory work per week
This unit uses a combination of lecture and research project formats to foster multiple aspects of student learning, from inception of ideas and execution of experiments to the analyses and presentation of results, peer-engagement, and defence of conclusions. Use of contextualized case studies are supported by multimedia resources, in-class exercises, researcher interviews and Q&A sessions. In so doing, you are encouraged to critically consider every stage of the scientific process, including how researchers develop hypotheses, test ideas, and generalise their findings to theories and concepts. In the laboratory component of the unit, you will meet weekly with an academic mentor, whose role is to provide feedback on your’ work and to help you develop your own effective solutions to experimental problems. Such an approach will empower you to develop skills that are appropriate, experiential and delivered in a real-world context.
Learning resources
Required resources
Textbook and primary scientific literature
Bring your own device
Where it fits
BIO3052 is part of 3 areas of study in the 2024 handbook.
Contacts
- Unit Coordinators
- Professor Bob Wong
- Chief Examiners
- Professor Bob Wong
Common questions
What are the prerequisites for BIO3052?
BIO3052 has no prerequisites, but enrolment rules apply.
When is BIO3052 offered?
In 2024, BIO3052 runs in Semester 2 at Clayton.
Does BIO3052 have an exam?
Yes. The exam is worth 50% of the final mark, alongside 3 other tasks.
Which majors and minors include BIO3052?
BIO3052 is part of Ecology and conservation biology; Plant sciences; and Zoology.