J.Alcock. Ethology. An evolutionary approach, Sinauer Associates 2005. A.Pilastro Sesso ed Evoluzione, Bompiani 2007.
J.W. Bradbury & S.L. Vehrencamp Principles of Animal communication. Sinauer 2011.
J. Maynard Smith & D. Harper
Animal signals Oxford University Press 2003.
P. D’Ettorre & D. P. Hughes Sociobiology of communication Oxford University Press 2008.
T.D. Wyatt Pheromones and Animal behaviour Cambridge University Press 2003.
Available in the library. Readings and additional arguments on the site.
Learning Objectives
Acquired knowledge: definition and general principles of animal communication and reproduction, origin and evolution of signals, in particular in the sexual context.
Acquired competences: to frame the diversity of animal communication and reproduction in their various modalities inside an evolutionary background.
Acquired skills at the end of the course: use of an appropriate ethological terminology, to be able to evaluate communication and reproduction among different taxa, by testing costs and benefits.
Prerequisites
Basic knowlwdge of animal riproduction, chemistry and physics.
Teaching Methods
Lessons: the evolution of animal communication and sexual reproduction is analysed in detail, the experiments discussed in an historical background.
Further information
Seminars on specific issues of communication and sexual behaviour, in humans and animals.
Type of Assessment
Final oral examination and/or PowerPoint about a study case.
Course program
The course is focussed on the evolutionary approach to animal and human sexual behaviour, i.e. the adaptive value of a behavioural trait, its historical basis, its costs and benefits in terms of Darwinian fitness. The main topics are the origin and evolution of visual, acoustic, chemical signals, their production, transmission and perception in different animal groups; honest and deceptive communication, exploitation and manipulation of communicative systems, the evolution of sex dimorphism: male and female reproductive strategies, mating systems, parental care, human sexual behaviour and the family in a sociobiological perspective, homosexual behaviour.