Lecture A1 (2024-08-27): Animal Behavior and the Scientific Process

In this lecture, we review the scientific foundations of animal behavior. We define a causal question, a hypothesis, a theory, an experiment, and a prediction and how they all relate to each other. We also cover Tinbergen's four questions (the four different levels of analysis in biology and behavioral ecology). This is all done in the context of talking about the cephalopod eye (with an octopus and a cuttlefish example) and its comparison to the vertebrate/human eye. We end with a short discussion of how to define "behavior" most generally and with the most utility.

Topic highlights:

• cephalopod eye structure
• scientific-process terminology:
  • causal question
  • hypothesis
  • prediction
  • experiment
  • theory
• "Tinbergen's four" (questions/causes), the four levels of analysis:
  • function/adaptation/utility
  • phylogeny/evolution
  • ontogeny/development
  • mechanism (also sometimes called "causation", but I have omitted that from this course as it might be confusing)
• phylogenetic trees
  • chronograms
• evolutionary and developmental constraints between function and mechanism
• the difficulty  in defining "behavior"

Important terms: causal question, hypothesis, prediction, experiment, theory, Tinbergen's four questions (or causes), function/adaptation/utility, phylogeny/evolution, ontogeny/development, mechanism, chronogram