BI2AB2: Animal Behaviour

Module code: BI2AB2

Module provider: School of Biological Sciences

Credits: 20

Level: 5

When you’ll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Phil Baker , email: p.j.baker@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Chris Foster, email: c.w.foster@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 3 April 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

Animals face a wide variety of challenges in their daily struggle to survive including where to find enough food and water, how to outcompete conspecifics or collaborate with them, and how to avoid being eaten. Increasingly, they also face novel challenges created by human activities. This module will focus on the wide range of behavioural mechanisms that animals have evolved to address these survival challenges (a later module will consider behaviours associated with reproductive output). Key topics which will be addressed include: sensory ecology and the concept of Umvelt; communication, how animals avoid being detected (e.g. crypsis, camouflage, counter shading, masquerading) or eaten (e.g. aposematism, mimicry, vigilance behaviour, ‘landscapes of fear’); the ecology of sleep and the impacts of sleep deprivation; navigation and migration; and animal intelligence. Specific attention will be given to how behaviours evolve (e.g. altruism, kin selection, nature versus nurture), and the wide range of ways that animal behaviour data are collected in the field and in captivity in this age of increasing technological innovation. Lectures and practical sessions will be used to discuss issues of welfare and ethics plus hypothesis testing, experimental design, data analysis and presentation in animal behaviour.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Critically evaluate the different aspects of animal behaviour discussed such as crypsis, intelligence, group living, and navigation.
2. Demonstrate an appreciation of the mechanistic and evolutionary basis of animal behaviour including genetics, kin selection, and altruism.
3. Formulate appropriate experimental and / or observational approaches for testing hypotheses in animal behaviour, including consideration of the ethical and/or welfare context of these studies.
4. Search for and effectively communicate scientific literature to different audiences in written and / or oral form.

Module content

In order to understand animal behaviour, it is necessary to consider its role in increasing the chances that an individual will survive and reproduce; this module will focus on survival, with a later module focussing on reproduction. Such considerations pervade all aspects of an animal’s life from sleeping, to foraging, to avoiding predators: lectures will focus on examples from the current scientific literature as well as seminal studies in the relevant fields. Particular emphasis will be placed on the methods used to study animal behaviour in the laboratory, in other captive settings and in the wild. Students will be introduced to behavioural research from a hypothesis-driven perspective, including the collection and analysis of field data collected.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The learning outcomes will be met through a mixture of lectures, practical classes, self-directed learning and directed independent study. The lectures will provide background to selected survival-related topics and the techniques used to investigate these patterns of behaviour. The practical sessions will give students the opportunity to plan, collect and analyse behavioural data. Appropriate supplementary information and reading lists will be provided on Blackboard. Students will give an oral presentation (in-person or pre-recorded) on a selected topic of their choosing.

Study hours

At least 40 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs