Remembrance Of Things Past

Abstract

Among the most influential books in the field of behavioral ecology, An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology certainly stands out to the extent that it has been called ‘a classic textbook’. Arguably, many students in biology have been primed for the fields of animal behavior, sociobiology, or ethoecology by this book; in fact, one of them, Stu West, joined the established author-duo John Krebs and Nicholas Davies to produce this 4th edition. It feels a bit like coming home when rereading a textbook, which, although it has a new appearance, still evokes those good old student days. It was back then that it came to me as a revelation that, in behavioral ecology, theory, natural history, and experimentation complement and advance each other in rich ways. Obviously, this was not my own original insight but the teaching philosophy of ‘the Krebs ‘n’ Davies’. The close interplay of theoretical foundations and predictions, experimental falsification, and new hypotheses that is used to explain the observed behaviors and has proved to be so successful for the field, is also one of the reasons for the success of the various editions of this textbook. Stating that much has changed since the first edition appeared, over 30 years ago, is a platitude. Among the novelties that reflect the evolution of the field are (albeit) short discussions of animal personalities, and the link between neuroscience and behavior. There is an emphasis on sexual reproduction, with four chapters discussing mating systems, competition, and conflicts in various situations. Conflicts are also central in the four chapters on social behaviors, especially in the social insects. Color photographs have replaced most of the old black-and-white pictures, although perhaps for the sake of nostalgia, some of the original monochrome images have been retained, such as the escalating fight of red deer stags. However, some more effort in (re)editing the graphics would have been desirable: although most are very illustrative, some photographs and figures are grainy, not sufficiently trimmed to fit, or poorly aligned. In other cases, the added value of the chosen pictures is debatable: when illustrating visual mimicry in Australian cuckoos, why would one choose to show an atfirst-sight rather imperfect example without discussing why this might be adaptive [2]? This is unfortunate, given the persuasive power of pictures; for instance, the simple drawing of a prairie dog burrow that is designed to create a constant airflow ([1], p. 257) is burned in my brain, along with the message that Tinbergen’s four ‘whys’ [3] are not to be used against each other but are in fact complementary.