12 Research Essay Topics on Behavioral Ecology

12 Research Essay Topics on Behavioral Ecology Research essays must be factual, interesting and informative. That way, they can show a student’s ability to think critically about the topic. If you are assigned with a research essay on animal behavioral ecology, these 12 interesting facts will inspire you to come up with an exciting topic and complement your research with cold, hard facts that will guarantee you a good grade. There is a handy list of direct reference sources at the end, so check them out for more materials for your research essay. Animals have to navigate through complex living environments throughout their entire lives. This is a challenging task, especially for group-living animals. Effective navigation and response to environmental variables requires the transmission of vital information within the group. The transmission of the information follows a certain pattern. This pattern or network is based on the relative spatial position of each individual. The interactions, which are mapped from the perspective of the spatial range of one individual, can be categorized by the definition of range: Metric Range: Interaction with all individuals present within a fixed distance Topological Range: Interaction with a set number of neighbors Voronoi Range: Interaction with neighbors located in a shell or plane Potential mates are also considered a resource in the animal kingdom. Animals compete for mates among other resources such as food and territory. To maximize their chances of producing offspring, animals will try to distribute themselves across the available mating pool. The mating strategies of the males within a species differ widely. This is because the specific tactics used for obtaining mates are very different within a specific specie as well as among same species living in different environments. Animal migrations are a fascinating and ecologically significant phenomenon. Species migrate from one trophic level to another to seek food and better breeding grounds. Fluctuating resources can be better exploited in this manner. Fast moving species such as birds benefit the most from this strategy and travel hundreds of miles when winter sets in and habitats become inhospitable. Animal social behaviors and the underlying neural processes are affected by specific attributes. Within animal groups, traits such as rank in the hierarchy, physical strength, ability to effectively defend resources, age, and participation in cooperative activities are major factors which come into play. Highly altruistic behaviors, such as cooperative foraging, are observed in some species. This seems to go against the classical ideas of natural selection. Animals will make use of signaling to direct members of their own species and create a shared food source. The reason for this behavior is that animals in groups realize that incurring a little cost to their individual selves is offset by the advantages offered by a highly-fit cooperative group. Patterns of parental care differ vastly amongst animal species. Factors that affect parental patterns can be ecological or physiological. Among invertebrates, there is a pattern of no parental care. This allows the parents to produce a large number of eggs, the fate of which is left to chance. On the other hand, the female of the bee species, L. figueresi, will stock its larvae cells with nectar and pollen and then die before the offspring would hatch. Some animals are brood parasites. They do not take care of their offspring. Instead they essentially trick an animal belonging to another specie into becoming a parenting-proxy for them. When the offspring is born, it monopolizes the host’s resources and competes with the other â€Å"siblings†. The most common example of a brood parasite is the common cuckoo. The cuckoo hatchling is quite an aggressive brood parasite because it ejects all the other host’s hatchlings out of the nest. Cowbirds, large blue butterfly and honeyguides are also brood parasites. Animals are known to cooperate with each other and have even learned to show highly altruistic behaviors in some cases. The main reason for this is that the individual can maximize its own fitness levels by cooperating with other animals. In order to understand animal behavior, Niko Tinbergen, one of the pioneers of the field says that one must consider the four main factors connected to the behavior. These factors can be posed in terms of ‘why’ questions. The phenomenon is adequately explained if all these four factors are understood. The cause of the behavior The developmental aspect The adaptive function or the advantage it serves The connection with the evolutionary history The parental care pattern of most birds is centered on desertion. In cases where food sources are plenty, one partner will remain to take care of the offspring. Sometimes populational and environmental factors also play a role in desertion. For instance, if a partner has a significant chance to gain another mate, they will abandon their offspring. A major concept in behavioral ecology is economic defendability. The term is used in scenarios where an animal is defending currently held resources, but for a cost. This cost is in terms of energy expended and risk of injury. There is a definite benefit connected to it as well: having quick access to the resource. An imbalance in the costs and benefits is the root cause of territorial behavior observed in animals. Male lions sometimes practice infanticide. When a new male lion takes over a pride, they will sometimes kill the cubs already present. This is a curious behavior that is explained from an evolutionary perspective. Behavioral ecologists assume that killing the cubs ensures that the females regain their reproductive condition much faster. If the cubs are allowed to live, lionesses will come into oestrus after 25 months. Killing the cubs shortens this time to about 9 months. As the reproductive life of a male is short, this behavior does give them an advantage. These facts should be enough to get your academic paper going. If you find this article helpful then you may also check our 20 topics and 1 sample essay on behavioral ecology as well as our guide on writing a research essay on this subject. References: Strandburg-Peshkin, A., Twomey, C.R., Bode, N.W., Kao, A.B., Katz, Y., Ioannou, C.C., Rosenthal, S.B., Torney, C.J., Wu, H., Levin, S.A. Couzin, I.D. (2013) Visual sensory networks and effective information transfer in animal groups, Current Biology 23(17), R709-711. [PDF] Dominey, Wallace (1984). Alternative Mating Tactics and Evolutionarily Stable Strategies. American Zoology 24 (2): 385–396. doi:10.1093/icb/24.2.385. Dorst, J. (2015). migration | animal. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 8 March 2016, from britannica.com/science/migration-animal 63 Hamilton, I.M. et al. (2005) Size differences within a dominance hierarchy influence conflict and help in a cooperatively breeding cichlid. Behaviour 142, 1591–1613 64 Clutton-Brock, T. (2002) Breeding together: kin selection and mutualism in cooperative vertebrates. Science 296, 69–72 Torney, C., Berdahl, A., Couzin, I. (2011). Signalling and the Evolution of Cooperative Foraging in Dynamic Environments. Plos Comput Biol, 7(9), e1002194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002194 Parker, G. (1979). Sexual selection and sexual conflict. In: Sexual Selection and Reproductive Competition in Insects (eds. M.S. Blum and N.A. Blum). Academic Press, New York: pp123-166. Chapman, T.; et al. (2003). Sexual Selection. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18: 41–47.doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(02)00004-6. Payne, R. B. 1997. Avian brood parasitism. In D. H. Clayton and J. Moore (eds.), Host-parasite evolution: General principles and avian models, 338–369. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Davies, Krebs, West, Nicholas B., John R., Stuart A. (2012). An Introduction to Behavioral Ecology. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 307–333. ISBN 978-1-4051-1416-5. Davies, N., Krebs, J., West, S. (2012). An introduction to behavioural ecology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Beissinger, S.R.; Snyder, N.F.R. (1987). Mate desertion in the snail kite. Animal Behaviour 35: 477–487.doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(87)80273-7. Brown, Jerram (June 1964). The evolution of diversity in avian territorial systems. The Wilson Bulletin 76 (2): 160–169. JSTOR 4159278. Davies, N., Krebs, J., West, S. (2012). An introduction to behavioural ecology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Chicago Lifestyle and Sustainability essays

Chicago Lifestyle and Sustainability essays As the world's population has grown it has become increasingly concentrated in large urban areas. The extent to which urbanization impacts the ecosystems of these cities is an important emerging area of study. Access to nature is vital to the physical, mental, emotional and social health of humans and their communities. Our increasing urbanization is depriving current and future generations of exposure to functional, productive green space, contributing to rising crime, violence, social alienation, poverty, hunger, and other individual and community-level dysfunctions (Kuo, 2001). This session will examine the effects of urbanization on Chicago, an older While it may seem strange to use the term "ecosystem" when discussing a major city, but urban ecosystems exist around the country (PBS, 2003). An urban ecosystem is the community of plants, animals, and humans that inhabit the urban environment. It is an area physically dominated by man- made structures, such as buildings, roads, sewers, and power lines. However, it also contains a rich patchwork of green spaces parks, yards, street plantings, greenways, urban streams, commercial landscaping, and undeveloped lots that make up the urban ecosystem. As separate and fragmented as these elements may appear, they collectively make up a single organism (PBS, 2003). The urban forest is one example. It is easy to imagine all of a city's trees whether in a park, on a street, in an undeveloped parcel, or in a backyard joined together in a citywide system, just as they appear to be when viewed from an airplane. This urban forest may be different than an undisturbed rural forest, but many of its There are major differences between urban ecosystems and other ecosystems that have been less dominated by humans (PBS, 2003). Urban ecosystems are typically highly disturbed sy...

The Strauss Car Rental Company. Reward management strategy Essay

The Strauss Car Rental Company. Reward management strategy - Essay Example In addition, it does not appear that a viable reward management system can be established by the human resources department, which is supposed to be in charge of matters concerning the treatment of workers, before changes are made in terms of communication between the senior management and ordinary workers. Kevin Pietersen, who has been in charge of the human resources department at Strauss, has not been emphatic in insisting that the company’s Board begin to consider the human resources company as a serious contributor to the goals of the company. From the information provided, human resources officials are not even invited to any meetings held by the board in which members consider serious issues and decide on regulations that will be followed in the organisation. For instance, the Strauss Car Rental’s Board is seriously considering redundancy programs and yet has not even elected to let the human resource department, which will be tasked with carrying out the practical aspects of this suggestion, know about the suggestion. Additionally, none of the workers have been informed about this, yet their lives will be irrevocably changed once this program is implemented. Kevin Pietersen, who runs the human resources department, also confirmed that the Board has decided on implementing plans without consulting the workforce, or the human resources department.

Domain Name System in Different Jurisdictions Term Paper

Domain Name System in Different Jurisdictions - Term Paper Example According to (Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005, pp. 217-218), web addresses at Internet are acknowledged as domain names. The Domain Name System synchronizes the two main types of translations: website hostnames to IP (internet protocol) addresses as well as IP addresses into hostnames. The conversion of web-based IP addresses into website hostnames is indispensable if the remote machine presents confirmation or logging. In the working of the DNS, the Internet applications access DNS in the course of a resolver that is a software library connected by the application. A Domain Name System resolver interacts with one or more DNS servers to carry out these jobs on behalf of the application (Krishnan, 2004) and (Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005). Basically, there are two levels of domain names. The first level is known as the top-level name like that amazon.com or phoenix.edu. While a second level name will be amazon.com/books or fuel.ac.uk. The top-level names are issu ed by central nonprofit companies that inspect the issues and potential violation of trademarks. Undoubtedly, organizations that sell products and services using Internet require customers to be capable to reach them without difficulty; therefore it is most excellent when the URL (web address) relates the organization’s name. However, troubles occur when a number of organizations that have matching names struggle for the same domain name. For instance, if a customer wants to reserve a room at a Holiday Inn hotel and the customer opens the URL ‘holidayinn.com’, and he finds the website for a hotel situated in Niagara Falls, New York. On the other hand, to go to the hotel chain’s website customer needs to open this URL holiday-inn.com, which looks similar. Furthermore, a number of cases of disputed name previously registered in the courts.

Response to Coments on DQ1 Smith and DQ2 Smith,WK2 Essay

Response to Coments on DQ1 Smith and DQ2 Smith,WK2 - Essay Example A way to determine whether the debt balance of a company is bad is by calculating the debt ratio and the current ratio. The debt ratio shows the ability of a company to pay off its long term debt, while the current ratio demonstrates the ability of a firm to pay off its short term debt. DQ2 The use of cash based accounting is more suitable for small operations that are highly dependent on the short term income to stay in business. An example would be a hot dog vendor. The hot dog vender uses the weekly sales to purchase more material to operate the next week. The hot dog vendor collects all his sales in cash. The majority of public corporations use accrued based accounting because they deal with large sums of money and numerous transactions. The existence of credit does not work in accounting unless the firm used an accrued based accounting system. In cash based accounting credit is not existent. Despite the differences between cash based accounting and accrued based accounting the a pplication of both systems will lead to the same accounting results. For example if the net income of a company is $10,000 under cash based accounting the use of accrued based accounting will also give a net profit of $10,000.

The Life and Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach

The Life and Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach The Life and Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach Many important figures have impacted and shaped the comprehensive history of western classical music. Even today, most laymen know of the names of the great classical composers like prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and can even identify some of the most iconic melodies such as the opening subject to Ludwig Van Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. Surprisingly, these men of great talent all stem from the foundation set by one German composer: Johann Sebastian Bach. Now, the name J.S. Bach evokes the Baroque period of music and its influence can be seen throughout the works of later periods and other composers. With such a substantial impact, J.S. Bach in actuality had a very modest and local career and after Bach’s death, his music was almost completely forgotten. It was through his legacy among musicians and protà ©gà ©s which sparked a rekindling of Bach’s music and he now receives immense admiration and veneration for his technically challenging keyboard works, his pote nt liturgical works, and his vast amount of sheer repertoire. Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 31st, 1685, into a highly musical family. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the director of the town musicians and was skilled in the violin and harpsichord. J.S. Bach was the youngest of eight children all of whom were trained in harpsichord, violin, and basic music theory. Bach also had many uncles who were all professional musicians working as local organists, court chamber musicians, and composers. Thus, J.S. Bach was immersed in music from a young age and also was trained in music theory, composition, the harpsichord, clavichord, organ, and violin. In particular, his older brother Johann Christoph Bach, an organist at the St. Michael’s Church in Ohrdruf and pupil of Johann Pachelbel, became a prominent musical figure in J. S. Bach’s life and further engendered his passion for music. At the age of 14, Bach attended the prestigious St. Michael’s School in Luneburg, Germany where he was exposed to a wide variety of c ultural sounds such as the music of Northern and Southern Germany, Italy, and France. In 1703, J. S. Bach was appointed the position of court musician at the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in the city of Weimar but was unhappy with his work as he was often unsatisfied with the church choirs and the amount of composing he was responsible for. Thus, Bach and his family was required to travel and move in order to seek better job opportunities. However, unlike most musicians, who would travel all across Europe performing and making a living, Bach lived relatively local moving from town to town all within the confines of Germany. Bach often had ideological differences with his employer and he would compose some of his greatest works all in different cities and churches as well require to teach students. For instance, in 1723, Bach was appointed the Cantor of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig where he served and composed till his death 27 years later. Bach was required to teach the students of the St. Thomas Church singing and keyboard. It was at this time that Bach wrote his Inventions and Sinfonias for keyboard, a collection of exercises that most pianists play even to this day in order to improve their technique, articulation, dexterity, precision, and speed. It was also as Thomaskantor that he wrote his Mass in B minor, considered to be one of the greatest choral works of all time. Johann Sebastian Bach died on July 28th, 1750 and although he was celebrated as an organist and harpsichordist, very few people beyond the city of Weimar knew of Bach’s compositions. It was only the great composers and keyboardist to keep Bach’s music alive in conservatories and libraries. Thus, the even the greatest of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin, and Felix Mendelssohn, all revered Bach’s work as excellent keyboard music. This is because Bach’s music was one of the most highly technical for the era, another being the music of Bach’s contemporary, George Frederic Handel. During the Baroque period, keyboard instruments were often for accompaniment to harmonize and contrast with the string instruments of the orchestra. However, substantial advances for keyboard in result of Bach’s compositions led to more solo prominence in music as well as facilitated the invention of the pianoforte, now one of the most learned m usic instruments. Moreover, Bach has left not only a large amount of music manuscripts but also his legacy as a keyboardist, and composer of liturgical and secular music. Through his travels and his encounters with different cultures and colleagues within the Baroque Era, Bach was able to capitalize on both the aesthetic culture of the time and the variety of styles across countries. Also, as Bach had shifted positions and employers many times, he was required to create new music contextually depending on purpose and location. As Bach was a religiously devoted man, he wrote a numerous amount of chorales, pastoral songs, and congregational hymns for the choir and organ or harpsichord. As Bach began teaching and instructing, Bach began to write more works for keyboard that included a variety of preludes and fugues, toccatas, fantasies, and theme and variation works. Baroque music in general is classified by its heavily ornate technicality and grandiose sounds all within a systematically controlled framework. Thus, Bach’s music is highly articulate and technical a reason why the great pianists Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt both practiced with Bach works and built upon his keyboard foundation. Bach also further developed German music through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic, and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms and textures. However, after Bach’s death, much of his music was deemed archaic and old-fashioned as new composers such as Franz Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven brought forth the new era of Classical music. Soon, most of the general public did not know of J. S. Bach’s name in the beginning of the 19th century. Many pivotal figures reincarnated Bach’s name through the years. First, Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s wrote the composer’s biography in 180 2. The pianist and composer, Felix Mendelssohn further popularized Bach’s name by arranging and performing the St. Matthew Passion. The performance proved to be successful as Bach’s name and reputation as a composer soon revived. By the 1850s, the Bach-Gesellschaft, or the Bach Society, was founded in order to further preserve Bach’s works and promote his repertoire. New works by Bach are still being found to this day. Bach’s enormous library of music is simply a testament to his diligence and creativity. With such music, Bach was able to pave a way for future musicians and composers. Through his advancement in keyboard work, Bach provided the technique for great pianists. With his teachings and instructions, many of his protà ©gà ©s moved on to become great Classical era composers. Even presently, Bach’s works are performed by the finest of performers and has become truly a household name for both musicians and laymen alike. Works Consulted â€Å"Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750). â€Å"Encyclopedia of world biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998 Grout, D. J. (1980) A history of western music. New York, NY: W. W. Norton Kerman, J. and G. Tomlinson (2012). Listen (7th edition). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s Kennedy, M. (2006) The Oxford dictionary of music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press Kevorkian, T. â€Å"Bach Family.† Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the early modern world. Ed. Jonathan Dewald. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2004 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. Randel, D. M. (2003) The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Red Convertible Essay -- essays research papers

Perceptions & Deceptions: Life before and after Vietnam for Henry   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Have you ever wanted to take the summer off from work and escape from reality in order to travel around the world without having any worries? Well this is what Henry and Lyman in the â€Å"Red Convertible† by Louise Erdrich decided to do one summer. Henry and Lyman are two brothers who grew up on the Indian reservation. They perceive life on the reservation as an ongoing circle with a harmonious atmosphere. During their trip to Montana and Alaska Henry and Lyman’s idea of a carefree life is only reinforced, but when Henry is sent to Vietnam this perception is surpassed by a new reality and changes Henry’s reactions to the surrounding circumstances.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henry and Lyman grew up on the reservation where life was peaceful and harmonious. The two brothers had a very close relationship growing up together and were able to expand their adolescence and simplicity with the purchase of the red convertible. A red convertible was not the typical car you would expect to see on the reservation but Henry and Lyman saw the car and bought it on a whim. They traveled to many different places with the car. The red convertible only let the two brothers enjoy their summer by taking them to many comfortable and peaceful places other than the reservation. One of the places they traveled to was filled with willows. â€Å"I remember I laid under those trees and it was comfortable. ...