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Quantitative Genetic Studies of Behavioral Evolution

Quantitative genetics—the statistical study of the inheritance of traits within a population—has become an important tool for studying the evolution of behavior in the last decade. Quantitative Genetic Studies of Behavioral Evolution examines the theory and methods of quantitative genetics and presents case studies that illustrate the many ways in which the methods can be applied.

Christine R. B. Boake brings together current theoretical and empirical studies to show how quantitative genetics can illuminate topics as diverse as sexual selection, migration, sociality, and aggressive behavior. Nearly half of the chapters focus on conceptual issues, ranging from quantitative genetic models to the complementary roles of quantitative genetic and optimality approaches in evolutionary studies. Other chapters illustrate how to use the techniques by providing surveys of research fields, such as the evolution of mating behavior, sexual selection, migration, and size-dependent behavioral variation. The balance of the volume offers case studies of territoriality in fruit flies, cannibalism in flour beetles, mate-attractive traits in crickets, locomotor behavior and physiology in the garter snake, and cold adaptation in the house mouse. Taken together, these studies document both the benefits and pitfalls of quantitative genetics.

This book shows the advanced student and scholar of behavioral evolution and genetics the many powerful uses of quantitative genetics in behavioral research.

400 pages | 14 halftones, 40 line drawings, 18 tables | 6 x 9 | © 1994

Biological Sciences: Behavioral Biology, Evolutionary Biology

Table of Contents

Contents
Preface
Introduction
1 Outlining the Issues, Christine R. B. Boake
Quantitative Genetic Theory in Relation to Behavioral Evolution
2 Multivariate Inheritance and Evolution: A Review of Concepts, Stevan J. Arnold
3 Optimality Modeling and Quantitative Genetics: A Comparison of the Two Approaches, Derek A. Roff
4 Quantitative Genetics and the Role of the Environment Provided by Relatives in Behavioral Evolution, James M. Cheverud and Allen J. Moore
5 Quantitative Genetic Models of the Evolution of Mating Behavior, I. Lorraine Heisler
6 Genetic and Nongenetic Approaches to Questions about Sexual Selection, Linda Partridge
Applications of Quantitative Genetics to Studies of Behavioral Evolution in Natural Populations
7 Genetic Analyses of Animal Migration, Hugh Dingle
8 Size-Dependent Behavioral Variation and Its Genetic Control within and among Populations, Joseph Travis
9 Genetic Analysis of Territoriality in _Drosophila melanogaster_, Ary A. Hoffman
10 Genetic Analysis of Cannibalism Behavior in _Tribolium_ Flour Beetles, Lori Stevens
11 The Heritability of Mate-Attractive Traits: A Case Study on Field Crickets, Ann V. Hedrick
12 Quantitative Genetics of Locomotor Behavior and Physiology in a Garter Snake, Theodore Garland, Jr.
13 Evolutionary Inferences from Genetic Analyses of Cold Adaptation in Laboratory and Wild Populations of the House Mouse, Carol Becker Lynch
Conclusions
14 Evaluation of Applications of the Theory and Methods of Quantitative Genetics to Behavioral Evolution, Christine R. B. Boake

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