Geographic Variation in Behavior: Perspectives on Evolutionary Mechanisms, (Hardcover)

Traditional approaches to the study of animal behavior have most often assumed that all members of a species exhibit the same behavior, termed species-typical behavior. The papers in Geographic Variation in Behavior demonstrate the fallacy of this assumption, providing ample evidence of variation across the ranges of a wide variety of taxa. The contributors have pioneered a variety of approaches to using geographically variable behavioral phenotypes for addressing these evolutionary issues. They summarize advances in the field to date, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches, and give a clear and balanced overview of this area. The volume explores some of the richness in phenomena, interpretations, and problems which can arise in studies on this subject.