A key way that behavioral ecologists develop general theories of animal behavior is by studying one species or a closely related group of species--"model systems"--over a long period. This book brings together some of the field's most respected researchers to describe why they chose their systems, how they integrate theoretical, conceptual, and empirical work, lessons for the practice of the discipline, and potential avenues of future research. Their model systems encompass a wide range of animals and behavioral issues, from dung flies to sticklebacks, dolphins to African wild dogs, from foraging to aggression, territoriality to reproductive suppression. Model Systems in Behavioral Ecology offers an unprecedented "systems" focus and revealing insights into the confluence of personal curiosity and scientific inquiry. It will be an invaluable text for behavioral ecology courses and a helpful overview--and a preview of coming developments--for advanced researchers. The twenty-five chapters are divided into four sections: insects and arachnids, amphibians and reptiles, birds, and mammals. In addition to the editor, the contributors include Geoff A. Parker, Thomas D. Seeley, Naomi Pierce, Kern Reeve, Gerald S. Wilkinson, Bert Holldobler and Flavio Roces, George W. Uetz, Michael J. Ryan and Gil Rosenthal, Judy Stamps, H. Carl Gerhardt, Barry Sinervo, Robert Warner, Manfred Milinski, David F. Westneat, Alan C. Kamil and Alan B. Bond, Paul Sherman, Jerram L. Brown, Anders Pape Moller, Marc Bekoff, Richard C. Connor, Joan B. Silk, Christopher Boesch, Scott Creel, A.H. Harcourt, and Tim Caro and M. J. Kelly.

"If the process of scientific inquiry can be described as a 'journey,' then [this book] is an indispensable travel guide... [It] delivers an excellent overview of the developments that have helped to transform behavioral ecology into what it is today and offers a tantalizing glimpse of what is yet to come. Behavioral ecologists would be hard pressed to find a better travel guide."--Animal Behaviour

Lee Alan Dugatkin is Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Louisville. He is the author of The Imitation Factor, Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees, and Cooperation Among Animals and the coeditor of Game Theory and Animal Behavior.