Social Behavior of Female Vertebrates focuses on the evolution of reproductive behavior in female vertebrates ranging from fish to birds and humans, including issues of mate choice and other factors underlying female attitudes toward males. It also looks at the evolution of mating systems; the co-evolution of the sexes; sex-role reversal; reproductive competition between females; maternal behavior; and how females enhance the investment received by their offspring from others. It also considers other social behaviors that influence the nature of affiliative associations between females. Organized into three parts encompassing 13 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of behavioral biology and sources of variation in female reproductive success. It then discusses the establishment and maintenance of sex biases, sex differences mediated by sexual selection, constraints on female choice in the mottled sculpin, mate choice by females in sexual selection of bird song, and female manipulation of male avoidance of cuckoldry behavior in the ring dove. The reader is also introduced to the evolution of polyandry in shorebirds; reproductive strategies in human females; social and health-seeking behaviors of Taiwanese women; female roles in cooperatively breeding acorn woodpeckers; altruism in coati bands; cooperation and reproductive competition among female African elephants; mate choice in matrilineal macaque groups; and reproductive competition and cooperation among female yellow baboons. This book is a valuable resource for scientists and behavioral biologists, as well as lay people whose interests span a variety of fields.

HIS book is not intended as an exhaustive review T of facts. Its aim is rather the presentation of a bio logical approach to the phenomena of social behaviour. This type of approach was revived by Lorenz's pioneer studies. It is characterized by emphasis on the need for renewed and careful observation of the huge variety of social phenomena occurring in nature; by emphasis on a balanced study of the three main biological problems function, causation, evolution; by emphasis on an appro priate sequence of description, qualitative analysis, quanti tative analysis; and finally by emphasis on the need for continuous re-synthesis. The character of this approach, combined with the limitations of space, have determined this book's contents. Limits of space led to the omission of a great deal of de scrip tion. Thus, Deegener's voluminous work on fhe multitude of types of animal aggregations has not been discussed. Also, the highly specialized 'states' of social insects have not been treated in detail, since there are excellent books dealing exclusively with them.

Originally published in 1953, this is a classic study in animal behaviour, drawing on the author’s own extraordinary studies of insects, fish, and birds, as well as on the literature. The concept ‘community’ is taken in its widest sense to include all types of association of individuals, not only flocks and herds, but also the family, the pair, and even two animals engaged in combat. The author received the Nobel Prize for his work in this field in 1973.

Understanding the brain mechanisms which underlie behavior is one of the most challenging tasks of modern biology. The study of these mechanisms can be approached using a variety of biological systems as models, depending essentially on the type of question being asked and the technical approach which is considered. In vertebrates, the study of brain neurochemistry in relation to behavior e,xpression has made tremendous progress during the last two decades. In particular, much at tention has been devoted to the effect of steroid hormones on brain structure and activity in connection with social and mainly reproductive behavior. This book exemplifies some of the major trends in the field. I did not attempt to cover exhaustively all the work that has been done in this area but rather to present a series of selected reviews on the molec ular and cellular brain mechanisms most directly related to social behavior. This selection obviously reflects my own interests but also, I believe, highlights those areas of research in which important progress has been made in recent years. A number of brain biochemical or cellular mechanisms which could be related to behavior, but have not been formally demonstrated to be so, are consequently ignored. The focus here is on social behavior and thus steroid-dependent processes are covered in priority. This choice of course leads us to ignore major trends in brain and behavior research but this is, I hope, clearly reflected in the title of the volume.

Males and females of many species can, and do, live separately for long periods of time. This sexual segregation is widespread and can be on social, spatial or habitat scales. An understanding of sexual segregation is important in the explanation of life history and social preference, population dynamics and the conservation of rare species. Sexual Segregation in Vertebrates explores the reasons why this behaviour has evolved and what factors contribute to it.