Research into the lives of animals in their natural environments has
revealed a rich tapestry of complex social relationships and previously
unsuspected social and mating systems. The evolution of this behavior is
increasingly well understood. At the same time, laboratory scientists
have made significant discoveries about how steroid and peptide hormones
act on the nervous system to shape behavior. An exciting and rapidly
progressing hybrid zone has developed in which these two fields are
integrated, providing a fuller understanding of social behavior and the
adaptive functions of hormones.
This book is a guide to these fascinating connections between animal
social behavior and steroid and peptide hormones--a synthesis designed
to make it easier for graduate students and researchers to appreciate
the excitement, engage in such integrative thinking, and understand the
primary literature. Throughout, Elizabeth Adkins-Regan emphasizes
concepts and principles, hypothesis testing, and critical thinking. She
raises unanswered questions, providing an unparalleled source of ideas
for future research. The chapter sequence is by levels of biological
organization, beginning with the behavior and hormones of individuals,
proceeding to social relationships and systems, and from there to
development, behavioral evolution over relatively short time scales,
life histories and their evolution, and finally evolution over longer
time scales. The book features studies of a wide variety of wild and
domestic vertebrates along with some of the most important invertebrate
discoveries.
