Slater P J
Acta Biol Hung. 1985;36(3-4):193-206.
Ethology is the biological study of behaviour and concerns itself with questions about the causes, functions, evolution and development of aspects of behaviour. These different questions are illustrated with examples from the study of bird song. This subject has had most impact on understanding of developmental issues, showing the intricate interplay between genes and environment during ontogeny. Work on the evolution of song has involved comparison between closely related species to see how their songs have changed since separation, but also the shorter term cultural evolution that occurs when song is passed from one animal to another by learning. Studies of function, while fraught with difficulties, have revealed that song can have a variety of advantages. As far as causes are concerned, some impressive discoveries have recently been made on the neural basis of song. The need for such work to be complemented by studies of behaviour at the level of the whole animal is stressed, and studies of song sequencing are used to illustrate this.
动物行为学是对行为的生物学研究，关注有关行为各方面的成因、功能、进化和发展的问题。这些不同的问题通过鸟类鸣叫研究中的例子来说明。这个主题对理解发育问题产生了最大影响，显示了个体发育过程中基因与环境之间复杂的相互作用。关于鸣叫进化的研究涉及密切相关物种之间的比较，以观察它们的鸣叫自分化以来是如何变化的，同时也涉及鸣叫通过学习从一个动物传递到另一个动物时发生的短期文化进化。功能研究虽然充满困难，但已揭示鸣叫可以有多种优势。就成因而言，最近在鸣叫的神经基础方面有了一些令人印象深刻的发现。强调了需要通过对整个动物水平的行为研究来补充此类工作，并利用鸣叫序列研究来说明这一点。
