| Unit name | Optimisation, Behaviour and Life Histories |
|---|---|
| Unit code | BIOL31134 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1A (weeks 1 - 6) |
| Unit director | Professor. Cuthill |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites | |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Biological Sciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Life Sciences |
We present a unified evolutionary approach to understanding the major factors shaping an organism&�s life history, from birth, through growth, maturation and reproduction, to death. We use economic (cost-benefit) principles to examine the trade-offs facing organisms when they allocate time, energy and other resources to competing activities. This approach helps explain both the diversity of life-histories (e.g. why some organisms breed once then die, while others breed repeatedly to an old age; why males and females are strikingly different in some species but alike in others) and fundamental properties of living things such as sex, individuality, death and the very design of the genome itself.
