Animal ecology
The Animal Ecology course (NWI-B060B-2024) was followed at Radboud University in 2024-2025. All
details are retrieved from the lectures, tutorials, and the assigned literature, unless otherwise
specified. All credits for the course belong to Henk Siepel. Credits for making this document are for
B1oloogje, please do not copy or distribute.
Assessment
Tutorials, essay writing, excursion, practical
Exam (50%): lectures, literature, tutorial
L1 Introduction
Overall learning goals: ask questions (why, how, what is happening?)
Basic principles
1. Feeding, but not be eaten. With this energy: grow, develop, learn. Finally: reproduces
2. All matter that contains energy will be used sooner or later
3. Variation is self-sustainable (diversification in food sources will change the abiotic and biotic
environment, so more variation can happen)
Species traits
Trade-offs: “benefit realized through a change in one trait is linked to a cost paid out through a
change in another trait […] in currency of fitness, not in units of energy, nutrients, or time” (1).
Fitness is the value to be measured, we measure energy as second best, because fitness is hard to
measure
How to balance income and expenditure?
- Energy needs to be obtained (small part is given to individual by parents) → see ‘feeding
guilds, specialists and generalists’
- Investing in traits costs energy (= fitness component)
- Limitation of the building plan (e.g. only 2 arms only)
Vs
- Use different types of variation:
o Tolerance (in abiotic factors) basic physiology
o Learn (to adapt, e.g. hide in warmer holes) behavioural aspects
o Phenotypical plasticity reaction norms
The Animal Ecology course (NWI-B060B-2024) was followed at Radboud University in 2024-2025. All
details are retrieved from the lectures, tutorials, and the assigned literature, unless otherwise
specified. All credits for the course belong to Henk Siepel. Credits for making this document are for
B1oloogje, please do not copy or distribute.
Assessment
Tutorials, essay writing, excursion, practical
Exam (50%): lectures, literature, tutorial
L1 Introduction
Overall learning goals: ask questions (why, how, what is happening?)
Basic principles
1. Feeding, but not be eaten. With this energy: grow, develop, learn. Finally: reproduces
2. All matter that contains energy will be used sooner or later
3. Variation is self-sustainable (diversification in food sources will change the abiotic and biotic
environment, so more variation can happen)
Species traits
Trade-offs: “benefit realized through a change in one trait is linked to a cost paid out through a
change in another trait […] in currency of fitness, not in units of energy, nutrients, or time” (1).
Fitness is the value to be measured, we measure energy as second best, because fitness is hard to
measure
How to balance income and expenditure?
- Energy needs to be obtained (small part is given to individual by parents) → see ‘feeding
guilds, specialists and generalists’
- Investing in traits costs energy (= fitness component)
- Limitation of the building plan (e.g. only 2 arms only)
Vs
- Use different types of variation:
o Tolerance (in abiotic factors) basic physiology
o Learn (to adapt, e.g. hide in warmer holes) behavioural aspects
o Phenotypical plasticity reaction norms
