9014276 Ketterson We propose a Research Training Group in the inter disciplinary study of Animal Behavior. We are a collaborative group of Biologists, Psychologists, and Neuroscientists concerned that the study of behavior is being hampered by overspecialization. By training students in multidisciplinary approaches to common research problems, we can show the benefits of combining evolutionary thinking and the analysis of mechanism in the study of behavior. The primary component of our training will be the opportunity to address research problems from several perspectives and under the direction of more than one mentor. Our theme, "Choice, Transitions, and Constraints," reflects the importance we attach to (1) proximate assessment of the immediate environment, (2) learning and development, and (3) evolution, in understanding behavior. We request support for eight graduate students and two postdoctoral students. These trainees will rotate through at least two laboratories. Our research programs will include (1) the Study of Communication, (2) Sexual Behavior and Mate Choice, (3) Orientation and Migration, (4) Learning Mechanisms, Ecology, and Behavioral Plasticity, and (5) Parental Behavior and Ontogenetic Transitions. We will establish a Center for Animal Behavior at Indiana University that will provide a setting to promote our objective: the focussed, interdisciplinarv investigation of animal behavior. ***
