62. Costs and Benefits of Behavior

This lecture begins by reviewing how organisms flexibly allocate resources in changing circumstances. Behavioral ecologists study the evolutionary significance of patterns of resource allocation by focusing on the costs and benefits of different behaviors and examining the tradeoffs organisms make between these costs and benefits. Every behavior has costs and benefits that may affect the fitness of the individual performing it. One kind of behavior of particular significance in this regard is social behavior, which conveys unique advantages and disadvantages that depend on an organisms interactions with other members of its species.