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Many studies have been performed on animals to study their behavior, but not as many on the development of behavior, and not yet on chickens. Therefore, 42 red junglefowls were tested in three Novel Arena, Novel Object and Tonic Immobility tests to investigate the ontogeny of personality. Several behaviors were stable over time in the Novel Arena and Novel Object tests, and are a part of the bird’s personality, while other behaviors were plastic. The stability of the behaviors increased over time. The decrease in duration of the Tonic Immobility can be due to decreased stress during the length of the study. The study showed that personality can be detected early in a chicken’s life, even though a lot of the observed behaviors change. Further studies are needed to figure out duration of the stability and why certain behaviors are stable.

Social status is commonly established among individuals within groups of animals. Despite this common characteristic of social animals it is still unclear how individuals establish their status. I investigated the relationships between morphology, posture and behaviours with social status in red junglefowl hens. The hens tested were measured (weight, comb length, comb height and tarsus length) and exposed to three different behavioural tests (novel arena, novel object and interaction test). None of the morphological features were associated with social status. However, dominant hens initiated the first encounter in a dyad interaction and performed a higher proportion of aggressive encounters against the opponent. The dominant hens were also the ones displaying more spread tail feathers than the opponent after status being established. Aggressiveness and social status is strongly linked, showing that there is a scope of behaviours to affect the establishment of status.

The objective of the study is to compare the bird communities between natural forests and Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides) plantations. I surveyed the bird communities in the experimental forests of Liu-Kuei Station, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute in Kaohsiung County, Taiwan during the breeding season from late March to early July in 2001 and 2002. A total of 34 bird species were recorded during the 2-year study period. Of these, thirty-one species were recorded in natural forests and 25 species in Taiwania plantations. Four indices, including diversity, evenness, species richness and total densities, could not clearly explain the differences between two forest types. Of the 11 assemblage guilds, carnivores and canopy woodpeckers only occurred in natural forests. The limited availability of nest holes limits the densities of species required holes to nest. Due to complex forest structures and stable and plentiful food resource, canopy foliage omnivores have stable densities in natural forests. But the very dense understory vegetation limits the number of suitable nesting or foraging sites require by ground insectivores. Because of less vegetation food resource, canopy foliage insectivores are the main component of the bird communities in Taiwania plantations. In addition, the foliage structure of the conifers is adequate for canopy hover insectivores to forage. The result of detrended correspondence analysis revealed that the differences of the bird communities between natural forests and Taiwania plantations mainly due to the complexity of the forest structures, nevertheless, the altitude and spatial variation would produce some impacts.

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The periodic fluctuations in numbers of red grouse (<I>Lagopus lagopus scoticus </I>(Lath.)) populations in Scotland and northern England remain a puzzle to population ecologists despite sustained research. Other workers have suggested that territoriality, philopatry and kin selection, as expressed in the differential behaviour between kin and non-kin, can, through their effects on the efficiency of space use, combine to cause cyclic dynamics. However, since the first preliminary formulation of the hypothesis in 1990, little modelling work has been done on the subject. In this thesis, I present a series of models which explore the plausibility of the kin-selection hypothesis for red grouse populations under different assumption regimes. I first develop, analyse and validate a simple, deterministic model using functions of age structure as indexes of the social and, due to philopatry, spatial attributes of the population. A control version of the model is incapable of cyclic dynamics, while a modification, containing the assumed effects of kin selection, produces cycles of realistic period and amplitude. Parameterisation of the model with field data from two studies in north-east Scotland yields output which resembles the observed dynamics. A more detailed study of the possible effects of kin selection and philopatry on individual requirements for space yields a parameterised response function which is then used to study the dynamics of individual family clusters. A model of the relatively short-term process of family cluster formation demonstrates that continuous changes in crowding may have a discontinuous effect on the ability of clusters to form. A socially and spatially explicit simulation model is finally developed to examine the relative importance of these factors in the long-term dynamics. Based on its results, I conclude that spatial heterogeneity in the activity of animals, caused by clustering, is sufficient to produce cycles and that variations in territorial requirements due to differential behaviour between kin and non-kin can have a secondary, amplifying role in the process.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Tennessee, 2007. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Nov. 5, 2007). Thesis advisor: David Buehler. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Zoology, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-125).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 154 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references.