Some 40 undergraduates from UC Davis created and staffed exhibits at Davis junior high schools in March during the fourth annual Adventures in Science event. The undergraduates developed interactive presentations and visual displays on topics ranging from the respiratory system to volcanoes, with a goal of stimulating student interest in science.

The popular event was coordinated by Thurein Htoo and Gavin Ow, both students in the division, and faculty adviser Jack Goldberg of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior.

Essentially, behavioral ecologists study animals to understand how behavior helps them manage the selective pressures they face. Animals are assumed to behave in a way that maximizes their fitness, but sometimes they have to balance tradeoffs. For example, it may seem beneficial for an animal to eat a lot of food because it grows faster. But while it is foraging, the animal may be more exposed to predators, and so may not survive. A male bird who vigorously defends his territory may end up with more space, but he may become more vulnerable to disease because he is wearing himself out.

How have feminism and female perspectives affected evolutionary biology?

By telling everyone they had blinders on, feminists prompted scientists, both men and women, to question long-held assumptions about male and female roles, and control of and access to reproduction. Evolutionary biologists now propose and test alternative hypotheses about reproductive behavior much more quickly than they used to.