Why behavioural ecology is important for evolutionary ecologists

Environmental fluctuations are becoming larger and more unpredictable across the globe as a result of anthropogenic climate change. A key challenge of biology is therefore to understand how organisms adapt to such variation between and within generations. While several areas of behavioural and evolutionary biology are concerned with adaptations to variable conditions, they are seldom placed in the same framework. I will present models on how different behavioural and life-history traits can co-evolve to best cope with environments that vary in different ways, both within and between generations and more or less predictably. I will explain why evolution of plasticity might lead to shorter lifespans in more predictable environments and when an organism shouldn’t put all its eggs in a single basket.