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........ published in NEWSLETTER # 57

ECOLOGICAL BRAIN RESEARCH
by Dr. L. Ricceri, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome (Italy)

This book (NATO ASI SERIES D82) evaluates current work in the field of brain and behavioural research in natural and semi- natural settings. One major future branch of brain research will deal with the application of laboratory-derived techniques to environments for which the brains of particular species have evolved, and many behavioural neurobiologists now recognise the importance and urgency of creating a more evolution-oriented neuroscience. From a technical point of view, recent advances in neuronal tract-tracing in post-mortem brains have made it possible to study the connective brain organisation of wild-living species that were hitherto unavailable for research, or could not be employed for invasive manipulation because of ethical considerations. In addition, the progressive miniaturisation of recording and mechanical devices now permits non-invasive techniques for recording animal movement and brain activity in the natural habitat. The present book represents one of the first attempts at integrating these naturalistic approaches into the current methodological thinking of behavioural brain research: hopefully, it could also pave the way for a neuroscience journal which integrates conceptually, ecology, evolution, brain, behaviour and development. The first section is devoted mainly to the historical roots of behavioural neuroscience in an ecological context and recent evolutionary aspects of brain vertebrate development. It includes a contribution on the nervous system organisation of cephalopod Molluscs. The neurobiology of learning and memory in food-storing birds (in laboratory and semi-natural conditions) and of homing pigeon navigation is extensively described in the second section. The third section focuses on hippocampal morphology and spatial memory in mammals and food-storing birds. The fourth section is devoted to methodological techniques developed for measuring social behaviour and physiological parameters (telemetry) in laboratory and fields conditions.

As a whole, the contributions collected in this book demonstrate that an evolution-based approach has great appeal to neuroscientists with an original background in naturalistic biology, as well as to neurobiologists with a laboratory background but with an interest in ecological and environmental sciences.
Reference books: A213, A254, A271, D68, D82, G17

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