About this Research Topic

Background

Ethology is the story of scholars who, with their hypotheses and intuitions on animal behavior, have changed our way of understanding animals and have significantly influenced the way we interact with other animals, which are increasingly part of our daily lives. From the beginning of the 20th century onwards, ethology has taken many different geographical and cultural directions. It changed its name, gave rise (with a sort of budding process) to sub-disciplines, was belittled, and then re-evaluated. It has meditated on its past and questioned its possible future, and today it finds a whole series of applications in different fields of investigation, from conservation to neuroscience, from animal welfare to animal ethics, from eco-ethology to cognition.

The problem we want to address is whether ethology can be today truly described as an interdisciplinary field of research. The way we think to address this question is two-fold: i) reviewing the impact ethological thinking and methodological approach had on different fields of inquiry; ii) reporting examples of current research with an ethological angle in those different fields, including future perspectives. The fields of research we want to explore are neuroscience, animal ethics, conservation, animal welfare, eco-ethology, and cognition.

The goal of this Research Topic is to underline the importance of the ethological approach in different fields of enquiry, in order to showcase the importance of ethology as a contemporary and fruitful interdisciplinary research tool. Having said that, ethology stands on the shoulders of giants, with a long theoretical and methodological history. Therefore, we will ask the potential contributors to sketch a history of the contribution of animal behavior studies on their field of interest, as well as a perspective of future developments. Obviously, examples of their own current research will be more than welcome.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Registered Report
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Animal Welfare, Applied Ethology, Cognition, Conservation, Eco-Ethology, Ethics of Research, Ethology, Neuroscience

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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