About the Program

The Davis campus has a distinguished history of teaching and research in the life sciences including animal behavior. The Animal Behavior Graduate Group is an interdepartmental program in which unites over 30 faculty members across a dozen departments spanning the College of Biological Sciences, the College of Letters and Sciences, the eCollege of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the School of Veterinary Medicine. Faculty members mentor our students in a range of animal species as well as a diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches to research and specializations.

All specializations emphasize adaptive and evolutionary aspects of animal behavior. The program trains students for teaching and research in areas related to:

  •  Anthropology
  • Animal science
  • Conservation biology
  • Ecology
  • Entomology
  • Neurobiology
  • Psychology
  • Physiology
  • Veterinary science
  • Wildlife biology
  • Zoology

Research 

Research programs in the ABGG fall into the following broad areas: 

 Recent faculty additions have further expanded strength in individual variation of behavior and cognition.  Faculty and students often conduct interdisciplinary research that bridges across these areas. Collaboration is the norm. Within the program ABGG faculty members interact and collaborate regularly, and most ABGG faculty members also collaborate with scientists both in other graduate groups at UC Davis and at other universities and research institutes around the world. 

For more information about current faculty research projects, click below to review graduate group affiliated faculty profiles and websites.

Faculty Research and Profiles

Facilities

In addition to facilities in the departments represented by the faculty members listed on this site, resources available to students include the California Regional Primate Research Center, the Center for Neuroscience, the Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture, the John Muir Institute of the Environment, the Information Center for the Environment, the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, Bodega Marine Laboratory, the UC/Davis Natural Reserve System. and the agricultural field stations.  Campus libraries house extensive collections of biological and animal behavior literature.

 

Visit the UC Davis Graduate Studies website for program information, degree requirements, bylaws and advisors