At the Nexus of Environment & Ethology: Considerations for the Role of Environmental Cues in Ethological Research

The impact of environment on the health and welfare of nonhuman animals varies widely depending upon a series of species-specific factors, including the target species’ unique physiological needs, social structure, sensory perception, evolutionary history, and the ecological relevance of perceived cues. Thus, evaluating behavioral welfare indicators and the reliability of research conducted with animals in human care and laboratory environments must be founded in a species-specific context rooted in that species’ evolutionary and ecological history. This approach requires careful study design focused on evolutionary relevant and salient cues and/or target constructs accounting for environmental variations and other potential environmental confounds. Further, this requires thoughtful data analysis to account for and address the possibility of these environmental impacts on behavior and cognition.

This Research Topic aims to present quality research and reviews focused on the role the animal’s environment has on behavior, cognition, and welfare – grounded in the unique biological, ecological and evolutionary history of the target species. Often, salient cues go unnoticed or unreported in behavioral and cognitive studies involving nonhuman animals. These often-invisible environmental stimuli can potentially disrupt studies conducted with animals in laboratories, zoological institutions, agricultural settings, in the field and other applications. Ultimately, the result of this oversight is the pervasive notion that ethological studies are highly variable and lack both rigor and reproducibility. This misunderstanding has led to avoidance of behavioral work, rather than an increase in information sharing regarding proper methodological approaches to the study of nonhuman animals. The aim of this collection is to provide a platform directed at addressing these issues by featuring work which seeks to discuss topics related to this issue and promote best practices in ethological research.

In this Research Topic, we encourage ethologists and related researchers to return to their roots and consider the umwelt of their target species. To pinpoint the ethological constructs which fuel the way animals behave in laboratory settings, on farms, and in the wild, and discuss the proper measurement and methodological approaches to studying these constructs in nonhuman animals, reduce confounds in ethological studies, and promote rigor and reproducibility in ethological science. Thus, we welcome research and reviews investigating the role of the environment on animal behavior and cognition, sensation and perception, evolution and behavior, cognitive evolution, environmental enrichment, habitat design, and other topics related to the environment and its impact on the behavior and cognition of nonhuman animals.

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
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

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
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Animal Health, Animal Welfare, Behavioral Ecology, Cognitive Ethology, Comparative Cognition, Comparative Psychology, Ethology, Human-Animal Interactions, Sensation & Perception

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.