This greatly simplifies the approach to understanding complex organisms. Nevertheless, we must try to put the pieces together if we wish to understand how functions influence animals in the complexities of the real world. Anyone who has taken something apart knows it is harder to put it back together so it works. First, we can select among various functions for those that are easiest to try to put together. This is why the research problems you will work on involve combining temperature variation with feeding.
Temperature is simply the easiest to measure and work with.
We will use these ideas as an aid to making predictions and evaluating what happens when we combine two functions. There is a process that animals engage in where it is easier to see how two functions can be combined. Your research will involve the shuttling cases for heat and food. In each case we shall use optimization criteria to develop predictions to evaluate how integrating the two resources influences function. The analysis will take place in stages throughout the semester, and you will write a set of three research papers based on your work.