UC Davis faculty has selected animal behaviorist Peter Marler, professor emeritus of biology and psychology, as its 1995 Faculty Research Lecturer. "Colleagues have called Professor Marler 'the dominant intellectual leader in the study of animal communication,' 'the preeminent scientist in the field of animal behavior,' and 'a genius (in our) midst,'" says Thomas W. Schoener, professor and chair of the selection committee. "In the words of a colleague, he 'single-handedly has steered the field of animal communication during the last 40 years, trailblazing at every turn.'" Marler has spent almost four decades studying how animals, mostly birds and primates, communicate and how their methods of communication develop. For example, his landmark work with songbirds has led to a radically new view of the relationship of learning and instinct, once thought to be diametrically opposed. Now it is generally accepted that learning, as it occurs in nature, is typically driven by instinctual influences, a finding important to such disparate fields as linguistics, child development, speech and hearing.