Vision and Evolution (A Critique of Dawkins)

[downbeatplumb]

So a nest is not part of a bird but because birds make them it is part of its phenotype. It is a product of their behaviour.

So again behaviour IS part of the phenotype because its in the definition of phenotype.

My confusion arises from Dawkin's (2016) definition of phenotype:

"The manifested attributes of an organism, the joint product of its genes and their environment during ontogeny. A gene may be said to have phenotypic expression in, say, eye colour. In this book the concept of phenotype is extended to include functionally important consequences of gene differences, outside the bodies in which the genes sit" (p. 449). 

And his definition of the extended phenotype:

"All effects of a gene upon the world. As always, ‘effect’ of a gene is understood as meaning in comparison with its alleles. The conventional phenotype is the special case in which the effects are regarded as being confined to the individual body in which the gene sits. In practice it is convenient to limit ‘extended phenotype’ to cases where the effects influence the survival chances of the gene, positively or negatively" (p. 443).

Unlike your definition, a bird's nest would not be traditionally considered part of the bird's phenotype; the idea of the extended phenotype is there to account for it. If a distinction is going to be made between an organism and its environment, it places behavior at an awkward crossroads between the two. For example, there is no gene that takes its expression by producing the English language; there are indeed genes correlated with verbal behaviors such as motor abilities or brain regions for producing language, but speaking English isn't the product of genes. Given your definition, speaking English is a unique trait from speaking Spanish and both are part of the organism's phenotype.

I looked up multiple definitions of phenotype and everyone had behaviour listed as in integral part of the definition.

Wikipedias definition.

The phenotype (from Greek phainein, meaning 'to show', and typos, meaning 'type') of an organism is the composite of the organism's observable characteristics or traits, including its morphology or physical form and structure; its developmental processes; its biochemical and physiological properties; its behavior, and the products of behavior, for example, a bird's nest.

From Collins

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictio.../phenotype
1.
the manifest characteristics of an organism collectively, including anatomical and psychological traits, that result from both its heredity and its environment
2.
a.
a group of organisms having a like phenotype
b.
an individual of such a group

I bolded the psychological which would include behaviours.

From thought co

https://www.thoughtco.com/phenotype-373475

An organism's phenotype (physical traits and behaviors) are established by their inherited genes.

I could go on.

Phenotype does include behaviour by widely accepted definition.