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ANSC 377 - Food Animal Behaviour > 1. Intro to Applied Ethology and Ethograms > Flashcards

1. Intro to Applied Ethology and Ethograms Flashcards

1
Q

Definition of ethology

A

The observation and detailed description of behaviour with the objective of finding out how biological mechanisms fxn

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2
Q

Where are ethological studies carried out?

A

Natural or semi-natural settign

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3
Q

What is ethology the science of?

A

Animal behaviour, its causation and fxn

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4
Q

Oskar Heinroth

A

Naturalistic biology
- instinctive, innate and adaptive behaviour

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5
Q

History of behaviour science

A
  1. Oskar Heinroth
    - Naturalistic biology
    - Instinctive, innate and adaptive behaviour
  2. Niko Tinbergen
    - Experimental ethology
  3. Konrad Lorenz
    - Theoretical ethology
  4. Later (aka present day):
    - Applied ethology
  5. More recently
    - Cognitive ethology
    - What animals perceive, feel and know in relation to their own behaviour
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6
Q

Nikolaas Tinbergen

A
  • Experimental ethology
  • Applying animal behaviour research to “stress diseases”; in the 50s/60s
  • 4 Q’s
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7
Q

Konrad Lorenz

A
  • Theoretical ethology
  • Imprinting work in geese
  • Use of analogies to explain causal mechanisms of behaviour
  • Psycho-hydraulic model to explain vacuum activities
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8
Q

What is applied ethology?

A

*multidisciplinary field
A combination of laboratory and field science, with a strong relation to other disciplines (ex. genetics, nutrition, physiology, endocrinology, neuroanatomy, ecology).

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9
Q

What are ethologists typically interested in?

A

A behavioural process or a particular animal group
- often study one type of behaviour in a number of unrelated animals = comparative

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10
Q

5 applications of applied ethology

A
  1. Optimizing production
    - handling, best management practices, reproductive efficiency, housing design
  2. Welfare assessment
    - defining animal welfare, codes of practice/standards and assessing welfare
  3. Behavioural control
    - behaviour solutions (ex. training, enrichment)
  4. Behavioural disorders
    - problem behaviours (ex. knowing what is normal vs pain, distress, disease etc.)
  5. Behaviour and conservation biology
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11
Q

4 fields of animal behaviour

A
  1. Animal behaviour
  2. Behavioural ecology
  3. Applied ethology
  4. Comparative psychology
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12
Q

Ultimate explanations

A

Pertain to evolution of the species
- ultimate = POPULATION

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13
Q

Proximate explanations

A

Pertain to the individual
- proximate = INDIVIDUAL

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14
Q

What are fundamentals of ethology? Why?

A

Tinbergen’s 4 Qs

Why?
- Identify complementary levels of explanation

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15
Q

Tinbergen’s 4 Questions

A
  1. What is the CAUSATION of the behaviour?
  2. What is the FUNCTION of the behaviour?
  3. How does the behaviour develop during ONTOGENY?
  4. How does the behaviour develop during PHYLOGENY?
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16
Q

Two proximate questions

A
  1. What is the causation of the behaviour?
  2. How does the behaviour develop during ontogeny?
17
Q

Two ultimate questions

A
  1. What is the function of the behaviour?
  2. How does the behaviour develop during phylogeny?
18
Q

“What is the causation of the behaviour?”

A
  • How is the behaviour achieved?
  • Proximate mechanisms or proximate cause-effect relations
  • Classes of proximate mechanisms: eg. brain, hormones, pheromones, neurotransmitters
  • How the behaviour operates in terms of underlying mechanism and organization
19
Q

“What is the function of the behaviour?”

A
  • What is the behaviour for?
  • What is the behaviour designed to do?
  • Darwin’s theory of evolution aka why an animal’s behaviour is usually well adapted for survival and reproduction in its enviro
  • Conceptualizes the relationship btw fxn and evolution
20
Q

“How does the behaviour develop during ontogeny?”

A
  • How does the behaviour develop?
  • The way the behaviour reflects its embryological or developmental influences
  • Classic debate in behaviour: nature vs nurture?
21
Q

The consensus among biologists is that behaviour is the product of…

A

Gene-environment interaction, in which the whole can be more than the sum of its parts, that is, the genetic and environmental components

22
Q

Critical periods in development

A

Many forms of developmental learning have a critical period = when a behaviour needs to develop properly or it will not develop at all OR there will be lifelong consequences for that animal

23
Q

Biased learning

A

Cognitive bias, come to expect a positive or negative event
- prior experience affects behaviour going forward

24
Q

Prepared learning

A

Explains why some associations are learned more easily than others

25
Q

“How does the behaviour develop during phylogeny?”

A
  • Where has the behaviour come from?
  • Ancestral selection pressures and phylogenetic pathways that have shaped and constrained the behaviour
  • Captures all evolutionary explanation other than fxn/adaptation
  • Includes random processes such as mutation and environmental events acting on small populations; constraints resulting from early evolutionary development
26
Q

What 4 things are needed to answer Tinbergen’s 4 questions?

A
  1. Conduct experiments
  2. Observe animal behaviour
  3. Use comparative approaches
  4. Develop theoretical models
27
Q

In order to communicate effectively when describing a behaviour, what is best?

A

It is always best to state what is explicitly SEEN without including interpretations

28
Q

Objective description of behaviour

A
  • Can occur at various levels of detail depending on the aims of the observations
    ex. muscle contraction, movement of a body part, movement of an animal in relation to the enviro, effect on the physical enviro, effect on another individual
29
Q

What is the importance of the behaviour repertoire aka what does knowledge of the behaviour of food animals allow for?

A
  1. Helps move animals efficiently and quietly through systems
  2. Provides the ability to identify the behavioural needs of livestock in our care
  3. Helps us design environments that prevent or reduce the incidence of behavioural vices and stereotypies
  4. Helps identify animals in distress or who are pre-pathological
30
Q

What can the behavioural repertoire of an animal be thought of as?

A

Think of it as a “library of behaviour” for a species- it is the complete description of the array of behaviours an animal is capable of showing

31
Q

What is an ethogram?

A

An ethogram is a catalogue of the discrete behaviours typically employed by a species. These behaviours are sufficiently stereotyped that an observer may record the number of such acts, or the amount of time engaged in the behaviours in a time budget
*discrete is referring to the fact that ethograms are QUALITATIVE

32
Q

How are behaviours in an ethogram described?

A

The behaviours are described without explicit reference to their purpose

33
Q

What do difficulties in compiling ethograms include?

A

Rarely performed behaviours, graded displays, inter-individual variation and non-stereotyped behaviours
- all introduce ambiguities into the lexicon-like concept of an ethogram

34
Q

Is an ethogram ever complete?

A

No

35
Q

What should you be familiar with before embarking on behaviour observations to ensure that your behaviour description is precise?

A

The ethogram of the species

36
Q

What are 3 important things to do when you construct an ethogram or study animal behaviour?

A
  1. Define the behaviours ahead of time
    - can do this in table form, pictures, or both
    - try to avoid using the behaviour label in the description or definition of the behaviour
    - properly reference
  2. Make sure the everyone is actually observing the SAME behaviour
    - can test this by having all observers tested against the same ‘standard’
  3. Practice as part of preliminary observations

ANSC 377 - Food Animal Behaviour (17 decks)

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