all Flashcards
who were the 3 founders of animal behaviour?
Tinbergen, Lorenz, Von Frisch
what were the 3 main interests of Tinbergen?
- evolutionary history of behaviour
- causation of behaviour
- function of behaviour
what are Tinbergen’s 4 questions?
- ontogeny- how did behaviour develop, learned or innate?
- causation- stimuli and mechanisms, causal factors
- adaptive significance- current function, increase fitness?
- evolutionary history-why evolve like this
a) what did von Frisch discover?
b) what is his odour theory of communication?
c) what was the real reason for the behaviour?
a) dance language of honey bees
b) that the bees waggle dance can spread smell of sugar water
c) dance orientated around the sun and could communicate distance and direction
what were the 3 main interests of Lorenz?
drives, causation, imprinting
a) what did Lorenz find when he studied three spined sticklebacks?
b) what was the man species he studied?
a)males red throat is a signal to other males
females swollen belly signals males to trigger courtship
b) courtship in ducks- displays differ depending on species
what is MHC- major histocompatibility complex?
what attracts someone by it?
set of genes concerned with fighting disease
someone with a different set of MHC has a more attractive smell (complimentary)
in Thorpes study of chaffinches what was found/done for the question of ontogeny?
- females could hear sounds of males at different times during development
- few months after hating is when most likely to learn song- sensitive period
- song is partly innate and partly learned from tutor
in Thorpes study of chaffinches what was found/done for the question of causation?
light triggers bird song in spring
light reaches pineal gland which has light sensitive cells
brain releases GnRH leading to growth of testes
more testosterone released so song occurs
whats the difference between proximate and ultimate causal factors?
proximate: near, causation, neurological mechanisms
ultimate: distantly removed, evolutionary, survival rate of behaviour
in birds what do testes show in response to changing day length?
show huge seasonal change in size
a) in the bird brain what is the Robust archistriatum (RA)?
b) what is it connected to and what does this do?
c) why do males tend to have a larger RA?
a) part of the brain concerned with song
b) connected to HVC (higher vocal centre) which sends nerve impulses to syrinx via NXIIts
c) are the ones that sing so the larger the RA the more complex the song
in birds what may happen to the brain in winter?
parts may shrink and song structures may disappear
grow back the next season and songs are remembered
what is the causal and what is the proximate stimuli for bird song?
causal- neurological changes (the brain)
proximate- day length
what part of the bird produces the song?
the syrinx (voice box)
in Thorpes study of chaffinches what was found/done for the question of adaptive significance/function?
reasons for song:
territory defence
mate acquisition
in Thorpes study of chaffinches what was found/done for the question of evolutionary history?
only 3 birds groups sing: - hummingbirds - parrots -passerines likely that song evolved independently 3 times
what is it that allows female birds to see colour?
cone cells in the avian retina
with a coloured oil droplet
how many foveas do humans and birds have?
human: 1
birds: 2
how many photoreceptor types do humans and birds have and what does this mean for birds?
humans: 3
birds: 4
- can see ultraviolet (can follow urine trails and indicate mate quality)
what is the avian cochlea in birds and what does it do?
the inner ear
sensory epithelium with hair cells and supporting cells
rests in basilar membrane
hair cells range from tall at superior margin and short at inferior margin
why don’t birds go deaf?
they can regenerate hair cells that vibrate when sound is loud
inside of birds beaks what are the structures allowing for touch to occur?
are pits with a conical structure
- inside this there are grandly corpuscles and herbst corpuscles (pressure sensitive)
bird can detect shape and texture of materials
what is the anatomical evidence that some birds can smell?
olfactory bulb size and complex nasal conchae
in terms of the olfactory bulb and conchae what gives a bette sense of smell?
more complex conchae and larger bulb
in a study of olfactory bulb size in birds by bang and Cobb in 1960s:
a) how many species studied?
b) which species had the largest?
c) what can some albatrosses and petrels smell?
a) 107
b) snow petrel
c) smell DMs released from predated plankton to locate feeding areas
in birds what do the taste birds surround and what do they coincide with?
surround salivary glands
coincide with where food goes when bird eats
roughly how many taste buds do mallards have?
450
whats an example of a bird the can echolocate?
oilbirds
roost + breed in caves so navigate in darkness with echolocation
what is the flow diagram leading to behaviour beginning with sensory inputs?
sensory inputs –>sensory system –> neural processing in brain –> muscular movement –> behaviour
what are the 2 hormones cause hunger and when and where is each released?
leptin - released from fat storage cells - if more of these cells more leptin released into blood by hypothalamus - less hunger Ghrelin - released when leptin levels low - released from stomach via hypothalamus - more hunger
what is the mating process for freshwater amphipods (gammarus pulex)?
- when females malt can mate
- males choose females that malt soonest
- hormones in faeces mean males can tell when females will malt
how do animals maintain regular behaviour?
internal clock and aschoffs concept of a zeitgeber (time keeper)
what are the 4 internal clocks that drive rhythms in animals?
- short rhythms
- locomotion
- heart beat - circadian (24hrs)
- resting/sleeping
- eating
- temp - circa lunar (monthly)
- menstrual - circa annual (1yr)
- migration
- reproduction
what are 2 things that need to be considered when migrating?
- when to migrate
- navigating when migrating (compensating for sun/star movement)
when do small passerines and big birds migrate?
small- night
large- day
if an animal lives in constant conditions is there circadian rhythms?
no rhythm
which of the 4 rhythm types controls the time of breeding?
circannual
what are sex peptides and what do they do?
sperm/hormone mimics that are an anti aphrodisiac so female discouraged from re-mating
what 4 things does sperm do?
- promotes sperm production
- activates sexual behaviour
- stimulates aggressive behaviour
- suppresses immune system
are testosterone levels higher in females competing for males in polygynous groups or monogamous?
polygynous
the last chick to hatch usually has a size disadvantage so what compensates for this?
higher testosterone in this egg
in the side blotched lizard what do the 3 colour morphs reflect but what is a drawback?
reflects testosterone levels with orange being the highest
but reduced immune function
what is tinbergens view of development also known as?
ethology
what does behavioural ecology focus on?
adaptive significance of behaviour
in twin studies reared together or apart what 3 results were found?
- highest correlations between monozygotic twins reared together
- lowest correlation between adoptive parents and offspring
- higher correlation for MZ rather than DZ
in a study on black caps using an Emlen funnel where ink on the birds feet is used to indicate migration direction, which way did the bird migrate in Germany, Hungary, UK, Spain ?
germany- SW
Hungary- SE
UK- S
spain- S
what do animal model studies provide?
provides estimates for heritabilities and genetic correlations and estimate genetic components of phenotypic variation
what does the fos B gene control in mice and in a knockout experiment where this single gene is removed what happen?
controls maternal behaviour
mothers will ignore their pups
in the ruff males what are the 3 different morphs?
resident - black snd hold most of the territory - ancestral: homozygous, no inversion satellite - mate with females when other males are fighting - inversion: 1 double inversion, 1 ancestral faeder - looks like female - inversion: 1 inversion, 1 ancestral
in order of young bees to old bees what are the roles of the bees?
cleaning cells feeding larvae feeding nest mates packing pollen foraging
what do bees release to signal to other bees something is attacking?
olfactory signals/ pheromones
in young bees whats the concentration of juvenile hormone like?
low
where is ethyl oleate produced in bees and what is the series of processes to do with it, beginning with more foragers?
produced by foraging bees salivary glands
more foragers–> more food brought back–> more ethyl oleate–> fewer become foragers
a) what 4 things affect a foetus and its development?
b) what happens if there is poor fetal nutrition?
a) thalidomide, poor diet, smoking, fetal alcohol syndrome
b) small offspring as food supply may also be short when born
what is catch up growth?
animals fed low diet then normal food resumes, massive catching up
are females that come from a 2M egg or a 0M egg more aggressive and less attractive?
2M more aggressive and less attractive
what are 3 forms of innate behaviour?
habituation
imprinting
associative learning
what is phase sensitive learning?
imprinting on someone at a particular phase (partner)
what did Parker and trivers discover?
discovered individual selection
what did Parker notice about dung flies in his experiment?
- females lay eggs in dung so larvae can feed
- females mate with many males
- last male to mate and fertilise most likely to succeed
- males guarded females they mated with
what is extra pair copulation?
where a male paired to one female partner and a female of another pair
in the female bird reproductive tract what is the UVJ?
UVJ has tubules where sperm is stored in the female
in zebra finches what is the fawn phenotype?
whats the offspring when a fawn female and male?
whats the offspring when fawn female and wild grey male?
- sex linked recessive
- fawn offspring
- grey offspring
what is the molecular method for determining paternity?
multi locus DNA fingerprinting
whats the % of extra pair paternity in mute swan and fairy wren?
swan: 0%
wren: 75%
in susan smiths experiment looking at black capped chickadees what was found in the cases?
14 cases of extra pair copulations
13/14 extra male was higher ranking than partner
what are 4 direct benefits and 2 indirect of extra pair copulation?
direct: - nutrients - paternal care - fertility - avoiding infanticide indirect: - better genes - more diverse genes
what is it evidence for, the fact that female ducks reproductive tract varies in size as does the male penis?
evidence that females anatomy coevolved with males in response to post copulatory sexual selection
what is the coefficient of relatedness of parents and offspring?
0.5
what is individual/direct selection?
behavioural act favoured by selection that involves parents and offspring
what is kin selection/indirect?
behavioural act favoured due to its beneficial effect on non descendent kin
what is inclusive fitness?
individuals total contribution of genes to next generation
in what Hamilton equation situation will genes for altruistic behaviour spread?
rB>c
what are 4 costs of group living?
- more competition for resources
- more conspicuous to predators
- susceptible to parasites and diseases
- conspecifics may kill offspring
give 4 benefits of group living?
- improved foraging efficiency
- less chance of being predated
- improved defence of resources from non group members
- communal offspring care
a) in American cliff swallows what is the cost?
b) what happens if a chick has more bugs on it?
c) what happened when half the nests were fumigated?
a) breed in large colonies to improve foraging but increased parasite spread
b) more bugs= slower growth
c) killed bugs so chick growth improved