Animal Behavior Flashcards
Behavior Ecology
places an emphasis on the evolutionary significance of behavior and how they result in increased fitness
Proximate Causation
focuses on the environmental stimuli that triggers behavior and the mechanism that allowed for the behavior to occur
Ultimate Causation
focus on the evolutionary significance of the behavior and how it contributes to survival and/or reproductive fitness
example of Proximate Causation
seasonal change, visual stimulus, hormonal changes, touch stimulus
example of Ultimate Causation
wolves exhibit agonistic behavior to increase social standing in order to gain more resources (ie mates, territory, food)
Ethology
The scientific study of how animals behave,
especially in their natural environments
Ethology Scientists
Karl Von Frisch, Niko Tinbergen, &
Konrad Lorenz
Karl Von Frisch
“fresh bees”
-discovered that bees have color vision and dance to communicate
Niko Tinbergen
Studied fixed action patterns
Developed four essential questions to study
behavior
Konrad Lorenz
"Lauren's mom" Study the critical period in the imprinting of geese & determine the effects of incorrect imprinting
Innate Behaviors definition
Genetically programmed behaviors that do not require learning Despite different circumstances all individuals exhibit the same behavior
Innate Behavior examples
early survival &
reproduction
Fixed Action Pattern
Directed Movements (kinesis and taxis)
Learned Behaviors
Behaviors that are modified by experiences Flexible & changeable within a complex & changing environment
examples of Learned Behaviors
associative learning (operant & classical conditioning) and habituation
examples of Fixed Action Patterns
egg rolling in geese, courtship dance in fruit flies, red belly of intruding stickleback male that releases aggression
Kinesis
innate behavior - directed movement
– Directed movement
– A change in activity or turning rate based on a
stimuli
– Once desirable conditions are obtained the
movement will decrease
Taxis
innate behavior - directed movement
– Automatic directional movement toward (positive)
or away (negative) from a specific stimuli
– Examples: phototaxis, chemotaxis, geotaxis
Innate & Learned Behavior
Imprinting, Migration, Communication
Imprinting
innate & learned behavior
A critical period when a young animal comes to
recognize another animal as a parent
– Irreversible
– Innate: result of an imprinting stimulus that is
genetically programmed
– Learned: once imprinting has occurred the animal
will learn appropriated behaviors
Imprinting
innate & learned behavior
A critical period when a young animal comes to
recognize another animal as a parent
– Irreversible
– Innate: result of an imprinting stimulus that is
genetically programmed
– Learned: once imprinting has occurred the animal
will learn appropriate behaviors
Proximate & Ultimate Cause of Imprinting
P: the young geese observe their mother moving away from them and calling in an early, critical developmental stage
U: Geese that follow and imprint on their mother receive more care and learn necessary skills, and thus have a greater chance of surviving than those that do not follow their mother
Migration
innate & learned behavior
Animals pass from one region/climate to another for
feeding or breeding
– Innate: the need to migrate has been found to
polygenic & passed between generations
– Seen in the blackcap study on migratory restlessness
– Learned: parents teach young many aspects
associated with migratory patterns
Communication (behavior)
innate & learned behavior
– The transmission, reception of, & response to
signals
– Signal: a behavior that causes a change in the
behavior of another animal
– Some types of communication are innate while others are learned
Visual Communication
Visual displays relay essential information
– Useful for animals that are diurnal
Chemical Communication
– Odors relay essential information
– Useful for nocturnal animals
– Pheromones: a released chemical that affects the
behavior/physiology of others in the same species
– Alarm pheromones
– Trail pheromones
– Sexual attractants
Examples of Chemical Communication
- spiders use moth sex pheromones to lure its prey
- female mosquitos use CO2 concentrations to locate victims
Sound/Auditory
Communication
– Vocalizations are used to relay essential
information
– Useful for both diurnal & nocturnal species
Associative Learning
learned behavior
Learning to associate a stimulus with a
consequence
– Accomplished through personal experience,
parental teaching, & observations of other members
of the species
– Animals learn to modified their behavior based on
feedback from their environment
-operant and classical conditioning
Operant Conditioning
– AKA Trial & Error Learning
– Learning where an animal associates its own
behavior with punishment or rewards
– Positively reinforced behavior will increase in
frequency while negatively enforced behaviors are
stopped quickly
– voluntary behavior is followed by stimuli (reward/punishment)
Classical Conditioning
– An arbitrary stimulus followed by involuntary behavior is associated with a reward
or punishment
– Pavlov’s dogs were trained to drool at the sound of a
bell
Habituation
learned behavior
The loss of responsiveness to a stimuli that conveys
little or no information
– Essential for survival because it allows animals to
focus on relevant information only
What are the three types of communication?
-visual, chemical, and sound
What are the two types of associative learning and which behavioral ecologists studied which?
Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner) Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov)
Social Behavior
Behaviors that are the result of being social
organisms
– Often this is selfish behavior that benefits only one member
examples of Social Behavior
- communication/language
- agonistic behaviors
- dominance hierarchy
- cooperation
- altruism
Communication/Language (social behavior)
The ability for members of
the same species to
communicate essential
information
Agonistic Behavior
Ritualized contests that determine which
competitor gains access to resources including
mates, food, & territory
-death and maiming are rare
Dominance Hierarchy
– Arises when members of a social group interact to
create a ranking system
– Most are patriarchal & determined by agonistic
behavior
Cooperation
– Members of social groups working together to
complete tasks that would be too difficult alone or
for safety
Examples of Communication/Language
– bee’s dancing &
whale songs
Examples of Cooperation
– hunting in packs, bird flocking, & fish
schooling
Altruism
When animals behave in a way that decreases their
fitness but increase the fitness of others in the
population
*kin selection
Kin selection
increasing survival of close relatives
to keep those genes in the population
Key Behaviors for
Reproductive Success:
– Optimal Foraging Theory
– Mating & Mate Choice Behavior
Optimal Foraging Theory
– A compromise between the benefits of nutrition &
the costs of obtaining food
– Focuses on energy costs & predation costs
– Decrease energy expenditure and risk to increase return
Mating & Mate Choice
Behavior
– Seeking, choosing,
attracting, & competing
for a mate
Mating Systems
The system is based on the amount of parental care
needed for successfully raising young
-result in physical differences between the sexes (sexual dimorphism)
-promiscuous, monogamous, polygamous
Promiscuous
no lasting bonds due to little parental
care
Monogamous
long relationships with mating pairs due
to need for lots of parental care
Polygamous
one individual mates with many
– Polyandry: one female
– Polygyny: one male
Sexual Selection
– Mate choice by one gender affects that appearance
& behavior of the other gender
– Typically this is females picking characteristics in
males that correlate with male quality often
resulting in exaggerated characteristics & agonistic
behavior
