Animal Behaviour Flashcards

1
Q

Levitus, 2009 - definition of behaviour

A

The internally coordinated responses (actions and inactions) of whole living organisms (individuals or groups) to internal and/or external stimuli, excluding responses more easily understood as developmental changes

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2
Q

What proportion of known species are vertebrates

A

<5%

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3
Q

Scope and impact (5 areas)

A

Post release mortality, resolving human-wildlife conflict, conservation, neuroscience, public engagement

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4
Q

Application to aquaculture

A

Hatchery-reared fish have high mortality - lack survival skills, migratory behaviour, foraging skills, anti-predator behaviours - behaviour studies to inform hatchery design

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5
Q

Question approach to behaviour study

A

Ask a question (what are the benefits of a behaviour), chose a system (what animals display this behaviour)

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6
Q

Cons of question approach

A

High cost - if each question leads to a new system, new equipment will need purchasing regularly

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7
Q

System approach to studying behaviour

A

Generate hypotheses from field observations of systems, then test them

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8
Q

Ethogram

A

Behavioural observations require defined behaviours - ethogram is a comprehensive list/inventory of described behaviour built through observation

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9
Q

Events

A

Short duration
Counted rather than timed
Longer behaviours can be counted eg courtship attempts

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10
Q

States

A

Extended
Eg foraging, sleeping, movement

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11
Q

Sampling protocols

A

Ad libitum, focal animal, all occurrences, binary, scan sampling

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12
Q

Constraints on sampling

A

Man power, field season length, replicates

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13
Q

Sampling protocol depends on

A

Ease of observation, specific question, statistics planned, constraints

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14
Q

Ad libitum

A

Observe and record individual/group behaviours - good for initial observations, ethograms, question formation. Limited in data quality/quantity

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15
Q

Focal animal

A

Recording either all behaviour of an individual, or all occurrences of a specific behaviour in an individual

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16
Q

All occurrences

A

Record all occurrences of one/more specific behaviours (useful for rate, frequency, synchronicity)

17
Q

Binary

A

Did it happen (1) or not (0)

18
Q

Scan sampling

A

Is it happening at a given time (eg within every minute)

19
Q

Hypothesis testing (5)

A

Controls, replication, independence of data, robust testing of other hypotheses, Tinbergen’s framework