Animal behaviour Flashcards
What are Tinbergen’s 4 ‘why’ questions
Causation (mechanisms), ontogeny (development), function (adaptive advantage) and phylogeny (evolutionary history)
Example of causation (mechanisms)
daylight/hormones/rival song/ neural control of breathing, syrinx
0Examples of ontogeny (development)
song learning, developemnt of syrinx
Examples of function (adaptive advantage)
attarcting a mate, defence of territory, other functions…
Examples of phylogeny (evolutionary history)
how and why has (dawn) song evolved? Shard descent, shared ecology
Name the approaches to studying behaviour
Ethology, Neuroethology, Behavioural ecology, Sociobiology, Behavioural genetics, Psychology, Anthropology
What is ethology
form and function
What is neuroethology
neural control of behaviour
What is behavioural ecology
behavioural adaptations and selection pressure
What is behavioural genetics
control of behaviour by multiple genes and modifiers of gene expression
What is pyschology
perception, mental representation, learning etc… - evolutionary pyschology
What is anthropology
humans and human origins (evolutionary anthropolgy – archaeology, cultural anthropology – sociology)
What is anthropomorphism
naïve extrapolation from humans to animals
What are the pitfalls of studying behaviour
Anthropomorphism, Fear? Submission? Happiness? Neither?. Extrapolation from animals to humans - naïve sociobiology – sexism, racism, militant atheism
What to communicate
Agression, Sex, Identity (individual/ group/ species/ etc), Status, Need, Social information, ‘Auto-communication’
Define communication
Passing of information from a sender to a receiver
Define signals
A feature of an animal that has evolved specifically to later the behavior of receivers
Define cuses
any feature that can be used by an animal as a guide to future action (e.g., eaves dropping and communication networks)
Define animal senses
methods by which animals perceive their environment
List the animal senses
: vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, electrical, magnetic, balance, acceleration, temperature, pressure, pain
Methods of communication
Visual signals, Acoustic signals, Vibrational signals, Chemical signals (via taste and smell), Tactile signals, Electrical signals, Senses and signals are highly adapted to ecological conditions
How do signals evolve
by ritualisation of exsisting cues
List cues that reveal autonomic stimulation
Respiration, Urination/defaction, Thermoregulation, Pupil dilation, Yawning
Respiration in revealing autonomic stimulation
e.g., calls, growls, gill-cover flapping
Urination/defaction in revealing autonomic stimulation
chemical marking of territories
thermoregulation in revealing autonomic stimulation
raising hairs/feathers
Pupil dilation in revealing autonomic stimulation
‘friendliness’ / arousal
Yawning in revealing autonomic stimulation
signal of agression in primates. Humans don’t fight with teeth, so yawning now has a physiological role
List the ritualisation of cues revealing changes in behaviour
Intention movements, self - protective movements, ‘displacement behaviour’
Examples of intention movements
e.g., flight or fight intention movements
Examples of self-protective movements
scalp retraction in primates
Examples of ‘displacement’ behaviour
interrupting one behaviour with another apparently irrelevant one e.g., displacement preening in wildfowl mating displays
How does ritualisation differ from cues
1.Conspicuousness – increases detectability
2.Redundancy e.g., repition, multi-modal signals, multi-element signals
3.Stereotypy = very little variation
4.Alerting components e.g., conspicuous movements/sounds
How does ritualisation aid communication
1.Increasing costs -> costs can ensure honesty
2.Increasing efficacy (effective transfer or information)
3.Increases ability of signallers to manipulate recievers and prevent recievers resisting their messages
How have signals evolved
to maximise transmission and minimise eavesdropping e.g., conspicuousness to predators. Guppies exposed to different predators have different colour patterns. Predators drive selection for use of ‘private wavelengths’
How do prey communicate with each other
Alert, Flee, Assemble, Attack
How can prey communicate with the predator
Startle displays
Aposematism = conspicuous warning of unprofitability
Pursuit deterrence e.g., mobbing
What calls for specific circumstances do vervet monkeys have
Leopard – head for the trees
Snake – stand and search
Raptor – look at the sky
What is sexual selection
natural selection for traits that increase reproductive success
Natural selection traits
Variation between indivduals. This variation affects survival. Variation is inherited
Sexual selection traits
Variation between individuals. This variation affects reproductive success. Variation is inherited
What is anisogamy
unequal gametes
Anisogamy in human population
Females produce a small number of eggs, males produce large number of sperm. Females invest more in growing/caring for offspring
Who is Emperor Mulai Ismail of Morocco
Reportedly fathered more than 800 children (0r 888 or 1042) form a harem of 500 women.
Examples of intra-sexual selection (male-male competition)
Ardent males compete for access to females e.g., Fighting, Ritualised contests, Guard your females, Sperm competition
Red deer intra-sexual selection example
e.g., red deer: roaring contest, parallel walking and boxing, antler – grappling. Serious fights are rare, but dangerous – permanent injury in 6% of stags
Mate guarding
damselflies, elephant seals – prevents other males gettting access to fertile females
Example of forced matings
rape in mallard ducks … sometimes to the point of drowning. Hemipetran bug (xylocoris maculipennis) - males inject sperm directly into the female through her body wall
What is sperm competition
competition for inseminations between the sperm of rival males
Sperm competition in Xylocoris macilipennis
1.Males inject sperm through the female’s body wall
2.Males inject sperm into rival males
3.‘Imposter’ sperm migrate to the rival male’s testes
4.Rival male inseminates female with imposter sperm
Inter-sexual selection (female choice)
Selection favours females who choose the best possible males to mate with. How can females identify the best male – female choice. How can males improve their chance of being chosen – female attraction
What are the benefits of choosing good quality mates
good resources and parenting ability, good genes (high quality sexy parents have high quality sexy offspring)
How to impress females
Defeat the opposition. Defend a high quality territory. Provide ‘nuptial gifts’ = courtship feeding: proves ability tyo find food, provides energy to female, increases male’s cost of mating
Advertising the genetic benefits of a good choice
- Have a trait that females find attractive to pass on to your sons (‘sexy sons’) = runaway sexual selection
- Have a stategic ‘handicap’ (a trait that only high quality males can afford to possess) e.g., the peacocks tails
What is sexual conflict
conflicts of interest between males and females
Examples of sexual conflict
- infanticicde e.g., Male lions slaughter the cubs when they take over a new pride. Females come back to oestrus. New male fathers new cubs
- sexual cannibalism – female mantids sometimes eat the male during mating
Sexual conflict over parental care
Knetish plovers and female incubating eggs. Males and females both incubate the eggs at first. Either sex can desert in order to start a new nest with a new mate. The deserted mate is left to raise the family
Example of when females compete for males
When males invest more in parental care than females e.g., moorhens, phalaropes, jacanas. Females lay eggs and start a new nest. Males incubate the clutch. Ardent females and choosy males
Mating systems
1.Monogamy e.g., european robin
2.Polygamy/polygyny e.g., marsh harrier
3.Polyandry e.g., phalarope
4.Polygynandry e.g., kentish plover
5.Promiscuity e.g., aquatic warbler
Relationship when there is a positive effect on others and on self
Mutualistic
Relationship when there is a negative effect on others and on self
spiteful
Relationship when there is a positive effect on others and a negative on self
Altruistic
Relationship when there is a negative effect on others and positive effect on self
selfish
Example of cooperation
Offspring have copies of parents’ genes, so helping offspring (e.g., by feeding them) is an effective way of maximising genetic contribution to future generations. Each parent contributes 50% of its genes to each offspring
What is the coefficient to relatedness
= Genetic similarity of 2 individuals relative to the population as a whole
= probability that 2 individuals share a gene that is identical by descent (inherited from the same ancestor)
= probability of sharing a rare allele
What is the coefficient of relatedness between parent and offspring
0.5
What is the coefficient of relatedness between siblings
0.5
How can individuals maximise their genetic contribution to the next generation
1.Helping to rear their full siblings
2.Rearing their own offspring e.g., long-tailed tits failed breeders
Coefficient of related ness between identical twins
1
Coefficient of related ness between grandparent
0.25
Coefficient of related ness between aunt/uncle, nephew/neice
0.25
Coefficient of related ness between great-grandparents
0.125
Coefficient of related ness between 1st cousins
0.125
Coefficient of related ness between great great grandparents
0.0625
Coefficient of related ness between great great great grandparrnts
0.0313
Coefficient of related ness between 2nd cousins
0.0313
Coefficient of related ness between 3rd cousins
0.0078
Coefficient of related ness between 4th cousins
0.002
How can a gene maximise its transmission to the next generation
- Maximising the reproductive success of the individual it is in = direct fitness
2.Maximising the reproductive success other individuals who [are likely to] share copies of that gene = indirect fitness
Inclusive fitness =
direct fitness + indirect fitness
How can long term fitness be optimized
inclusive fitness and kin selection
What is kin selection
the process by which traits are favored due to their effects on the fitness of relatives
What is Hamilton’s rule
Identifies the conditions under which altruism will spread due to kin selection
When is altruism favoured
If: r*B-C > 0
R = coefficient of relatedness between actor and recipient
B = benefit to recipient
C = cost to actor
So, if r and or B are large, or C is very small -> Altruism
Extreme altruism: suicide and sterility in the social insects
Bee stings are fatal to the worker = suicide
Workers rarely reproduce themselves but instead help their mother (the queen) to produce offspring = sterility
Males develop from unfertilised eggs and so are haploid: all of their genes come from their mother
Females develop from fertilised eggs, so are diploid: half of their genes come from their mother and half from the father
Haplodiploid male insect coefficient of relatedness to mother/daughter
1
Haplodiploid male insect coefficient of relatedness to son
0
Haplodiploid female insect coefficient of relatedness to siblings
0.75
Haplodiploid female insect coefficient of relatedness to neice/nephew
0.375
Hamilton’s rule in action: Naked mole rats (sabre-toothed sausage)
Reproductive division of labour: one reproductive female “Queen”, 1-3 reproductive males, reproductive suppression of “workers” Lots of close relations (20-300 individuals)
High coefficients of relatedness
Cooperative foraging (sharing highly patchy food = tubers)
Parameterising Hamilton’s rule: Cooperative courtship in wild turkeys
Male turkeys form coalitions to court and defend females
One dominant male (gets all the matings)
One subordinate male (gets no matings)
What can cooperative courtship of turkeys estimate
Measure relatedness using microsatellite markers r = ~0.5, I.e., brother-brother or father-son coalitions
Estimate benefits of cooperation by comparing reproductive success of single or dominant males
Estimate cots by comparing reproductive success of single or subordinate males
What are the reasons to cooperate
1.Kin selection indirect benefits to the cooperator, via benefits to close relations
2.By-product benefits
3.Reciprocity
4.Enforcement
5.Deception - (2-5 are) - direct benefits to the cooperator, at least in the long term (mutually benenficial)
Benefits of cooperation
- Benefit effect on others
- Can have long-term benefits e.g., mutualism (mutual grooming. Reciprocal feeding of blood meals in vampire bats0
What is deception
Animals may cooperate ‘by mistake’ and manipulation of recievers by signallers
Example of deception
.g., large blue butterfly caterpillars deceiving ants
Cuckoos deceiving reed warblers
Playback experiment by Davies et al. (1998) - Cuckoo chick begging displays mimic a whole brood of red warbler chicks
What is spite
incurring costs to your own reproduction by harming others
When is spite favoured
r*B – C > 0 . This can occur if r is negative
Spite example - Parasitoid wasps
High costs to the actor (soldiers are sterile and do not become adults). Soldiers harm only relatively unrelated individuals
Strong competition for limited resources (one caterpillar)
Lays I male egg and 1 female egg into caterpillar
Eggs divide asexually, producing thousands of larvae
Larvae either develop normally (bottom), or develop as sterile ‘soldiers’ (top), which kill larvae of the opposite sex
The survive larvae continue to develop inside the caterpillar and eventually hatch out as reproductive adults
How is spiteful and alturistic deception explained
by indirect benefits
What is the Prisoner’s dilemma
Defection pays, if your opponent cooperates
Cooperation pays, if your opponent also cooperates
What does your choice of cooperation or defection depend on
1.Relative payoffs of each strategy
2.Behavior of opponent
3.Reputation
4.Whether you expect to have future interactions with opponent
Constant defection and ‘tit for tat’ as evolutionary stable strategies (ESS)
= keep cooperating until your opponent defects. Retaliate to defections by defecting next time
Requires: Possibility of meeting again, ability to remember previous interactions
