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Organisms and Environment > Animal Behaviour > Flashcards

Animal Behaviour Flashcards

1
Q

Animal behaviour

A

What an organism does and how it does it, usually in response to stimuli in its environment. Diverse, can be characteristic of a species and also individual variation, learning and culture.

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2
Q

What is animal behaviour studied for?

A

Animal welfare, animal husbandry, conservation, public interest, pivotal role, promotes higher level of organisation and has a critical role in adaptations and evolution

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3
Q

Natural selection

A

Behaviour is the product of natural selection on phenotypes and indirectly on genotypes that code for them. Have a set of adaptations

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4
Q

Tinbergen’s four whys?

A

Causation - proximate factors initiating behaviour
Development - genetics and learning
Evolution - how it evolved from ancestral phenotypes
Function - how behaviour contributes to survival

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5
Q

Proximate causation

A

Mechanisms underlying behaviour - comparative psychology

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6
Q

Ultimate causation

A

evolution, selection pressures, ethology and behavioural ecology

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7
Q

Biological communication

A

The action of one organism alters the probability pattern of behaviour of another - adaptive to either of both and sender must intend to alter the other’s behaviour

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8
Q

Why communicate?

A

Not in isolation
Interactions between heterospecifics and conspecifics
Mating
Heterogenous landscapes - aggregations and non-random associations between individuals
Social interactions

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9
Q

Sender

A

Transmits signals

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10
Q

Receiver

A

Individual who’s probability of behaving in a certain way is altered by the signal

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11
Q

Signal

A

Any behaviour or feature that conveys information from sender to receiver

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12
Q

Display

A

A signal involving behaviour patterns adapted to function as a social signal

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13
Q

Channel

A

A medium through which the signal is transmitted

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14
Q

Context

A

The setting in which the signal is transmitted and received

e.g. lion roar to neighbouring prides/own pride

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15
Q

Noise

A

Irrelevant background activity

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16
Q

True communication

A

Both sender and receiver benefit

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17
Q

Ignoring (spite)

A

Both sender and receiver do not benefit/-ve

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18
Q

Eavesdropping (exploitation)

A

Sender -ve and receiver benefits

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19
Q

Manipulation (deceit)

A

Sender benefits, receiver doesn’t benefit/-ve

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20
Q

Discrete signals

A

All or none

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21
Q

Graded signals

A

Intensity varies in proportion to stimulus strength

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22
Q

Afferential

A

Communicates info about sender

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23
Q

Referential

A

Communicates info about an entity external to communicating individual

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24
Q

Composite signals

A

2 or more signals combined give a new meaning

25
Q

Syntax

A

Changing the sequence of displays

26
Q

Metacommunication

A

One display alters subsequent e.g. play bow in canids

27
Q

Message

A

What the signal encodes about the sender

28
Q

Meaning

A

What the receiver construes from the signal

29
Q

Reducing the risk of eavesdropping

A

Difficult to detect or locate signals e.g. 7Hz freq
Cant tell direction of birdsong
Signals selectively unavailable to repudiators
Direct to specific individuals

30
Q

Audience effects

A

Presence of a particular onlooker can make behaviours more or less likely

31
Q

What makes a good signal?

A

How well situated signal is to being detected in receiver’s environment: detectability, discriminability, memorability, specific and unambiguous

32
Q

Stereotypy

A

Ritualisation of displays

33
Q

Antithesis

A

Signals conveying opposite messages often have opposite forms e.g. threat/submissive postures of dogs

34
Q

Sensory channel

A

The physical form used to transmits signals from sender to receiver - depends upon machinery available to individual, environment, evolutional josyoru

35
Q

Strategies to reduce degradation of signal

A

In forests = low fre1, avoid trills

In open terrain = trills favoured, repeated elements

36
Q

What behaviours did displays evolve from?

A

Intention movements
Displacement activities - where animal is undecided to appropriate response
Physiological change
Thermoregulatory behaviours
Food changes - Comparisons of closely related species
Elaboration of functional behaviours

37
Q

Inter-specific signals

A

Predator deterrence and co-evolution

38
Q

Group spacing and co-ordination

A

Distance increasing
Distance maintaining
Distance reducing
Proximity maintaining

39
Q

Recognition

A

Species recognition - avoids infertile matings, courtship
Deme recognition
Neighbour recognition - no aggressive response upon familiar individuals
Kin recognition - parent-offspring
Individual recognition - dolphin whistles

40
Q

Alarm

A

Alerts groups to danger e.g. Veret monkeys have different signals for different predators

41
Q

Finding food

A

Advantage of group living - increased foraging efficiency, signals aid exploitation/acquisition of food but typically selfish

42
Q

Giving and soliciting care

A

Begging and offering food between parent and offspring of among relatives. Distress all by young and soliciting play

43
Q

Aggression

A

Any activity directed towards to discomfiture of another individual

44
Q

Agonistic behaviour

A

Behaviour patterns used during conflict with a conspecific

45
Q

Causes of conflict

A

Limited resources, heterogenous environment, patchy resources, aggressions of individuals

46
Q

Resolving conflict

A

Ritualised displays decided whether to quit or continue to fight as they give info about the individuals fitness

47
Q

Why are physical fights rare?

A

Potential high cost of energy and risk of injury, selection favours evolution of conflict resolution mechanisms, most conflict avoided y display

48
Q

Avoiding conflict

A

Maintaining social space (territories), appeasement and submission (dominance relationships), pre-fight displays, fights are a last resort.

49
Q

Escalation of conflicts

A

Conflict most likely when opponents equally matched. One often prepared to persist longer or escalate further as it has more to gain from winning e.g. hunger, thirst; perceived resource value, may lead to evolution of signals ownership

50
Q

Conflict and eavesdropping

A

Observing encounters between other combatants may affect the observer’s behaviour in subsequent encounters

51
Q

Conflict signals and honesty

A

Cant lie about dominance due to costs - development of mass and weaponry, social ‘policing’

52
Q

Sexual selection

A

Compete successful for mating opportunities - aid competition within 1 sex for access to the other and enhancing attractiveness off individuals of one sex to members of the other (pre-copulatory)

53
Q

Secondary sexual characteristics

A

Females invest more are costly large gametes - must pick good quality males
Males invest less - uncertainty of paternity = less choosy
Male-male competition (intra-sexual)
Courtship displays (inter-sexual)
May conflict with survival e.g. antlers energetically expensive and bright plumage conspicuous to predators

54
Q

Functions of courtship

A

Species, deme, class and individual recognition
Mate attraction and choice
Coordination of reproductive behaviours and physiology between sexes
Maintain long term bonds and coordinate provision for offspring

55
Q

Mate attraction

A

Means by which males can be compared by females, More complex songs and stamina preferred - healthier, possessing better territories, enhanced parenting potential and good gene - honest signals of male quality. Courtship displays may also involved additional material e.g. nest building, nuptial gifts

56
Q

Deception

A

e.g Femme fatale firefly flashes patterns with photogenic abdomen but can also mimic smaller species - prey. Caused co-evolution where males perform prey species patterns then switch back too mate

57
Q

Complex communication

A

e.g. food location in honey bees - waggle dance: direction of food rel. to sun = direction relative to gravity,. Duration increases with distance, 1 waggle = 30m

58
Q

Language acquisition

A

Limited resource of signals - e.g. human lang unbounded set bases on 20-60 phonemes. True language: symbols for abstract ideas, syntax, displaced functional reference.

Organisms and Environment (9 decks)

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