Animal behaviour Flashcards
define signal
a behaviour or atribute that alters the behaviour of a receiver
define communication
reception of and response to signals, beneficial to both parties
define a cue
a receiver gains information but it was not the signallers intention to do so.
what are tinbergens four questions
mechanistic - to understand the mechanisms that underly the trait
ontogenetic - the genetic and environmental factors that guide the development of a trait
functional - looking at a trait in terms of its effects on survival and reproduction
phylogeneitc - unraveling the evo history of the species so that the structure the trait can be evaluated in light of ancestral featrues
describe how the call of a male tungara frog may get lower
normal chuck is 2550 hertz
female inner ear responds to 2100 hertz the best
some males happened to chuck lower
more succsessful at obtaining mates
prefernce for low frequency in neuro physiology
give an example of signal modulation
birds use a different call when mobbing a predator
a …… will only make a signal when it increases their fitness, and the reciever will only ……. when the signal will increase their fitness
sender
respond
the interest of communicatoin can be different for the individuals involved in three ways, what are they
overlapping - begging or alarm calls
seperate but not opposing - mate attraction e.g. exagerration of a signal
oppsing - disputes over territory
describe Zahavis Handicap principle
the honesty of a signal is mainatined by its cost
i. e. males with an exaggerated trait will be better males since they are adapted enough that they can overcome the costs
e. g. natural selection favours crypsis but sexual selectoin goes against this
why must communication be honest on average
communcation would fail otherwise, it is no longer adaptive to repsond to a dishonest signal
describe the stalk eyed flies example of communication with eye stalks and territory
females prefer males with root hairs controlled by males with larger eyespans
long eye stalks in absence of prior residency will always win the fight for territory
acts as an honest communicator of ability to win a fight
describe communcaition of jumping spiders using UV light
males have a uv peak that females dont have
in absence of uv light males will try to court other males and male male fighting is less likely
uv peak acts as communicator for the sex of the species
what is the dear enemy effect. why is it adaptive
dont fight those you know, boundaries settle so only respond to unfamiliar signals
it is adaptive because it saves energy in fighting and reduces the chance of death during fighting
define eavesdropping
use of a signal by an uninteneded receiver
define audience
individuals present but not participiating
describe eavesdropping in siamese fighting fish
2 males in same cage will fight
if a third male is present but cant see the fight it is equally likely to fight either fish
if the third male is an audience member then it will fight the loser
where no female audience the males will bite but in an audeince of females they wont bite
females prefer none biting fish
describe the audicence effects in cleaner fish
cleaner fish have small territories where they eat ectoparasites off of other fish
sometimes they bite the fish as well as the ectoparasites
if there is an audience of other fish the frequency of biting decreases
define referential signalling
a specific distinctive signal external to body or emotions a preset agreed upon by the population
describe the referential signalling systems used in velvet monkeys and how we know they are learnt
have three alarm calls
eagle - hide
leopard - run to trees
snake - stand up
young will often respond inccorectly to the calls or make the wrong calls. takes up to 3 years until they stop making mistakes
how can you tell the diference between a juveinle and adult kea
fledglings have a yellow nostril and mandible
juvelines lose their lower mandible
adult has no yellow
how many different calls do kea exhibit
at least 7
give 3 examples of how kea communication is complex
there is an age dimorphism
males and females answer to calls differently
individual dialects e.g. moutn cook kea sound different to mount cook variety
why is a high frequency call adaptive for the kea
in the alpine habitat they have to compete with other noises e.g. water and wind
these noise are a low frequency
desribe how a bird call might change from a city to a native forest. How can this cause a problem for birds
in the city the song is likely to be faster and higher frequency
as a habitat degrades and becomes urbaniised if the syrinx of the bird cannot change frequency they will be unable to communicate
what is the posh name for hiding as an antipredator adaptation
anachoresis
describe the difference between masquerade and background matching and how their is a blured line between the two
masquerade involves altering looks to seem more like another organism whilst background matching tends to be looking like the abiotic environment
leafy sea dragon matches its background which is seaweed which is background matching but to do so it masquerades itself as seaweed which is living
describe how breaking symmetry can improve an organisms ability to be cryptic
most organisms are symmetrical e.g. if a moth sits with one wing up and one wing down it looks less symmetircal and thus less alive
describe the use of chromatophores in active background matching
contain pigments that change the colour of the skin. allow them to match their current background
secondary defence can be either p or a
passive or active
describe the use of eye spots on moth wings
confuses the predator to attack the wing rather than the head
although still bad for the moth it is non lethal so the omoth can go on living
what is a broken wing display
bird preteneds it is injured
lures predator away from its nest
then flies away just before it is attacked
define autotomy
a species removes its own body parts e.g. tails in a lizard
then can be enzymes within the removed obody part that mean it keeps twitiching after removal
what is tonic immobility
feigning death
predator releases the organisms
gives it some time to escape
what is the term for animals trying to mak themseleves look large as a defence mechanism
the size maxximisation principle
give an example of a chemical defence in frogs
teteradoxin in goldern arrow frogs
enough in one frog to kill 200 people
how do monarch butterfies make themseleves toxic
eat milk weed
causes birds to vomit
what is stotting
when an antelopoe jumps up when it sees a predator to show the predator it has seen them
give a group of species where interspecies communication occurs
between different species of tamarin in south ameruca
describe th emethod of retreat in anchorites
anchorites such as hermit crabs will retreat to their shell if they think they are going to lose a fight
the opercula is a method of blocking shells
but this is limited because they cannot feed when hiding
define batesian micmicry
the model is unpalatable and this is advertised by aposamtism
the mimic ispalatable
aposematic organisms are likely to be ………….
monomorphic
why are rare species unlikely to be aposematic
becuase there needs to be a large enough population to recognise the signal as toxic
what four things are needed for aposematism to work
neophobia - fear of new items
avoidance learnt
memory retention
recognition process
define mullarian mimics
all have a secondary defence and look like one and other
how do mimics, mimic ants when ants are not at all visually aposematic
with movement
a mimic must be …….. with the model
sympatric
honest on avergae applies to mimciry
how can mimic species have large populations by getting around this honesty
emerge after the model
drive a polymorphism evolution - i.e. one species mimics several models+
sometimes when the model is very dangerous they will have enough of a deterent effect it doesnt need to be honest on avergae
desccribe how portia spiders are a ´´jack of trades´
they are a detritus mimic so are cryptic but also uses this to attack their prey hence are aggresive mimics
describe the relatoinship of communication between death adders and jacky dragons
death adder has two movement types in its tail fast and slow
its tail is a lure for jacky dragons
jacky dragons respond to the same two types of movement in their prey - bimodal distribution
the snake has learnt the two behavipurs that lure the jacky dragons.
dishonest communication could suggest the animals have a complex understanding of their surrondings, as they need to intentionally decieve. how is this shown to not be true. give an example
evolution could favour those that decieve they dont have to be making a consious decision.
species of orchid dishinestly communicate by looking like female bees which gets them pollintated
give some examples of dishinest communication
birds that cry wolf in feeding stations
transvestie lizards
stomatopods
describe the dishonest communication and why it is adaptive in mantis shrimps
mantis shrimps can smash at 23 meters per second
they molt
before molting the chance of them actually hitting anothermantis shrimp in defence is 36% (higher than normal)
makes others think they are aggresive so they wont get attacked when they are molting
describe how topi use false alarm calls. what % of matings occur after a call
to prevent females leaving territory
lone male makes no calls
male with only other males makes calls only whenpredator around, same when with females not in estrus
when females in estrus are present they will make far more calls
10% of all matings occur after a flase call
describe the action of assain bugs on a spider web
pluck the web with low frequency to mimic spider prey
spider approaches and assain bug eats it
dendrites move signals …. the cell body, axons move signals …. from the cell body
dendrites to
axons from
describe the two types of cell in the eye
rods - sensitive but black and white found in the outer eye
cones - not very light sensitive but see in colour found in the fovea i.e. the centre of the eye
what is a tetra chromatic cone cell
a cone cell or system that determines differences between 4 different colours. usually includes UV light
desccribe how the cockroach responds to the vibrations caused by a frog
cercus on the front of the filaform hairs are mechano receptors
has electrical synapses so very quick
can detect the frog is going to attack before its tounge comes out but stays still until the tounge is out
then moves. the frog cant ajust its attack once the tounge is out so it can then easily escape
describe how the ganglian cells filter out information that is not biologically relevant
there are excitatory cells and inhibitory cells
these are in different areas that represent either prey or predators
e.g. the inner circle is excitatory - the mroe of these cells that are triggered the harder the response, then there is a circle of inhibitory, these reduce the strength of the repsonse because they represent an non bioloigically infomative signal
desccribe the excitatory fields in frogs and what does this tell us about the brain
3
2-4 degrees bug detectors
6-8 is inhibitory
10-15 is a predator detector
can actually know if the singal is prey or predator before the info reaches the brain
why do barn owls have asymmetric ears
amplifies the time difference between sound getting to each ear from above and below
helps locate teh sound
describe how neurones are different in detecting noise from above and below
above are few and wide to hear predators
below are many and small to locate prey
when are organisms most neurally plastic
as infants
describe how you can demonstrate the establishment of synapses in infant owls
vision used to direct learning
put prisim goggles on an owl
neural pathwayis built
hearing is 20 degrees off
what are the two types of hormone
peptide -hydrophiliic and water soluable, have short and long term effects, act on plasma membranes
steroids - hydrophobic and are lipid soluble, long lasting effects e.g. puberty and enter cells directly
what are the two types of effect a hormone can have
activational effects - short term and occur in full developed organisms that trigger behaviours
and organisation effects long term irreversible on tissue differencetaion
describe the effects of the pre natal environment on rat babies
pink males surronded by two ssisters had more estraduol and less testosterone
they were worse dads and caused more infanticide
how can parental hormone levels effect an offsprings chance of survival
female mice injected with testosterone
male offspring had a shorter life span and where more prone to lupus
describe the test on rats for stress utility
train a rat to to find a platform in water
shock 2 mins before test, 30 mins after and 4 hours after.
only imparied gorup was 30 mins because stress is cortiscosterone hormone hence needed time to set in 2 mins didnt have any effect and stress had warned off by 4 hours
how do we know that kea are alpine dispersers
fly long distnces
eat berries - 70% of feeding on snow totora
95% of seeds eaten are intact
fly for 2 hours before pooing
describe the karearea (falcon) for grape program
take falcons from the wild allow them to colonise the vineyards
falcons are a bird predator can take predators 6 times their size
they are threatened due to introduced mammals (ground nestin etc)
they reduced grape removal by 95% and pecked grapes by 55% which meant savings of 234-326$ per hectare
chicks were not underfed and total biomass of food eaten was higher than just the supplemented food. fewer eggs were predated
the falcons also predated on introduced species more than native species so another sucsess
give some costs of group living
pathogen transmission cuckoldry cospecific compeition cannabalism infanticide increased predation
in belding ground squirrels and naked mole rats the ……. size was the main preidictor of …….. load
colony size
parasite load
why is conspecific competition often stronger than intraspecific competition
because the niche is so similar
what are some advantages to group living
dilution advantage
predator defence
other than advantages of group living why may species chose to live in a group
aggregation due to common resourcrs e.g. habitat is good enough food need a paticular place to give birth lek mating species
patchy food resources will favour a group because
it imporves sucsess collectively
reduces variation in efficiency
how does group behaviour effect unsuccsessful foraging individuals
they can follow the lead of others and get food
how do groups act as infomation centres
unsuccsessful follow sucsessful
sucsessfujl communicate
kin selection, youngs fitness increased
how does being in a group reduce predation
many eyes
dilution
confusion e.g. zebras stripes
