Behavior Biology Flashcards
Describe behavior?
- The way an organism responds to stimulus in its environment
- 2 components of behavior: immediate cause and evolutionary origin
What is proximate causation?
- “how” of behavior
- measures hormone level and impulse of nerve signal
What is ultimate causation?
- “why” of behavior
- how behavior influences reproductive success
Describe innate behavior?
- Innate behavior is instinctive (no learning required)
- Sign Stimulus: not specific, can be triggered by certain things then action must go through until completion
ex. anything round triggers goose to pull object into nest like an egg
Describe behavioral genetics?
- behavioral differences among individuals often results from genetic differences
- behaviors can be bred in/out of animals
- genetics play a role in determining behavior
What is associative learning?
- Association between two stimuli or between stimulus and response
- Two types: classical and operant conditioning
Describe classical conditioning?
- The paired presentation of two kinds of stimuli with associative form between them
ex. bell paired with food to make dog salivate
Describe operant conditioning?
-Behavior is associated with reward or punishment
Describe instinct?
- Instinct guides learning
- It determines what info can be learned through conditioning
ex. pigeons can learn to associate food with color but not with sound - Learning possible within genetics
What is imprinting?
- social attachment to other individuals
- develop preferences that will influence behavior later in life
What is filial imprinting?
-attachment between parents and offspring
Describe how behavior develops differently in certain species?
- Some species must learn certain behaviors in order to be able to breed
ex. some male birds learn courtship song when young from hearing it from others - Other species just know certain behaviors that will have them breed
ex. Cuckoos are raised by a different species but still know their own breeding song (innate)
Define migration and navigation?
- Migration: involves a population moving large distances
- Navigation: the ability to set or adjust a bearing (sun/stars=general direction, earths magnetic field=specific path)
What is a stimulus-response chain?
- Behavior of one individual release a behavior by another individual
ex. birds dance before mating
What are examples of long distance communication?
- Pheromones: chemical messengers, sex attractant
- Acoustic Signals: vocal calls, wing clicking
- Light Signals: fireflies
What other roles does communication play?
- Facilitates group living
ex. guards set off an alarm so the group can hide
ex. social insect produce pheromones that trigger attach or foraging behavior
What is behavior ecology?
- The study of how natural selection shapes behavior
- It covers the evolution of behavior
ex. gull nestlings hatch and parents remove shells of eggs because if birds see the shells they feed on the hatchlings
Describe foraging behavior?
- Foraging: involves trade off between food’s energy content and cost of obtaining the food (don’t burn more calories than you burn)
ex. cheetah burns a lot of energy chasing food so the chase must be worth it
Describe the optimal foraging theory?
Natural selection favors individuals whose foraging behavior is energetically efficient
What is the benefit of territorial behavior?
- secures resources
- increases food intake
- exclusive access to females
- BUT must defend against intrusion of other individuals
- during nonmoving season the territory size decreases and aggression decreases
Describe parental investment?
- contributions each sex makes in producing and rearing offspring
- females generally have bigger investment
- Sexual selection: females are selective because its more expensive for them to reproduce (males usually less choosy)
Describe female and male mate choice?
- Female: evaluate males quality, they rarely mate with the first male they encounter
ex. peahens mate with peacocks with more eyespots on their tails - Males: engage in mate choice less than females, compete for available females
Describe extra-pair copulations?
- Mating outside monogamous pair
- AKA social monogamy
ex. Red winged blackbirds: half of nests contain hatchlings fertilized by a male not defending the territory
What’s the advantage for males and females of extra-pair copulations?
- Males: increases number of offspring
- Females: genetically superior individuals are mated with even if the female is paired with another male
What is Altruism?
-Performance of an action that benefits another individual at a cost to the actor
What is Reciprocal Altruism?
- Partnership in which mutual exchanges of altruistic acts occur because they benefit both participants
- Those who don’t participate in this are discriminated against
ex. Vampire bats share a blood meal, if a bat chooses not to share their blood then they won’t be allowed to eat another blood meal
What is Kin Selection?
- direct genetic advantage
- altruism is directed more at those more closely related
What is a Eusocial society?
- have really defined roles
- Hymenoptera (class insecta)
ex. in a bee hive, a single queen lays eggs. The workers don’t lay eggs but just assist the mother in reproduction
What is a society?
-group of organisms of the same species that are organized in a cooperative manner
What are the advantages of being in a society?
- kin selection: greater odds of alleles surviving in the gene pool
- greater protection from predators
- increase feeding/mating success
What are Castes?
- groups of individuals that differ in size and morphology and perform different tasks (polymorphism)
ex. fire ants and leaf-cutter ants perform different tasks
