Behavioral Ecology Flashcards
Responses of animals to Environmental cues
Behavior
Behavior is controlled by ___ and ___ systems.
Nervous, endocrine
Innate Behavioral Types (3)
Heritable
Stereotypic
Intrinsic
(Example: Making nests and newborn reflexes)
Learned Behavioral Types (3)
Nonheritable
Adaptable
Extrinsic
Founder of animal behavior
Studied instinctive behavior in animals
-principle of IMPRINTING in ground nesting birds
-Greylag geese experiment
Konrad Lorenz
Initial use of experimental methods in behavior
Studied senses of bees
Identified bee communication
-Translated meaning of the waggle dance
-Length and number of waggles=distance
– Angle of waggle run to vertical of hive = angle of
food from sun
Karl von Frisch
Questions to ask about any behavior according to Nikolass (Niko) Tinbergen (4):
Causation - what are the proximate causes?
Development - what is the ontogeny/development
Function - what is the survival value?
Evolution - what is the evolutionary history?
Originated 4 questions to ask about any behavior:
Causation
Development
Function
Evolution
Cornerstone of modern ethology
Worked with Lorenz on fixed action patterns
Nikolass (Niko) Tinbergen
Examine HOW an animal behaves
-Factors behind a biological system working at a particular time and place
-Mechanisms and structures within an animal that produce the behavior
Proximate causes
Examine WHY they behave that way
-Identify and reconstruct evolutionary history of the behavior
-Purpose of this behavior
-Evolution of the behavior
-Adaptability of the behavior
Ultimate causes
Programmed by genes
Highly stereotyped
Innate behaviors
Four categories of Innate Behaviors:
Kinesis: random movement in response to stimulus
Taxis: deliberate movement toward or away from a stimulus
Reflex
Fixed action pattern (FAP)
Stereotyped often complex series of movements
-Response to a specific stimulus = ‘releaser’
-Fully functional 1st time performed (completed fully once started)
-Not modified by experience
Fixed Action Patterns
Examples of fixed action patterns:
Suckling behavior of newborns
Egg retrieval of greylag goose
Courtship rituals
yawning
Acquired during an animal’s lifetime
Modified by experiences
Learned Behavior
Learned behavior Categories (6)
-Imprinting
-Habituation
-Associative learning
-Problem solving
-Spatial learning (cognitive mapping)
-Social learning
Occurs during a ‘sensitive’ or ‘critical’
development period
Imprinting
Decline in response to a harmless,repeated stimulus
Acts as a filter
– Prevents wasting energy on irrelevant stimuli
Adaptive
Habituation
Prairie dog warning calls decrease when homes near human pop.
Forms association between
2 stimuli
Associative Learning
Type of conditioning where Animal learns to perform old
response to new stimulus
* Stimulus 1st, behavior 2nd
* Pavlov’s dogs
Classical conditioning
Type of conditioning with Trial-and-error learning
Perform behavior to receive
reward or avoid punishment
* Behavior 1st, reward 2nd
* Clicker training
Operant conditioning
- Manipulate concepts to arrive at an adaptive behavior
- Internal memory used as additional
sensory/information source - Mental trial-and-error
Problem solving
Enables an animal to learn and use
information about its physical
environment
– Bees and wasps use to locate nest
* Tinbergen used digger wasp nests to test
Spatial Learning
– Internal representation of spatial
relationships in an animal’s surroundings
Cognitive mapping
Piloting and homing animals
find their way by orienting to
these landmarks
Migration
Involves observing and imitating members of
the same species
– Food washing in Japanese macques
* Female learns and imitated by younger group members
– Calling by vervet monkeys
* Young vs adult
* Eagle vs snake vs any flying animal
Social Learning
Types of Individual Behavior (4)
Foraging
Communication
Moving
Grooming
Types of Foraging Individual Behavior
Eating
Searching
Recognizing
Capturing
Types of Communication Individual Behavior
Visual
Auditory
Chemical
Tactile
- Involves interactions with members of the same species
Social Behavior
Types of Social Behavior (4)
– Affiliative: promote group cohesion
– Agonistic (aggressive)
* Territorality
* Dominance
– Reproductive
– Parental
Advantages of Social Behavior (4)
– Hunting efficiency
– Protection from predators
– Energy conservation
– Access to mates
Disadvantages of Social Behavior (4)
– Increased competition within group
– Increased risk of infection
– Risk offspring being killed by group
– Risk of being spotted by predators
- Occur over limited resources
- Threats, displays, or combat
– Displays often to minimize injury - Reinforce social hierarchy
– Stable for periods of time
– Alpha individual and others understand position
Agonistic Behavior
- Establishing and maintaining a space
- Requires maintenance of boundaries
– Olfactory marking
– Singing
– Occasional physical interactions - Size of territory depends on required
maintenance - Access to resources and mates
Territoriality
Requires Communication
Conditions for Success
Mating Systems
Sexual Reproduction
Sexual Reproduction Communication (3)
– Stereotyped displays (FAPs)
– Sexual dimorphism
– Pheromones
Sexual Reproduction Conditions of Success (3)
– Identify species
– Identify opposite sex
– Identify availability
Sexual Reproduction Mating Systems (3)
– Promiscuous
– Monogamous
– Polygamous
Parental Behavior (4)
- Approaches and care for
young
– Maternal, paternal, both, or
none - Defense
– Maternal aggression - Feeding
- Nest building
- List of natural behaviors in an animal
– Can be individual or social
– Based on natural or semi-natural environmental
observations - Distinguishes frequencies and durations of
behaviors
– Seasonal and geographic effects
– Gender and development effects
Ethogram
Preparing an Ethogram
- List different behaviors expected to see
– Organize into types
+Solitary or social
+Food or reproductive related
+Affiliative or aggressive
– Multiple individuals need identification codes - Prepare a chart to allow monitoring
– Break into a given time increment (1-2 minutes good)
– Record everything done as checks and/or letter
designator for each period - Glossary explains detailed behaviors for other observers to interpret
Sample Ethogram Glossary Solitary type Behavior (4)
Groom Self (GS)
Sleep (S)
Rest (R)
Locomote (L)
Sample Ethogram Glossary Food Related Behavior (3)
Eat (E)
Look for Food (LF)
Drink (D)
Sample Ethogram Glossary Social type Behavior (2)
Groom Others (GO)
Play (P)
Sample Ethogram Glossary Aggressive type Behavior (2)
Fight (F)
Steal Food (SF)
The main feature of the NCA is the ___, a large
volcanic caldera. The crater, which formed when a giant volcano exploded
and collapsed on itself some two to three million years ago, is 610 m
(2,000 ft) deep and its floor covers 260 km2
(100 sq mi).
Ngorongoro Crater (Serengeti National Park)
What are the “Big Five”
Lion
African Leopard
African Elephant
Black Rhinoceros
African Buffalo
