Behavioral Ecology Flashcards
study of how and why animals interact with each other (both within and among species) and their environment
animal behavior
mechanisms responsible for interactions
proximate questions-how
how these interactions influence an individual’s survival and reproduction
ultimate questions-why
examples
mate choice
predation
intrnxns-envi
male competition
parasitism
foraging
alarm calls
mutualism
nest site selection
parental care
competition
imprinting
why study behavior ecology?
- possible first science
- control/management of species
-understanding/modification of our own behavior
-curiosity - achieve a better understanding of the species we share the earth with
-almost any behavior performed by any animal may be interesting to study
provide indirect evidence that primitive humans observed the behavior of animals
Paleolithic art from 40,000+ years ago
portray herding animals in groups, animal migration, certain predators hunting in packs, and solitary animals alone
cave paintings
cave paintings portray
- herding animals in groups
- animal migration
- certain predators hunting in packs
- solitary animals alone
documented Kalahari bushmen’s (!Kung) knowledge of animal behavior
Blurton-Jones
what did Blurton-Jones documented?
Kalahari bushmen
How do we often interpret animal behavior
anthropomorphism
objective description of behavior in the field, using observation
ethology
coined the term instinct to desc the display patterns of pigeons
C.O. Whitman
a graph of the time course or switch points in a sequence of behaviors, became a way of categorizing species-typical behavior
ethogram
- realized that traits related directly to mate acquisition and mate choice, were distinctly different from other traits under natural selection
-he coined the term sexual selection to emphasize the distinction between the two process
Charles Darwin
what term did Charles Darwin coin
sexual selection
it depends on the success of certain individuals over others of the same sex, in relation to propagation of the species
Sexual selection
founders of the field of animal behavior
Niko Tinbergen
Konrad Lorenz
Karl von Frisch
“for their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behavior patterns” the founders received
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1973
the study of the evolution and functional significance of behavior
modern ethology
examined genetically programmed behaviors in young and imprinting
(ex: young geese; if the hatchlings first encounter a human, they will imprint on him and follow him around as if he were their mother)
Konrad Lorenz
-pioneered studies in bee communication and foraging
-demonstrated that honey bees have color vision
Karl von Frisch
to communicate the location of resources to other bees honey bees use
dance language
-formulated a method studying animal behavior
- his approach had a strong Darwinian influence: understand the ultimate (evolutionary) reasons for behavior
-demonstrated that digger wasps used visual landmarks to relocate their nests
Niko Tinbergen
refers to the organism
A- animal
refers to the observable actions of the organism
B- behavior
refers to the proximate causes of behavior such as genes, hormones, and nerve impulses that control the expression of behaviors
C- causation
refers to the ontogeny of behaviors such as imprinting, or in the case of cognition, learning
D- development
refers to the phylogenetic context in which behaviors are found.
(ex: the prevalence of parental care in birds, but not reptiles is an example of the taxonomic affiliations of some behaviors
E- evolution
refers to the adaptive value or contribution that the behavior makes to fitness
F- function
the ethological approach of Lorenz, Tinbergen, and von Frisch largely focused on the
behavior of organisms in their natural environment
idea of behaviorism
- experimental studies of behavior in the laboratory l, using manipulation “universal principles” of behavior
-his work lead to the development of the use of learning paradigms
B. F. Skinner
what did Skinner invent
Skinner Box
- a synthesis between the evolutionary traditions of modern ethology, and the mechanistic studies of comparative psychology
(Krebs and Davies)
Behavioral ecology and sociology
- how do the principles of modern ethology explain the evolution of complex social systems
- the theory has been the target of much controversy because of its application to humans
(E.O. Wilson)
Sociobiology
- use the approaches of behavioral ecology and sociobiology to explain human behavior (murder, female choice)
evolutionary psychology
The Debate on Nature versus Nurture
what influences behavior - genes or environment?
there is no simple answer, we need to examine the complex interaction between genes and the environment
