Behaviour Flashcards
What is behavior and what does it encompass?
Actions with which organisms interact with the
external world, it encompasses manipulation of the environment, responses to stimuli, externally observable muscular activity and social behaviour
What 3 fields on science work together to make up the study on animal behaviour
Ethology, experimental psychology and behavioral ecology
What are Tinbergen’s 4 questions
1. Causation / Mechanism • How is the behaviour achieved? 2. Development • How does the behaviour develop in the individual’s lifetime? 3. Evolutionary history • What is the evolutionary history of the behaviour in the individual’s lineage? 4. Functional significance • What is the behaviour’s current adaptive value?
Which of Tinbergen’s questions are proximate causes?
Causation and development
Which of Tinbergen’s questions are ultimate causes (assume fitness maximising)
Evolutioary History ad Functional Significance
What do behavioural adaptations help an individual to do?
Helps them strive to maximize its inclusive fitness
(i.e. number of gene copies produced by itself,
in its offspring, and, if it is social, by its relatives,
in their offspring)
What is the selfish gene view?
Any gene is selected to influence its bearer
such that the organism acts as if striving to
maximize the spread of the gene (e.g. Dawkins
1976)
What are the reasons for expecting genetic
influences on behaviour?
Adaptation in behaviour presupposes (former) existence of genetic variation for behaviour
No a priori reason why behaviour should differ from morphology in being subject to genetic variation
What is the algebraic definition of an ESS
E (Ma, Ma) > E (Mu, Ma) where E (X,Y) = expected payoff when X plays Y
Define ESS
ESS defined as the strategy that, when in the majority,
cannot be invaded by a mutant strategy
What conclusions can be formed when game theory is applied to aggression in the case of the Hawk Dove game
The composition of a population will effect the best strategy (e.g Hawks do better in a pop of doves than with hawk).
A mixture of fighters and displayers can be stable with the proportions depending on the value of winning relative to the cost of injury. All-fight can be an ESS, but not all-display
How does the value of winning a contest relative to the cost of injury effect the proportions of a Hawk and Dove population
As cost of injury rises, proportion of fighters (or tendency to fight)
should fall
As value of winning rises, proportion of fighters (or tendency to
fight) should rise
What can we conclude is behaviour is adaptive
Behaviour is subject to genetic influences, including those underpinned by one or a few genes
What is one cause for behaviour variations within a population
Frequency dependent mechanisms
What is behaviour a product of
Gene-environment interactions
What is a social action
An action that affects the offspring output or survivorship of other individuals
What is the classification for actions where both the recipient and actor gain
mutual benefit (cooperation)
What is the classification for actions where both the recipient and actor lose
Spite
What is the classification for actions where the recipient loses and actor gains
Selfishness
What is the classification for actions where the recipient gains and actor loses
Altruism
What are the issue with cooperative behaviour
what conditions are required for such cooperation?
how it is kept stable – i.e. how is cheating controlled?
Why cooperation between non-relatives evolve
because actor gains offspring
What did W.D Hamilton (1971) reveal about the selfish herd
He showed that, starting with random positioning of individuals, assuming predators preferentially take
marginal individuals, an aggregation would form if each individual sought to minimize its predation risk
What is the dilution effect?
For any one predator attack, the larger the group of prey animals, the smaller is the chance that any particular individual will the victim
2 examples for dilution effect
Forest tent moth catepillars always forage in groups to reduce predation risk
Redshanks in widely spaced groupings are 35% more likely to be targeted by sparrowhawk predators. (Quinn and Cresswell, 2006)
What is needed for reciprocity to be stable
Requires partner fidelity otherwise A could donate to B, but to the delay B may defect before returning the favour. partner fidelity allows A to punish B, so by defecting B might damage itself.
What does reciprocity propose
It proposes that the basic condition for the evolution of
cooperation (mutual benefit) is that a benefit in one
direction must be returned in the other (reciprocated)
What is altruistic behaviour
behaviour that benefits another not closely related receiver while being apparently detrimental
to the organism actor in terms of inclusive fitness.
What do the benefits of reciprocity rely on
They depend on whether the benefit of the altruistic act to the recipient is greater than the cost of the act to
the performer
How does Triver’s define ‘cheating’
It is the failure to reciprocate
Example of reciprocal altruism in cleaning symbiosis
A cleaning organism such as the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, cleans another
organism e.g the Nassau grouper of ectoparasites,
sometimes entering into the gill chambers
and mouth of the “host” in order to do so
Give an argument as to why warning calls benefits the bird acting.
If the actor doesn’t call, the predator will likely eat a its neighbour, which will increase the chances of the actor being eaten because the predator will
be sustained by the meal,
(ii) be more likely to form a specific search
image of the prey species,
(iii) be more likely to learn the habits of
the prey species and perfect his predatory
techniques on it,
(iv) be more likely to frequent the area in
which the birds live, or
(v) be more likely to learn useful information
about the area in which the birds
live.
Explain a state the solution to a one shot game of the Prisoner’s Dilemma
If Player 1 cooperates, Player 2 does better by
defecting
If Player 1 defects, Player 2 does better by
defecting
Player 2 should always defect
Player 1 ‘reasons’ the same way
Both players always defect, even though both would benefit more from cooperating
In one-shot game, ESS is always to defect
What types of altruistic behaviour do human commit
(1) helping in times of danger (e.g. accidents,
predation, intraspecific aggression;
(2) sharing food;
(3) helping the sick, the wounded, or the
very young and old;
(4) sharing implements; and
(5) sharing knowledge.
What is gross cheating
In gross cheating the cheater fails to reciprocate at all, and the altruist suffers the costs of whatever altruism he has dispensed without any compensating benefit
What is subtle cheating
Subtle cheating involves reciprocating, but always attempting to give less than one was given, or more precisely, to give less than the partner would give if the situation were reversed
What is the tit for tat strategy
First cooperate, then do whatever other
player did on previous move
What are the results for the iterated Prisoner’s dilemma and who found them,
Axelrod and Hamilton (1981) created a computer tournament of several different behaviour strategies
and found that that always defect and tit for tat (if started positively) are ESSs
What does the prisoner dilemma reveal about cooperation in principle
cooperation can spread through reciprocity in a world of selfishness, provided it gets started (e.g. through kinship)
