Behavioural Ecology Flashcards
What is behavioural ecology?
Behavioural ecology is the study of how behaviour affects evolutionary fitness within an animals ecological context
Which of Tinbergen’s 4 ‘questions’/explanations does behavioural ecology fit into?
Adaptive value
Behavioural ecology does also focus on the other questions as well but to varying degrees dependent on the scientists research angle
Adaptive value is usually used to study behavioural ecology because behavioural ecology is often studied in terms of fitness costs and benefits of alternative behaviours
What 3 things does behavioural ecology usually relate to in terms of interactions between things?
Behavioural ecology usually relates to interactions between:
- animals within a population
- animals within an ecological community
- animal interactions with a habitat
How can behavioural differences between individuals lead to genetic differences?
The behavioural differences caused by their genetics can affect the chances of genes passing to the next generation
If the behaviour is more beneficial to the animal it will increase the chances of the genes being passed down the generations
What does behavioural ecology combine?
Ethology
Experimental psychology
What is ethology?
Ethology = the science of animal behaviour
What is experimental psychology?
Experimental psychology = the branch of psychology with the scientific investigation of the responses of individuals to stimuli in controlled situations
What models does experimental psychology use?
Experimental psychology can use either human models or non-human animal models
Behavioural ecology combines ethology and experimental psychology to do look at what 3 things?
1) Mathematical models are generated on an animals decision about:
- when to perform a behaviour
- how to perform a behaviour
2) Understanding how the animals perceptual abilities and motivational systems allow the behaviour to be performed appropriately and in the right context
- This would be looking at Tinbergen’s causal explanation as well as the adaptive value explanation
3) Within behavioural ecology ‘decisions’ don’t have to be conscious ones and can range from physiological to conscious behaviours
- An example of a physiological behaviour would be how many offspring an animal can have
What is an example of how closely linked animals are to the environment?
The decisions about eating:
- when to eat
- what to eat
- where to eat
How can the animals need to eat food that’s right for them be seen in their physiology?
An animals need to eat the correct food can be seen in differences in each animals digestive systems that are adapted to be able to extract nutrients from a particular type of food
What happens if the animals brain isn’t in tune with its digestive tract?
If the animals brain isn’t in tune with the digestive tract it could eat the wrong food which it can’t digest and may develop health issues
However, the animals perceptive systems and sensory perceptions are really tailored towards being attracted to areas and features that are likely to have the correct foods
Within behavioural ecology what kind of questions would you look at?
Do animals behave optimally?
Do they make the best available trade-offs between the costs and benefits of performing the behaviour?
What exactly are the costs and benefits that the animal can perceive?
What is one of the earliest and most famous models used in behavioural ecology?
1 of the earliest and most famous models used in behavioural ecology is the ideal free distribution model
What assumptions does the ideal free distribution model work on?
The ideal free model works on the assumption that when animals choose where to be they’ll assess how much resources are in 1 area and then go to the area with enough resources for them
What is the ideal free distribution model used for?
The ideal free distribution model is used to predict the number of animals in each area
The ideal free distribution model assumes that the number of individual animals in each of the various areas should be proportional to the amount of resources available in each area
This allows you to see how much of a resource an animal will have despite there being other animals using it as well
In the ideal free distribution model what are the areas known as?
Patches
Why is the ideal free distribution model called ideal?
It’s called ideal because it assumes that animals are aware of each patch’s quality, and that the animal sensibly chooses to forage in the highest quality/quantity patch
Why is the ideal free distribution model called free?
It’s free because it also assumes that animals are capable of moving unhindered from 1 patch to another
However, it may not work out that way due to other reasons
In real life ideal free distribution model predictions do come out roughly correct. However what 5 things can influence ideal free distribution models to make them wrong?
Any sort of imperfect knowledge Animal social dynamics Risk of predators at some patches Hassle of moving to another patch Illness or injury
What can we learn if an ideal free distribution model’s prediction fails?
When ideal free distribution models fail it can reveal things about the animals priorities and the constraints on them that cause them to not make the ideal/optimum choice
This means we can understand which factors effect animal decision making more clearly
What are optimality models and how do they work?
Mathematical optimality models are often used to predict what trade offs animals should make
Optimality models basically make predictions about how much behaviour an animal should do
You’d then study the animal to see if the behaviour matches the model and if it doesn’t match you’d then explore the reasons why
Name an optimality models for foraging
Optimality foraging theory models
What assumption do optimality foraging theory models work on?
Optimality foraging theory focuses on the assumption that animals should forage in such a way as to maximise the amount of energy gained
