Biology Unit 4.6 - Behaviour

Question 1

What is innate behaviour?

Answer 1

Behaviours that are inherited and ‘instinctive’

Question 2

What is an escape reflex?

Answer 2

A rapid automatic response to a stimulus with a protective function that enhances survival

Question 3

What is kinesis?

Answer 3

Non-directional, random movements of a whole organism, where in unfavourable conditions the organism moves quickly with few turns, while in favourable conditions slowly with more turns

Question 4

What are taxes?

Answer 4

Directional responses by the whole organism moving towards (positive) or away from (negative) a stimulus

Question 5

What is learned behaviour?

Answer 5

Behaviours based on past experience and can be modified

Question 6

What is habituation?

Answer 6

Learning to ignore a stimulus as it brings neither reward or punishment

Question 7

What is imprinting?

Answer 7

Happens early in young animals, where they become attached to the first larger moving object they detect, which is reinforced by gaining food/warmth from the object

Question 8

What is conditioning?

Answer 8

Type of associative behaviour in which a particular stimulus is linked to a particular response

Question 9

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 9

Form of conditioning where an artificial stimulus is associated with a natural stimulus, causing it to provoke a similar/the same response

Question 10

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 10

Association of particular behaviours with reward or punishment

Question 11

What is exploration/latent learning?

Answer 11

Exploratory learning, by which animals explore new surroundings and learn, enhancing survival

Question 12

What is insight learning?

Answer 12

Instance where a solution to a problem is found by accident but is immediatelt applied in the future

Kohler put bananas out of a chimp’s reach, where the only way to get them was through joining two sticks together, which was done every time once the chimp had worked it out

Question 13

What is imitation?

Answer 13

Behaviour where animals learn by observing others e.g., the spread of tool use in chimpanzes

Question 14

What is social behaviour?

Answer 14

Describes interaction between members of the same species

Question 15

How are social groups formed?

Answer 15

Social behaviour requires communication, which starts with one individual producing a signal (sign stimulus) that is detected by another

May trigger an innate response by activating nerve pathways that cause coordinated movements, called stereotyped behaviours of fixed action (FAPs)

Are complex and can be changed by experience, and is also affected by motivational state e.g., hungry cheetah stalking prey compared to a cheetah that is not hungry and not pursuing an animal

Question 16

What are the advantages of social groups?

Answer 16

• Provides protection from predators
• Food sharing
• Increased mate availability

Question 17

What are the disadvantages of social groups?

Answer 17

• Increased competition for mates and food
• Increased spread of diseases
• Higher visibility to predators

Question 18

Explain social behaviour in insects…

Answer 18

Social insects live in colonies, which are split into different groups called castes, which each perform different roles e.g., bee colonies; fertile female queen, sterile female worker bees, and fertile male bees (drones)

Question 19

Explain social behaviour in vertebrates?

Answer 19

Social groups are constrcuted according to a dominance hierarchy, where a higher ranking individual is dominant over a lower ranking individual

Most hierarchies are linear, meaning no member is equal

Question 20

Explain communication in social insects?

Answer 20

Communication within bee colonies is done through pheromones, physical touch and ‘dances’ (visual orientation displays), where ‘dances’ let other bees know the location of a nectar source and are performed on a vertical plane

Types of ‘dances’:
* Round - Nectar source is less than 70m from the hive, but no direction is indicated
* Waggle - Nectar source is greater than 70m from the hive, provides information about the exact distance, as well as direction relative to the hive and the Sun’s position

Question 21

What are the advantages of dominance hierarchies?

Answer 21

• Reduces aggression in reference to feeding, breeding-site selection, and mate selection
• Food sharing ensures the ‘fittest’ survive
• Stable once established
• Fighting for position is used as a last resort

Question 22

What occurs when fighting for position?

Answer 22

Used as a last resort, which follows a fixed action pattern, where each reflex is stimulated by the last action (sign stimulus) of the other individual, with the winner taking the higher rank within the hierarchy

Question 23

What is courtship?

Answer 23

Process used to attract a mate, allowing for species and gender recognition, receptiveness to mating and maintain pair bonds for care of the young, enhancing their survival

Question 24

What are courtship behaviours?

Answer 24

Innate behaviours which often follow a fixed action pattern

Question 25

What is sexual dimorphism?

Answer 25

Process where the appearance of male and female members of a species appear different

Question 26

What is sexual selection?

Answer 26

Works against natural selection to highlight characteristics, as opposed to making them less conspicuous, where two theories exist

Question 27

What is intra-sexual selection/male-to-male combat?

Answer 27

In species where males are bigger they fight for sexual access to many females, where this form of selection has favoured the evolution of larger, more aggressive males

Question 28

What is inter-sexual selection/female choice?

Answer 28

Selection where females choose the ‘fittest’ male based on the physical attractiveness model and male handicap model

Question 29

What is territory?

Answer 29

An area consistently defended against members of the same species, which allows for efficient exploitation of resources, and can occur by display, vocalisations or scent marking