Ch 39 Ecology (Behavior) Flashcards
Integrates proximate and ultimate explanations for animal behavior
Behavioral ecology
What are the four questions that Niko Tinbergen identified should be asked about animal behavior
What stimulus elicits the behavior and what physiological mechanisms mediate the response ?
How does the animal’s experience during growth and development influence the response?
How does the behavior aid survival and reproduction?
What is the behavior’s evolutionary history?
Addresses “how” a behavior occurs or is modified.
Proximate causation
Addresses “why” a behavior occurs in the context of natural selection
Ultimate causation
What stimulus elicits the behavior and what mechanisms mediate the response?
How does the animal’s experience during growth and development influence the response?
Proximate causation
How does the behavior aid survival and reproduction?
What is the behavior’s evolutionary history?
Ultimate causation
A sequence of unlearned innate behavior that is unchangeable
Fixed action pattern
What happens when a fixed action pattern is initiated?
It is usually carried to completion
How is a fixed action pattern usually triggered
By an external cue known as a sign stimulus
Give an example of a fixed action pattern
Tinbergen observed male stickleback fish who attack when the stimulus of a red underside is present.
As long as some red is present, the fish attack even when presented with unrealistic models
A regular, long distance change in location
Migration
How do animals orient themselves when it comes to migration
Position of the sun and their circadian clock
Position of sun or stars
Earth’s magnetic field
An internal 24-hr activity rhythm or cycle
Circadian clock
What are behaviors that are influenced by a circannual rhythm (changing seasons)
Migration
Reproduction
What are common seasonal cues
Daylight
Darkness
Affect tidal movements
Some behaviors are linked to this also
Lunar cycles
A behavior that causes a change in another animal’s behavior
Signal
Transmission and reception of signals
Communication
How do animal’s communicate
Using visual
Chemical
Tactile
And auditory signals
What three step stimulus response chain does fruit fly courtship follow
Visual
Tactile
Auditory communication
Chemical substances emitted through odors
Pheromones
What type of communication does nocturnal animals rely on
Olfactory and auditory
What type of communication does diurnal animal’s rely on
Visual and auditory
Developmentally fixed and does not vary among individuals
Innate behavior
Places the young from one species in the care of adults from another species
Cross-fostering study
Allow researchers to compare the relative influence of genetics and environment on behavior in humans
Twin studies
Helps to identify the contribution of environment to an animal’s behavior
Cross fostering study
The modification of behavior based on specific experiences
Learning
The establishment of a long-lasting behavioral response to a particular individual
Imprinting
A specific time in which imprinting can only occur
Sensitive period
A limited developmental phase that is the only time when certain behaviors can be learned
Sensitive period
Who experimented on baby geese when it came to
Imprinting
Konrad Lorenz
The establishment of a memory that reflects the spatial structure of the environment
Spatial learning
An internal representation of spatial relationships between objects in an animal’s surroundings
Cognitive map
Animal’s associate one feature of their environment with another
Associative learning
Process of knowing that may include awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgement
Cognition
The process of devising a strategy to overcome an obstacle
Problem solving
Learning through the observation of others and forms the roots of culture
Social learning
A system of information transfer through observation or teaching that influences behavior of individuals in a population
Culture
What can culture alter
Behavior and influence the fitness of individuals
What does behavior enhance in a population
Survival and reproductive success
A behavior essential for survival and reproduction that includes recognizing, capturing, and eating food items
Foraging
Refines behavior that enhances the efficiency of feeding
Natural selection
What does natural selection favor and depend on
Favors different alleles depending on the density of the population
Includes seeking or attracting mates, choosing among potential mates, competing for mates, and caring for offspring
Mating behavior
One male mates with one female
Monogamous relationship
Significance of males and females in monogamous mating relationships
Look very similar
Individual of one sex mates with several of the other
Polygamous
In polygamous mating systems makes and females are usually
Sexually dimorphic
One male mates with many females
Makes more showy and larger than females
Polygynous
One female mates with many males
The females are often more showy than the males
Polyandrous
When the young need continuous supply of food
How does make maximize his reproductive success
Staying with his mate and caring for his young (monogamy)
When young can soon feed and care for themselves
How does make maximize reproductive success
By seeking additional mates (polygyny)
Influences parental care and mating behavior
Certainty of paternity
What is the paternal certainty in species with internal fertilization
Paternal certainty is low because mating and birth are separated over time
How is parental care in external fertilization
Just as likely to be by males as by females
Results from sexual selection, a form of natural selection
Sexual dimorphism
Members of one sex choose mates on the basis of certain traita
Intersexual selection
Involves competition between members of the same sex for mates
Intrasexual selection
Type of intersexual selection
Courtship
The total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing offspring and helping close relatives produce offspring
Inclusive fitness
Three key variables in an altruistic act
Benefit the recipient
Cost the altruist
Coefficient of relatedness
