Ch. 45 Animal Behavior Flashcards
behavior
anything the animal does and how it does it
-response to a stimulus
what are tinbergen’s four questions?
- causation
- development
- adaptive function
- evolutionary history
causality
- proximate: HOW (what stimulus triggered this? what are genetic/physiological mechanisms of this behavior?)
- ultimate: WHY (why did natural selection favor this behavior? how does behavior improve fitness?)
example: the spiny lobster forages at night and returns to its den before dawn. what are proximate and ultimate causes of this behavior?
proximate: HOW they navigate at night? physiological mechanism to guide them in the dark with the earth’s magnetism
ultimate: WHY do they navigate at night? hunting for food under cover of darkness protects them from predation
behavior is a combination of _____ and _____ factors
genetic and environmental
development
how did the behavior develop?
- genes and the environment shaping behavior
- ex. bird sings because he learned to sing form his father
adaptive function
- behavior and how its promotes the survival/reproduction of individuals
- ex. male bird sings because it attracts females = more reproduction
evolutionary history
how behavior evolved over time
- complex bird songs evolved because ancestors sang over time and the songs became habituated in the population
- bird songs may have evolved because originally used to claim territories, but now used to attract mates
innate behaviors
instinctive and carried out regardless of earlier experiences
-male bombyx moth innately flies toward female pheromones (does not need to learn this, does it spontaneously)
learned behaviors
depend’s on an individual’s experiences
-fruit flies avoid flying toward area where they had an unpleasant experience
displays
patterns of behavior that are species specific, tend to be highly repeatable, and similar from one individual to the next
- example of a fixed action pattern
- birds who are isolated usually still perform the same displays as their own species of birds
fixed action pattern (FAP)
- series of behaviors that are automatically followed through to completion once initiated
- innate
- behavior s so important that all variaiton has been lost
-ex. goose egg retrieval, fish attacking automatically
key stimulus
example - misplaced egg
“trigger”
supernormal stimulus
-soccer ball instead of an egg
supernormal because the soccer ball is way larger than any egg and causes an exaggerated response
feature detectors
carries out stimulus recognition
- specialized sensory receptors that respond to important signals in the environment
- sometimes these responses trigger the release of certain hormones
hormones can affect _____
behavior
ex. testosterone
learning
when experiences lead to changes in behavior
non associative learning
learning that occurs in the absence of any particular outcome (such a punishment/reward)
-“habituation” and “sensitization” is a type of associative learning
habituation
-examples: initially, chicks crouch when a shadow is over them, but they learn to stop crouching because there is no real threat
decreased response to a stimulus over time
less sensitive to each subsequent response
sensitization
increased response to a stimulus over time
more sensitive to each subsequent response
associative learning (conditioning)
animal learns to link (associate) two events
- classical
- operative
classical conditioning
when two stimuli are paired that have nothing to do with each other
-example: dogs hear ringing bell sound/receive meat powder (eventually, dogs salivate at the sound of the bell alone)
operant conditioning
linking a behavior with a reward or punishment
-reward leads to more occurrences of a behavior, punishment leads to less of a particular behavior
ex: training a dog to pee/poop outside
type of conditioning where association is made between a stimulus and a behavior
classical
type of conditioning where association is made between a behavior and a response
operant
imitation
one individual copies another
ex: octopus learns to open a jar by watching a human do it
imprinting
type of learning typically seen in young animals
-young animals acquire a certain behavior in response to key experiences during a critical part of their development
filial imprinting
- usually irreversible
- the first being that a hatchling sees is its parent
- typical in animals whose offspring leave the nest and walk around while still young (they need to know who their parents are)
- NOT typical in offspring whose young stay in the nest
kineses
random, undirected movements
ex: paramecium flails when it is in uncomfortable water temperatures, but is not moving toward anything, just random movement for discomfort
taxes (taxis)
movements in a specific direction in response to a stimulus
ex: bacteria moving toward a magnetic field
why are female usually pickier about their mate choices?
females must invest more energy into making eggs, so they make sure they find a good mate who will input good genes and lead to the most successful reproduction possible
circadian clock
regulate many daily rhythms in animals such as feeding, sleeping, eating, reproduction, core body temp, hormones
migration
the long distance movement of a population associated with the change in seasons/resources
piloting
use of familiar landmarks
-In many birds and mammals, young follow their
parents and memorize the route
compass orientation
movement in a particular direction
– Using the sun, stars, or the Earth’s magnetic field
communication
transfer of information between two individuals (sender and receiver)
sender
supplies signal that elicits a response form a receiver
bright petals of a flower signal to an insect that pollen/nectar are available
ritualization
- making behavior more obvious
- reducing amount of variaiton of the behavior
- separate behavior form the original function
ex: scent markings for territory (original function was to eliminate waste, now pee on things to mark your territory)
advertisement displays
- individuals draw attention to their status
- complex bird songs, cricket calls, frog sounds
altruism
self sacrifice
-decrease the fitness of the organism exhibiting the behavior and increase the fitness of the recipient
- group works better as a unit
- self sacrifice trumps selfish behavior in terms of natural selection
this is GROUP SELECTION
evolutionary stable strategy
behavior that is not readily driven to extinction by an alternative strategy
reciprocal altruism
individuals exchange favors
kin selection
- individual can have offspring
- individual can have no offspring and help to raise another individual instead who is related to them
(hamilton’s rule)
eusocial
overlapping generations live in the same nest
optimal foraging theory
what should I eat and how cheap can I get it?
-States that animals make decisions that maximize the intake of usable energy
- Usable energy = the energy taken in minus the energy spent looking for & ingesting food
- Also must take into account the risk of being eaten while foraging
example: if birds travel far, its more cost effective to forage a lot of insects to make the travel worth their time
sexual selection
traits evolve that increase the probability of finding/attracting mates
sexual dimorphism
phenotypic differences between sexes
ex: male and female lions look very different
males are usually more showy because they must attract mates, also they do not use a lot of energy in making sperm. females use a lot of energy to make eggs and are usually not as showy
intrasexual selection
is when members of the same sex (within a species) compete with each other in order to gain opportunities to mate with others
e.g. the male against male competition for females
intersexual selection
selection based on one sex of the species preferring some characteristic in the other sex of the species
ex: female peacocks tend to prefer male peacocks with bright plumage: a brightly colored male peacock has a selective advantage
