Ch.51 Animal Behavior Flashcards
What is a behavior?
An action carried out by the muscles under control of the nervous system.
Broadly speaking, behaviors can be _______ or ______, or a combination of both
innate
learned
What does a more sophisticated nervous system allow for?
More complex behaviors
What do behaviors help animals do?
mnemonic?
Go Ask For Purple Flowers
What do behaviors help animals do?
- Get food
- Avoid predation
- Find mates
- Protect “investments”
- Function socially
Behaviors are subject to natural selection when they?
impact fitness
Behaviors represent a sum of the animal’s responses to?
Stimuli
(external/ internal)
What is ethology? And who are some of the pioneers of ethology as their field of study?
Ethology: The study of animal behavior and their interactions between each other and their environment.
Niko Timbergen, konrad lorenz, karl von fisch, jane goodal.
NT 1st question?
What stimulus elicits behavior and what phycological mechanisms mediate response?
NT 2nd question?
How do experiences in growth and development influence response mechanisms?
NT 3rd question?
What is the evolutionary history of the behavior?
NT 4th question?
How does that behavior aid in survival and reproduction?
NT 4 questions mnemonic?
AB=CDEF
Animal behavior=Cause, development, evolution, function
What is proximate behavior?
HOW a behavior occurs and is modified.
Ex: Ex: genetic. physiological, anatomical mechanisms
What is a ultimate behavior?
WHY a behavior occurs in the context of natural selection.
Ex: evolutionary significance, adaptive.
Which NT questions are proximate and ultimate?
1&2 =proximate
3&4= ultimate
What is innate behavior and what are the attributes of those behaviors?
A behavior that is developmentally fixed and all individuals show the same behavior. Not affected by development or experience
Ex: reflexes, orientation behaviors, fish going upstream, FAP.
What are learned behavior and the attributes of learned behaviors?
Influences by the environment, modified by experience, change is persistent.
Ex: conditioning, habituation, imprinting
What is conditioning?
learning to ignore stimulation, repetitive, fail to produce relevant consequence
What is habituation?
Gradual desensitization of an animal or person to a stimuli after repeated exposure.
no longer fear humans. Ex: annoying seaguls.
What is imprinting?
Phase-sensitive, learning “window” specific development period
What is a fixed action pattern?
Sequence of unlearned acts directly linked to a simple stimulus. “unchangeable” carried to completion and triggered by sign stimulus.
Ex: moth path flight, male stickleback fish (red stimulus)
What are the two types of conditioning?
Classical and Operant
What kind of behavior is imprinting?
Learned behavior
What is migration?
a regular long-distance change in location
What are cognitive maps?
A representation in an animal’s nervous system or the spatial relationships between objects in its surroundings.
What is an example of an animals using a cognitive map?
Bird kept track of halfway point between landmarks, rather than fixed distance, to find hidden food stores, hidden seeds for winter.
Define signals in the study of behavior?
A stimulus transmitted from one organisms to another
Define communication in the study of behavior?
Transmission and reception of signals between animals (often has a role in proximate causation. HOW)
4 types of communication?
Chemical, auditory, tactile, visual.
What are cross-fostering studies?
Young of one species are places in care of adults from another species or a similar environment. Extent to which offspring behavior changes in situation provides measure of how social and physical environment influences behavior.
What are the two broad categories of mating systems?
Monogamous
Polygamous
What is monogamous mating system?
one male with one female
What is polygamous mating system?
one sex with many others
“Mating systems” describes…
the length and number of relationships between males and females.
What is sexual selection:
form of natural selection in which differences in reproductive success among individuals are consequence of mating success.
What are the two types of sexual selection?
Intersexual selection: members of one sex chose mates on basis of characteristics of other sex
Intrasexual selection: competition between members of one sex for mates
Innate behaviors are (5)
- heritable
- intrinsic
- stereotypic
- immutable “fixed”
- complete
Learned behaviors are (5)
- not heritable
- extrinsic
- permutable
- adaptable
- progressive
What is a FAP
a sequence of unlearned acts directly linked to a simple stimulus. They are usually unchangeable and once initiated are carried to completion.
What is sign stimulus?
it is the trigger for behavior and an external cue
How do animals migrate?
They use environmental cues to guide them. Some of these cues include tracking their position relative to the sun’s position, adjusting with the circadian clock (internal mechanism), and sensing the magnetic field.
What is a circadian rhythm?
This is a big role in animals daily activities. It is normally synchronized with light and dark cycles.
What is a circannual rhythm?
These reflect longer behaviors and is a longer cycle, usually a year. Still influenced by daylight and darkness and lunar cycle with tides.
Ex: crabs link reproduction to times of greatest tide movement.
The form of communication an animal uses is closely related to the…
lifestyle and environment of the animal
Most terrestrial animals use what two forms of communication?
Olfactory and auditory
Most birds and humans use what two forms of communication?
Visual and auditory
Animals that communicate through odors and tastes emit what chemical substance?
Pheromones
Pheromones are common in…
insects and mammals related to reproductive behavior
Pheromones can serve as _______ signals and can travel _____ distances.
alarm
long
Learning is
a modification of behavior because of a result of specific experiences. Involves the formation of memories.
When does imprinting occur?
During a specific time of development called the sensitive period. This is a time when young imprint on parent and learn basic behaviors while parents learn to recognize offspring.
What is spatial learning?
the establishment of a memory that reflects environments spatial structure.
What is associative learning?
The ability to associate an environmental feature (like color) with another (foul taste).
Associate learning paired with a reward or punishment is?
Operant conditioning or trial and error learning
Do all animals have associate learning?
Not all animals. Some can’t learn to make particular associations that seem logical.
The most complex forms of learning involve?
Cognition
What is cognition?
the process of knowing that involves awareness, reasoning, recognition, and judgement.
Information processing of a nervous system can be revealed in ______ _______?
problem solving
Problem solving is….
cognitive activity of devising a method to proceed from one condition to another in the face of real obstacles.
What is social learning?
Learning through observing and interpreting behaviors and their consequences.
What does social learning forms the roots of?
Culture
What is culture?
A system of information transfer through social learning or teaching that influences the behavior of individuals in a population.
What is fitness?
An organisms’ ability to survive and reproduce.
Reproductive success
What is foraging?
food obtaining, eating, any activities the animal uses to search, recognize, and capture food.
What is the optimal foraging model?
A natural selection that should favor foraging behavior that minimizes the costs of foraging and maximizes benefits.
Benefits of nutrition vs. cost
What are some ways prey forage?
In groups, cost of vigilance is higher (more eyes), and they use alarm calls.
Mating behaviors and success determine…
Reproductive success
Characteristics of a monogamous relationship…
Both sexes look alike, pair bonds only during breeding season, mostly birds, extra-pair bonds= cheating
Characteristics of polygamous relationship…
the sex that attracts multiple mating partners are typically showier and larger than the opposite sex.
What are the two types of a polygamous relationship?
Polygynous
Polyandrous
What is a polygynous relationship?
1 male, many females; Males larger are showier
What is a polyandrous relationship?
1 female, many males: females are larger and showier
T/F the needs of a young can constrain the evolution of mating systems?
True
A situation where young birds can fend and take care of themselves (independent from parents) often implies….
That males will maximize fitness with polygynous relationship
What is certainty of paternity?
When the female (males) is certain the eggs laid are hers
Certainty of paternity is higher with what type of fertilization?
External because the egg laying and mating occur at the same time as opposed to internal fertilization which has a higher time between fertilization and egg laying.
What is sexual selection? and what does it often result in?
Choosing a mate and the process of getting that mate. It often results in sexual dimorphism.
How do females choose their mates?
They look for the physically healthy and attractive males because this ensures their offspring will have a high fitness level. Ex: males that are attractive to other females= good mate. Ex: mates that resemble their father.
How to males choose their mates?
They often compete for their mate with other males. Often results in reduced variation among males.
What is the game theory?
It evaluates alternative strategies in situations where outcome depends on strategies of all individuals involved.
Ex: rock, paper, scissors of lizards
What is the difference between “home range” and “territory”?
Home range: area normally transversed during daily activities
Territory: portion of home range that is protected exclusively by aggression and advertisement.
What is the antidiuretic hormone (ADH) or vasopressin?
A peptide released during mating, and it binds to specific receptor in CNS.
When behavioral variation between populations of species correlates with variation in the environment this is due to…
natural selection
What is inclusive fitness?
The total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing its own offspring and by providing aid that enables other close relatives to produce offspring.
The exchange of aid between non-relatives is?
Reciprocal altruism
What is sociobiology?
certain behavioral characteristics exist because they are expressions of genes perpetuated by natural selection.
What is classical conditioning?
stimulation associated with a reward or punishment
What is operant conditioning?
behavior associated with a reward or punishment
