Chapter 01 Flashcards
the coordinated responses of whole living organisms to internal and external stimuli
behavior
the study of relationships between organisms and their environment and how they interact
ecology
the study of behavior and its causes
ethology
the study of the behavior and mental processes of animals in order to understand human behavior
Comparative psychology
passed from parent to offspring via genes
heritable traits
measurement of genetic variation of a particular trait within a population
heritability
behaviors that are passed from one generation to the next
Ex. crows using cars to open their nuts
cultural transmission
what does behavioral ecology focus on?
the study of relationships that benefit fitness
how is behavioral ecology an integrative field?
It is integrative because it is using both psychological and genetic factors to explain evolution and animal behavior
what are the benefits of studying animal behavior?
learning how to hunt animals, learn more about ourselves, rid pests and control disease, learn how to care for animals, conserve species, and scientific curiosity
what are the 4 types of animal behavior questions?
- mecanistic or causation
- developmental
- survival value or funciton
- evolutionary/ phylogenetic
What specific process causes this behavior? (proximate)
Mechanistic or causation
How does the behavior change over time as the animal develops? (proximate)
Developmental
What is the survival benefit to that behavior? (ultimate)
Survival value or function
How did the behavior evolve? (ultimate)
evolutionary/ phylogenetic
understanding IMMEDIATE cause of behavior (up close)
proximate questions
understanding EVOLUTIONARY forces that make up the behavior (zoomed out picture)
ultimate questions
genetic/ instinctual behaviors
innate
passed from parent to offspring
heritable traits
born with that knowledge
inflexible
modified over an individual’s life based on experiences
learned
what are the pros to learned behaviors?
good for dynamic environments, able to evolve over time though learned behaviors
what are the cons to learned behaviors?
could learn the wrong behavior, requires time to learn
what is heritability?
measurement of genetic variation of a trait in a population
what is the difference in high vs low heritability?
High - trait controlled by genes
Low - trait influenced by environment
short quick behavior
event
long lasting behavior
state
a catalog of all behaviors observed for a species
Measures frequency/ duration of behaviors
ethogram
what are the 4 methods to sampling behavior?
- ad libitum
- focal animal sampling
- behavioral samplin g
- instantaneous scan sampling
- Ad libitum
Informal
Record as much info as possible
Used for planning
- Focal animal sampling
Time length of sample
Unbiased
Specific behaviors recorded
- Behavioral sampling
1 behavior
Rate of occurrence
Only for obvious behaviors
- Instantaneous scan sampling
Pre-selected moments
State behaviors sampled
Observes all member of a group
what are disadvantages of using ad lib sampling?
you may not catch every detail of the behaviors
what is anthropomorphism?
giving human qualities to animals, or explaining animal behavior in terms of human like thinking and reasoning
what are examples of anthropomorphism?
Ex. assuming a bee stung you bc it was mad
Ex. assuming a cuckoo is lazy bc it left its eggs in the nests of other species
