CHAPTER 4 Behavioral Ecology Flashcards
Why humans studied animal behavior?
Knowledge of animal behavior was essential to _______ _______.
The modern scientific discipline of behavioral ecology studies how behavior ________, evolves, and ________ to survival and reproductive success.
human behavior
develops
contributes
are defined as actions in response to stimuli, and almost all organisms exhibit some form of behavior.
All — are encoded by ________ at some level and are therefore subject to evolutionary processes like genetic drift and natural selection.
behavior
genes
What is behavior?
Behavioral traits are an important part of an animal’s _____.
Animal behavior includes all the _________ ______ _______ with other organisms and the physical environment.
Both an innate component and a learned component.
Behavior is shaped by natural selection. Many behaviors directly increase an organism’s fitness, that is, they help it survive and reproduce.
phenotype
ways animals interact
2 Classes of Behavior
1.________ behaviors are genetically inherited by an organism from its parents.
Examples:
Web making in spiders
Nest building in birds
Fighting among male stickleback fish
Cocoon spinning in insects such as moths
Swimming in dolphins and other aquatic species
Innate
2 Classes of Behavior
2.____________ behaviors are not inherited. They develop during an organism’s experience and environmental influence.
Examples:
a. By watching their mother, baby ducks learn how to avoid danger and to know what is good to eat
b. When bacteria sense a critical mass, they change their own behavior; Releasing a toxin swimming away
c. Tropism- movement of plant toward or away from the stimulus.
Learned
Proximate vs. Ultimate Causes
how the behavior arises in animals. (hereditary, developmental, structural, cognitive, psychological, and physiological aspects of behavior).
Proximate causes
Proximate vs. Ultimate Causes
e.g., Animal separated from the herd may exhibit behaviours associated with fear reactions (such as elevated heart rate, shaking, and hypersensitivity to sounds) which cause it to behave in ways that increase its chances of reuniting with the group.
________ cause of these fear-based behaviors
Proximate cause
Proximate vs. Ultimate Causes
the evolutionary history and functional utility of the behavior.
Ultimate causes
Proximate vs. Ultimate Causes
e.g. Isolated herd animal, the development of a better defense against predators that results in increased survival of individuals remaining in groups would be a/an _______ cause for the tendency to reunite with the herd.
Ultimate causes
Proximate vs. Ultimate Causes
For example, if a zebra is drinking at a water hole, and all of a sudden it hears another zebra nearby make an alarm call, it may stop drinking immediately and start running away instead.
Which is proximate cause and ultimate cause?
The “proximate cause” is the immediate trigger for a behavior.
The ultimate cause, or real (evolved) reason why the zebra is running? For its survival.
Proximate vs. Ultimate Causes
________ cause (the —-) of the stickleback attack behavior is A red visual cue. The ________ cause (the —-) of the behavior is to protect their offspring, which will increase their reproduction, which with survival are A key components of evolutionary fitness
Proximate - how
ultimate - why
*the study of the biological and evolutionary bases for behavior.
Modern behavioral biology draws on work from the related but distinct disciplines of ethology and comparative psychology.
behavioral ecology
study that focuses on the behaviors of diverse organisms in their natural environment.
ethology
an extension of work done in human psychology. It focuses largely on a few species studied in a lab setting.
comparative psychology
Behavioral ecology emphasizes evolutionary hypotheses:
- ________ ________ is the research field that views behavior as an evolutionary adaptation to the natural ecological conditions of animals.
- We expect animals to behave in ways that maximize their fitness (this idea is valid only if genes influence behavior).
- This field is also interested in studying the evolution of social behaviors and social systems.
Behavioral ecology
a type of natural selection that acts collectively on all members of a given group.
Refers to idea that natural selection sometimes acts on whole groups of organisms, favoring some groups over others, leading to the evolution of traits that are group-advantageous.
group selection
Give examples of species each:
Cooperative hunting -
Cooperative raising of young -
Systems of predatory warning - (squeaks, yips, chitters, and other calls to warn)
lions and carnivores
elephants
prairie dogs and ground squirrels
A behavior that enhanced the fitness of other individuals in the population by engaging in activities that decrease their own reproductive success.
altruism
act of helping others without expecting anything in return
Altruism Examples
________ will regurgitate and feed blood that they have collected from their prey to hungry conspecific.
Ground squirrels will make a call for warning even though may draw the attention of the predator to itself.
Social insects (________), workers forgo reproduction entirely (they are sterile) in order to help raise their sisters.
-If someone throws a stone on their hives these workers attacks to protect the hives and their brother and sister even by lose their life.
Vampire bats
bees
Advantages of Living in Groups
RRP
CFD
IFS
reduced risk of predation
creating a formidable defense
improved foraging success
Disadvantages of Living in Groups
GEE
MCF
HRD
MAP
Greater energy expenditures
More competition for food
High risks of disease.
bring more attention to themselves and are more likely to be spotted by a predator, putting their infants at risk.
is simply the act of transferring information from one place, person or group to another.
Any action on the part of one organism that alters the probability of a behavior of another individual, that increases the fitness of both individual.
COMMUNICATION
4 TYPES OF ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
visual
auditory
tactile
chemical
involves signals that can be seen.
Examples
G
FE
BP
C
VISUAL
gestures, facial expressions, body postures, and coloration
- Chimpanzees communicate a threat by raising their arms, slapping the ground, or staring directly at another chimpanzee. Gestures and postures are commonly used in mating rituals and may place other signals—such as bright coloring—on display.
- Facial expressions. fear grin—shown on the face of the young chimpanzee below—signals submission.
- Bright coloration of some toxic species, such as the poison dart frog, acts as a do-not-eat warning signal to predators.