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.
communication based on sound
Examples:
C
C
V
AUDITORY
use sounds to convey warnings, attract mates, defend territories, and coordinate group behaviors.
- Monkeys cry out a warning when a predator is near, giving the other members of the troop a chance to escape. Vervet monkeys even have different calls to indicate different predators.
- Bullfrogs croak to attract female frogs as mates. In some frog species, the sounds can be heard up to a mile away.
- A gibbon marks its territory by vocalizing (singing) when traveling within the borders of where they live.
Are more limited in range than the other types of signals, as two organisms must be right next to each other in order to touch.
These signals are fairly common in insects
Examples:
TOUCH
Honeybee forager that’s found a food source will perform an intricate series of motions called a waggle dance to indicate the location of the food.
A pheromone is a secreted ________ signal used to trigger a response in another individual of the same species.
Pheromones are especially common among social insects, such as ants and bees.
Pheromones may attract the opposite sex, raise an alarm, mark a food trail, or trigger other, more complex behaviors.
Examples:
chemical
- Dogs also communicate using pheromones. They sniff each other to collect this chemical information, and many of the chemicals are also released in their urine.
Most common functions of communication:
- Many animals have elaborate communication behaviors surrounding mating, which may involve attracting a mate or competing with other potential suitors for access to mates
- In many species, communication behaviors are important in establishing dominance in a social hierarchy or defending territory.
- In social species, communication is key in coordinating the activities of the group, such as food acquisition and defense, and in maintaining group cohesion.
- species that provide parental care to offspring, communication coordinates parent and offspring behaviors to help ensure that the offspring will survive.
- obtaining mates
- establishing dominance or defending territory
- coordinating group behaviors
- caring for young
Communication Signals Can be:
- provide simple, digital – yes or no, on or off – kinds of information
- falls along a continuum of intensity or complexity, and their variability allows the signaler to provide riche, analog information. Can be transmitted in many ways
- discrete signals
- graded signals
is fundamental to the lives of animals.
Searching for wild foods. It affects the fitness because plays an important role in an animal’s ability to survive and reproduced.
Give its 2 types:
foraging
solitary foraging
group foraging
A variety of foraging in which animals, find, capture and consume their prey alone.
Individuals can manually exploit patches or they can use tools to exploit their prey
eagles
solitary foraging
Animals, find, capture and consume their prey alone with the presence of other individuals.
group foraging
Mating Behavior
It is a process in which individuals with certain characteristics gain an advantage over others of the same sex solely with respect to mating success.
Darwin pointed out that when individuals compete against others of their sex ,for mates, they typically use either force or charm
sexual selection
ECOLOGICAL FACTORS AND MATING BEHAVIOR
refers to the number of mating partners that males or females have and the pattern of parental care.
mating system
The behavioral pairing of a single male with a single female. It is most common in birds and rare in other animals
Theoretically, individuals in monogamous pairs will both contribute to the defense and parental care of offspring.
ex. swan
monogamy
The association of one male with multiple females.
Polygyny is a strategy used by males to increase their reproductive fitness.
ex. lion with lionesses
polygyny
- group with one female and many males.
- is a reproductive strategy that helps a female ensure reproductive success by providing her with multiple mating options
- Some insects (butterfly, fruit flies and flies)
polyandry
Mating Systems
- —-: low likelihood of subsequent mating with same individual
- Monogamous: high likelihood of subsequent mating with one individual
- Polygamous: high likelihood of subsequent mating with more than one individual
* 1. —-: one male mates with several females
* 1. ________: one female mates with several males
- Promiscuous
- Monogamous
- Polygamous
* Polygyny
* Polyandry
Moving Behaviors
- Kinesis: Activity ________________, but activity is random (a.k.a., not moving only when happy)
- Taxis: Movement ________________, i.e., towards something good or a way from something bad
- Migration: Regular (e.g., annual) movement ________
- Piloting: Directed movement from ____________; requires some form of map
- Orientation: Directed movement consistently in a ____________ (e.g., employing compass)
- Navigation: Directed movement employing some combination of ____ and ____
- only when stimulus is present
- up or down a gradient
- back and forth from place to place
- landmark to landmark
- particular direction
- piloting and orientation
Sociobiology
- ________ are interactions between conspecifics
- ____________ is the application of evolutionary theory to our understanding of social behaviors
These behaviors include: - Fighting (and dominance hierarchies and maintaining territories)
- Courting and Mating
- Raising progeny
- Cooperating (and Defecting)
Social Behaviors
Sociobiology
