Chapter 51: Animal Behavior Flashcards
behavior
sum of all of an organism’s responses to stimuli
phenotype
trait with a genetic component; can be acted upon by natural selection if there is genetic variation
ethology
study of animal behavior in natural environments
proximate causation
what stimulus leads to the response; short term
ultimate causation
what the evolutionary history is of the trait; long term
taxis
behavior of moving toward or away from a stimulus
fixed action patterns
some trigger leads to a behavior that must be carried to completion
communication signal
one animals signal leads to another’s response
pheromone
chemical communication between animals
innate behavior
traits that are fixed by genotype and development
learning
modifying behavior based upon experience
habituation
like sensory adaptation; stop responding to stimulus that requires no response
imprinting
bonding; many birds ‘learn’ who their mother is during a brief period after birth
associative learning
associated one stimulus with another
classical conditioning
arbitrary stimulus leads to certain response
operant conditioning
trial-and-error learning
spatial learning
maintaining an internal ‘map’
cognition
reasoning, awareness
problem-solving
requires being able to see solutions past obstacles
cross-fostering studies
offspring of one species raised by another
twin studies
look at identical twins placed with different foster families; useful for demonstrating effects of environment on identical genotypes
behavioral variation
genetic variation in a population can lead to behavioral variation; natural selection can act on them
evolutionary effects on behavior
genes that lead to traits that lower chances of survival or reproduction are removed from populations
optimal foraging
maximize benefit and minimize cost of foraging
monogamous
long term pair bonding
polygamous
multiple, long term pair bonding
polygyny
one male, many females
polyandry
one female, many males
promiscuous
no pair-bonding
mating behaviors
related to the needs of offspring/ parental roles
certainty of paternity
parental care related to; males aren’t aware of certainty of paternity, selection has favored males with behaviors that increase likelihood that their energy is spent on their own offspring
sexual selection
result of differential mating success when there is competition for males; leads to sexual dimorphism in traits that might not be favored by natural selection
sexual dimorphism
difference in male and female characteristics
runaway selection
positive feedback on traits that are favored by females
agonistic interactions
males physically compete for females; reduces variation among males
frequency dependent
favored phenotype frequency dependent changes over time; mathematics game theory deals with this
altruism
doing something that lowers your own fitness but increases someone else’s
inclusive fitness
fitness (representation of your genes in the next generation) depends on your reproduction and that of your close relatives
Hamilton’s rule
rB>C; cost/benefit analysis of altruistic act where r is the coefficient of relatedness
coefficient of relatedness
average number of genes shared by the altruist and the recipient
