Development of Behaviour Flashcards

1
Q

what are the features of the ‘Jim twins’?

A

adopted at 4wks
reunited at 39yrs old

both:

  • 6ft and 180lbs
  • had headaches since 18
  • did carpentry + mechanical drawing
  • 1st sons called James Alan
  • vacation in same area in Florida
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2
Q

describe the features of sitters vs rovers in Drosophila

what is this gene called?

what does it encode?

A

natural single gene polymorphism in wild:
70% rovers
30% sitters

for gene

encodes brain expressed protein
-> differences in foraging behaviour
+ differences in memory
(rovers have better short-term)

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3
Q

describe the features of the burrow-building mice experiment

A

crossed P. maniculatus (1 entrance) with P.polionotus (2 entrances)

F1 = had P. polionotus behaviour

back-crossed F1 with P. maniculatus

more variation in building escape tunnels in back-cross

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4
Q

describe QTL (quantitive trait locus) mapping in burrow-building mice

A

those with MP genotypes had longer length entrance tunnels + greater chance of building an escape tunnel

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5
Q

what is a supergene?

A

a group of neighbouring genes on a chromosome which are inherited together due to close eugenic linage and are functionally related

(package of different alleles and traits that won’t get split up by recombination)

produces stable polymorphism

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6
Q

describe how supergenes are involved in Ruffs

what are the 3 types?

what do 2 inverted copies result in?

A

3 male mating strategies
- behaviour and plumage are tightly correlated

3 types:
independent = 2 normal copies
faeder = 1 inverted copy
satellite = 1 inverted copy

2 copies = death

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7
Q

define polygenic trait

A

a trait who’s phenotype is influenced by more than one gene

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8
Q

describe the polygenic tame silver fox experiment

A

they successfully bred domesticated foxes after only selecting and allowing the tamest foxes to breed in each generation

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9
Q

describe the polygenic development of worker behaviour in honey bees

what is this due to?

A

at the start of the bees lives
- more internal roles e.g. cleaning cells

by the end of their lives
- more exposed = foraging

due to differences in gene expression in young and old bees that are associated with these behaviours

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10
Q

describe the experiment song learning in birds

A

if a son is deaf, he has a very different song to his father

if a son has intact hearing, his song is very similar to his father’s

.:. birds learn their song from their father

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11
Q

what is phenotype plasticity?

what is the extreme version called?

A

the ability of 1 genotype to produce more than 1 phenotype when exposed to different environments

polyphenism

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12
Q

give examples of polyphenism

A

produces a bimodal distribution

food-induced:
woke and solidier casts in ants

socially induced:
territorial and non-territorial cichlid

predator-induced:
soldier and worker aphids

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13
Q

describe the development of worker behaviour in honey bees when experimentally manipulated
- i.e. showing the impacts of environment

A

if remove young nurses
-> change developmental switch
-> some old foragers’ gene expression changes to become more like young nurses
= ensures all roles are covered

(also works vice versa when old foragers are removed)

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14
Q

describe the genotype x environment example in tiger snake diets

A

mainland diet
- eat small frogs

Carnac island diet
- large gull chicks
(have large jaws)

experiment
- juveniles from both locations raised in captivity on different sized mice

conclusion - jaw size is both effect of genotype and environment

(as those from mainland but raised on large chicks had bigger jaws than those from island raised on small mice)

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15
Q

why is nature vs nurture wrong?

A

Tinbergen’s 4 questions

genes + environment often interactively influence behaviour

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16
Q

define learning

is this genetic or environmental?

A

the act of acquiring new behaviour or modifying old behaviour

genetic coding to respond to environmental changes
- but need flexible mechanism able to improve

17
Q

define maturation

why is learning different to maturation?

give an example in birds

A

at a certain age you start to learn a behaviour

doesn’t mean this behaviour was learned

birds can practice flapping their wings before they can fly (looks like learning)
- BUT if they can’t practice they will still be able to fly at the same time (just maturation)

18
Q

what are the different types of learning?

A

non-associative:
habituation

sensitisation

associative:
imprinting

classical conditioning

operant conditioning

social learning

19
Q

what is habituation?

A

loss of responsiveness to stimulus that provides little useful info

20
Q

give an example of habituation

A

birds and mammals recognise predator alarm calls of conspecifics

eventually stop responding to calls if not followed by an attack

21
Q

what is sensitisation?

A

repeated administrations of a stimulus results in the progressive amplification of a response

22
Q

give an example of sensitisation

A

repeatedly feeding an octopus reduces its response time to food

23
Q

what is imprinting?

A

when young animals follow their ‘mother’

24
Q

what is classical conditioning (Pavlov)?

A
conditional stimulus (food)
-> response (salivation)
unconditional stimulus (bell)
-> response (salivation)
25
Q

what is operant conditioning (Skinner)?

A

behaviour (press a lever)

-> reinforcement (food or punishment)

26
Q

what is social learning?

give an example

A

learning influenced by observing another animal, typically conspecific

food access in wild population of great tit

  • 2 adults trained in sub-population access food in 1 of 2 ways
  • > behaviour spread across the sub-populations