exam 1 Flashcards
4 levels of analysis?
1: mechanistic: how is a behavior produced? what causes a behavior? (how does it work in the moment)
2: developmental: influence of experience? is there a genetic basis? (how did it get like this)
3: functional: what is the purpose of behavior? how does it influence fitness? (whats the point)
4: historical: is behvaior consered? what is the ancestral behavior? (evo history)
methods to study animal behavior (4)
1: measuring and recording (detailed observations, also ETHOGRAM –> use categories or GPS)
2: life history and demography (measuring who is in the pop –> patterns reveal health and fitness)
3: physiology (studying functions of a living animal)
4: predigrees (look at fitness patterns of natural selection/show genetic relationship)
what is hypothesis
claims about world that are testable (causal relationship, make specific predicitons)
what does a critical prediction allow us to do?
allow us to distinguish between competing hypotheses (context specific behavior separates habituation and recognition hypothesis)
what are the major features of animal body plans? (3)
1: symmetry (simple animals lack symmetry, complex animals have radial (jellyfish) or bilateral symmetry (bee)
2: body cavity (jellyfish no interal body cavity, we are basically tubes)
3: as organisms increase in size, the relative enrgy requirements are lower
square cube law
volume scales with a cube, and grow faster than areas –> smaller animals are relatively stronger (muscle mass increases relatively slowly as animal size increases)
coelomate
have a body covering, tissue-filled region, digestive tract, and coelom – we are tubes
protostome
mouth first
deuterostome
mouth second - we are this our anus came first and our mouth second
homology
shared features due to common ancestry (same origin) like forelimb of a dog and arm of a human – other animals can have homologous features but are contorted
radial v bilateral symmetry
radial = jellyfish, bilateral = single axis
What is allometry? How does it relate to body size scaling?
allometry: how body parts grow to overall body size
hyper-allo: body part gets bigger than expected
hypo: gorws smaller than animal
isometry: everything grows at the same rate
how does morphology influence behavior? some animated film with this?
shows how animals move and interact (wings in bird enable flight)
class signals
class signals (simple, general) - distinguish species, sex, or age - traits differ btwn groups but are similiar within a group (ex: ducks have clear male and female traits) juvenile vs adult plumage - reduces aggression in young birds
individual signals
individual signals (complex, specific) - identify individuals within a group, traits must be stable over time and distinctive, low correlation among traits (voice, scent)
4 factors promoting individual identity
1: competition (female mice use urine to track rivals, males mark and defend territories // help assess and rmbr competitors)
2: choice (female mice prefer males with exclusive territories)
3: care (leads to stronger social bonds)
4: cooperation (dear enemy effect: animals recognize familiar neighbors vs stangers - habituation: reduced response to repeated exposure, recognition: distinguishing individuals like songbird specific calls, benefit: reduces unnecessary aggression
specialized processing of faces in humans and primates
configuration processing: faces focus on arrangement of features
inversion effect: inverted faces disript the configuration
part-based processing: focus eyes and moth less efficient for face recognition
How can we use a phylogeny to learn about the evolutionary history of behaviors?
they show the relatedness among species - can estimate the traits of ancestral species - infer behaviors of extinct species - estimate when a behavior evolved
Acceptance Threshold & Asymmetry in Reed Warblers
Acceptance Threshold Model:
Warblers set a threshold for accepting eggs, balancing rejection costs (damaging own eggs) vs. acceptance costs (raising cuckoo chicks).
The more common cuckoos are, the higher the cost of acceptance errors.
Asymmetry Argument:
Rejection errors (ejecting own eggs) are risky.
Acceptance errors (raising cuckoo chicks) are safer if cuckoos are rare, but costly if frequent.
What evidence is there that sensory receptors are costly?
brain has constant cost so the retina doesn’t show same cost savings as metabolism
faster receptors that detect more also cost more
how do predators use electroreception in hunting?
detect in muddy sea, cells generate electric field due to charged particles inside them - they sense these electric fields
What is detected with a lateral line? Who has lateral lines?
detects movement and vibrations in the water - sense objects or prey // amphibians and fish have them - sensitive detection
What is a sensory homunculus? What does it depict?
visual depiction of human body and shows how they are represented in the brain - proportional to the amount of brain area dedicated to processing sensory info (high concetrations of sensory receptors take up more space)
Compare and contrast vertebrate camera-like eyes and arthropod compound eyes.
V: single pupil, focused light (larger eyes = larger image), higher acuity, limited field of view, adaption for diff environments, lens moves to focus
A: multiple ammtidia, wide view, no focusing, lower acuity, lens fixed
how do animals see color
cones: tuned to specific colors based on the opsin proteins, more opsins = broader color range
what is frequency vs amplitude in relation to sound
frequency = pitch
amplitude = volume
what factors influence how far sound travels?
low frequency able to travel further, less subject to being reflected objects
what is the acoustic adaptation hypothesis? what is the evidence against it? is there any evidence for it?
animals are shaped by their environment (forested habitats = lower frequency calls, open = higher)
evidence for: birds sand at higher frequencies to avoid noise pre lockdown, improved vocal during
agaisnt: large species make low frequency due to size not habitat
Where are insect ears located?
thorax, leg, or head
How have moths evolved in response to bats?
listening to bats and echolocation jamming – produce high frequency sounds to hear bat echolocation - ultrasonice clicks of a bad
How does combinatorial coding relate to taste and smell? Why are there so many bitter taste receptors?
brain processes sensory info with combination of signals - differnt things activated
many bitter receptors to detect dangerous substances
how hummingbirds detect sweet
Their umami receptor evolved to detect sweet
detect amino acids
What is a pheromone? How do animals use them?
chemicals produced and released into the envs by an animal affecting the behavior of others
protein in mouse urine – influences female attraction
Compare and contrast combinatorial coding and the tuning of receptors to light, heat, and sound.
coding: combining signals from multiple receptors for taste and smell
tuning: specific receptors detecting ranges of stimuli
What conditions favor the use of each sense? In other words, what kinds of lifestyles or habitats do we expect to select for animals with extreme capabilities for any particular sensory form.
vision: daytime predators well-lit envs
hear: nocturnal animals
smell: animals in dark envs
touch: dark or underwater habitats - need nav
What does cochlea shape and size tell us about dinosaur hearing? What is the basilar membrane?
cochlea: helps determine hearing capabilities (longer = detecting low frequencies, shorter = higher frequencies)
basiliar membrane: structure inside the cochlea helps detect sound
(vibrates in response to sound waves, diff regions detect diff sound frequencies)
What are paraphyly, polyphyly, and monophyly?
mono: a group that has all descendents share the last common ancestor
para: includes only some of the descendants of last common ancestor
poly: multiple unrelated taxa
How can we use phylogenies to predict extinct animal sensory biology and behavior?
shared traists - similar sensory abilities
ancestor comparisn - infer sensory capativilities
How can we use scaling relationships to predict extinct animal sensory biology and behavior?
look as size and compare to animals today - eyes and ears give clues to how they saw or hear like having more sensitve senses
