Exam 1 Flashcards
1
Q
How is evolution of behavior related to ancestral behavior patterns?
A
- all behaviors today are modified versions of ancestral behavior patterns
- > ancestral behavior may have been for a different purpose than today
- > ancestral behavior determined by comparative studies with closely related species
2
Q
Genetic Variation in Darwins Three principles for a trait to be modified by evolution
A
- traits must vary between individuals of a population/species
- if all individuals are identical with no variation, can’t have evolution of a trait
3
Q
How to determine function?
A
- comparative studies between related species
- when we look at the function of any behavior must consider the benefit of the individual
- > their reproductive success, or fitness
- > if fitness increases, the trait will be passed on through generations
4
Q
How has behavior been shaped over the years?
A
- behavior shaped by thousands of generations by genetics
- > humans have only slightly (relatively speaking) modified animal behavior during domestication
5
Q
What were 20th century researchers not interested in?
A
- Neither American or European Schools of Study was very interested in mental process or emotions (what they perceive, feel, or know in relation to their own behavior)
- It was deemed beyond scientific research because they were not observable
- Only recently has scientific interest in mental process arisen, cognitive ethology (1970s)
- not covered by Tinbergen’s questions
6
Q
Konrad Lorenz
A
- influence on modern ethology in Austria
- in 1973, won a Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology
- did not do much work in nature, but rather bred his experimental animals and kept many almost as pets
- his strength was primarily theoretical work
- formulated many of the fundamental ideas in ethology and developed the first coherent theory of instinct and innate behavior
7
Q
Oskar Heinroch
A
- a pioneer of naturalistic behavioral studies
- he was the first to coin the term Ethology with the meaning it has today
8
Q
Ethology
A
- the science of animal behavior, its causation and function
9
Q
Domestic animals are generally:
A
- less fearful of humans
- more socially tolerant with conspecifics (members of the same species)
10
Q
What fields can understanding animal behavior in applied ethology be useful for?
A
- information used to benefit production and environmental systems, as well as animal welfare/health
1. Welfare assessment
2. Optimizing production
3. Behavioral control
4. Behavioral disorders
5. Behavior and Conservation Biology
11
Q
Phylogeny
A
- evolutionary history of an organism (in this case an animal)
12
Q
John Ray
A
- British Biologist/zoologist
- in 1671, wrote a text on the study of “instinctive behavior” in birds
- observed that birds who were removed from their nests at an early age were still able to build species-typical nests as adults
- demonstrated that very complex behaviors could still develop without learning or practice
13
Q
Peacock Courtship
A
- shows the evolution of of animal signals by the process of ritualization
- in history the peacock’s ancestors attracted females by pecking at food items on the ground and emitting a special call
- > still common courtship in poultry
- these food presentation movements and sounds have become exaggerated, as in pheasants (including tail feathers), and have become unrelated to feed presentation, as in the peacock.
- the tail feathers has highly evolved in both size and color
- strutting, calls and other activities are all altered to just a courtship purpose and lost all original function
14
Q
Charles George Leroy
A
- was a French naturalist
- In the mid 1700’s published a book on the “intelligence and adaptation” in animals
- criticized philosophers who thought about the world, rather than observing animals directly in their natural environments
- so his ideas developed from direct observations of animals in the field
15
Q
Example of Complex “Learned/Adaptive Behavior”
A
- studied by Charles George Leroy
Ex: - Loco Weed
- food aversion created by lithium chloride
- cattle were becoming intoxicated by consuming the loco weed plant
- humans wanted to modify the behavior of cattle to avert the animal from eating it
- modified behavior by feeding lithium chloride as soon as the cattle were fed loco weed and they naturally stopped consuming it
16
Q
Is behavior genetically inherited?
A
- Instinctive behaviors
- transferred from the parents to the offspring without learning process - Behavior also evolves as an adaptive trait
- morphological or physiological characteristic
17
Q
Genetic Inheritance in Darwins Three principles for a trait to be modified by evolution
A
- 4 things must occur
- some of the variation in the population must be of genetic inheritance
- genes must exert some control (indirect or direct) on behavior
- individuals resemble parents more than other members of the population
- variants from parents explained by:
1. Genetic mutation
2. Epigenetic’s
18
Q
What is the function of behavior?
A
- behavior does not evolve for the good of the species
- > Since all evolution/adaptation only occurs within the variation between individuals, there is no mechanism that can take the view of a group of animals into account
- > an exception is where the group may be an efficient unit of selection
- when we look at the function of any behavior must consider the benefit of the individual
- > their reproductive success, or fitness
19
Q
Differences in domesticated dogs
A
- dogs are highly sensitive to human cues
- they excel in word understanding
- they solicit human attention when facing difficult problems and need to make a decision
20
Q
Lovebird experiment
A
- shows clear genetic influence on behavior
- Fischer’s love birds carries nest material one piece at a time in their beak to build
- a close relative, the peach-faced lovebirds tuck the nest pieces into their rump feathers and can carry more than one piece (more efficient)
- The hybrid lovebird offspring (bred the two species) show a poorly functioning mixture of both behaviors
- > the attempt to tuck material between the feathers, fail to let go of it therefore pulling it out again, and then repeat the sequence
- > after several months, the behavior was a little more successful in building the nest. but they were still not proficient
- clearly a genetic trait was passed to the offspring by both parents
21
Q
Two types of animal behaviors include:
A
- Simple Reflex
- muscle contractions in response to a stimulus
ex: reflexes, pulling limb back from heat, jumping when startled, fight or flight reflexes, flinch, autonomic nervous system responses - Complex Activities
- can not specifically tell the stimuli causing this behavior
- migration, hibernation, competition for resources
22
Q
Genetically inherited behavior also differs amongst domesticated animals examples include
A
- feather pecking, damage the feathers of flock-mates (chickens)
- nest building (mice, sows, chickens)
- retrieving (dogs)
- herding (dogs)
- fearfulness (several species)
- must consider that these behaviors can often be explained by indirect effects
ex: reduction of feather pecking is indirectly linked to a decrease in foraging activity, which reduces the overall tendency of the birds to peck
23
Q
Niko Tinbergen
A
- influence on modern ethology in Holland and Britain
- in 1973, won a Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology
- developed a field methodology of high exactness where he designed experiments in which details of the environments of free-living animals were altered and their behavior was recorded
- pioneer in experimental ethology
24
Q
How do we find the difference between something genetically inherited or indirectly inherited?
A
- environmental effects
