Introduction to Applied Ethology: Measuring Behaviour Flashcards
Definition of ethology
Observation and detailed description of behaviour with the objective of finding out how biological mechanisms function
John Ray studied…
Instinctive behaviour
What did charles darwin study
Comparative ethology
Who took the behaviourist approach? What did they study?
John Watson and BF Skinner
- learning and acquisition of beh through reinforcement/punishment
- finding general rules and principles of learning
What did Nikolaas Tinbergen do
Studied experimental ethology
Applied animal beh research to “stress diseases”
Tinbergen’s four questions
What did Konrad Lorenz do
Theoretical ethology
Imprinting work in geese
Causal mechanisms of behaviour
Psycho-hydraulic model to explain vacuums
What is cognitive ecology
What animals perceive, feel and know in relation to their own behaviour
What is applied ethology
Combination of laboratory and field science, with a strong relation to other disciplines (e.g. genetics, nutrition, physiology)
Five applications of applied ethology
- Optimizing production: handling, management practices, reproductive efficiency, housing
- Welfare assessment: codes of practice/standards
- Behavioural control: behaviour solutions (e.g. training, enrichment)
- Behavioural disorders: problem beh (what indicates pain, distress, disease)
- Behaviour and conservation biology
Four fields of animal behaviour
Animal behaviour, behavioural ecology, applied ethology, comparative psychology
What are Tinbergen’s four questions
- What is the causation of the behaviour
- What is the function of the behaviour
- How does the behaviour develop during ontogeny
- How does the behaviour develop during phylogeny
What is ultimate vs proximate
Ultimate = evolutionary explanations, pertain to evolution of the species
Proximate = pertain to the individual
Which of tinbergen’s four questions relate to proximate?
What is the causation of the behaviour and how does the behaviour develop during ontogeny
Which of tinbergen’s four questions relate to ultimate
What is the function of the behaviour and how does the behaviour develop during phylogeny
Describe “what is the causation of the behaviour”
How is it achieved? Proximate mechanisms or proximate cause-effect relations
E.g. of prox mechanisms = brain, hormones, pheromones, neurotransmitters
How the beh operates in terms of underlying mechanism and organization
Describe “what is the function of the behaviour”
Function/adaptation
What is the behaviour for?
What is it designed to do? (role in life of org)
Darwin theory evol: why an animal’s beh is usually well adapted for survival and reproduction in its environment
Describe “how does the behaviour develop during ontogeny”
Proximate
The way the beh reflects its embryological or developmental influences
Nature vs nurtutre? Genes vs environment
Describe “how does the behaviour develop during phylogeny”
Includes..
Evolution
Where has it come from?
Ancestral selection pressures/phylogenetic pathways that have shaped and constrained beh
All evolutionary explanations other than function/adaptation
Includes random processes: mutation, environmental events acting on small populations
What does knowledge of the behavioural repertoire of food animals help us do (4)
Move animals efficiently/quietly through systems
Provide the ability to identify the beh needs of livestock (welfare)
Design environments that prevent/reduce incidence of vices/stereotypies
Identify animals in distress or who are pre-pathological (disease)
What is an ethogram
Behavioural repertoire of an animal
“Library of behaviours” - complete description of the array of beh an animal is capable of showing
How behaviours differ within a species (tame vs not tame, reared indoors or outdoors)
Repertoire vs ethogram
Repertoire = all the behaviours that that species shows (larger)
Ethogram = can be as big as the repertoire, or be a portion of it
Library analogy for ethogram/repertoire
The library = the repertoire
Stack of books = the ethogram
Specific book = qualitative beh
What is a qualitative behaviour with regards to an ethogram
Types of behaviour that you would find listed in an ethogram
Types of ethograms
Table form (common)
Picture form
Behaviour sequence form
What is quantitative behaviour
Degree to which we see a behaviour
Difficulties when compiling an ethogram
Rarely performed behaviours
Graded displays
Inter-individual variation
Non-stereotyped behaviours
