Introduction to Applied Ethology: Measuring Behaviour

Question 1

Definition of ethology

Answer 1

Observation and detailed description of behaviour with the objective of finding out how biological mechanisms function

Question 2

John Ray studied…

Answer 2

Instinctive behaviour

Question 3

What did charles darwin study

Answer 3

Comparative ethology

Question 4

Who took the behaviourist approach? What did they study?

Answer 4

John Watson and BF Skinner
- learning and acquisition of beh through reinforcement/punishment
- finding general rules and principles of learning

Question 5

What did Nikolaas Tinbergen do

Answer 5

Studied experimental ethology
Applied animal beh research to “stress diseases”
Tinbergen’s four questions

Question 6

What did Konrad Lorenz do

Answer 6

Theoretical ethology
Imprinting work in geese
Causal mechanisms of behaviour
Psycho-hydraulic model to explain vacuums

Question 7

What is cognitive ecology

Answer 7

What animals perceive, feel and know in relation to their own behaviour

Question 8

What is applied ethology

Answer 8

Combination of laboratory and field science, with a strong relation to other disciplines (e.g. genetics, nutrition, physiology)

Question 9

Five applications of applied ethology

Answer 9

1. Optimizing production: handling, management practices, reproductive efficiency, housing
2. Welfare assessment: codes of practice/standards
3. Behavioural control: behaviour solutions (e.g. training, enrichment)
4. Behavioural disorders: problem beh (what indicates pain, distress, disease)
5. Behaviour and conservation biology

Question 10

Four fields of animal behaviour

Answer 10

Animal behaviour, behavioural ecology, applied ethology, comparative psychology

Question 11

What are Tinbergen’s four questions

Answer 11

1. What is the causation of the behaviour
2. What is the function of the behaviour
3. How does the behaviour develop during ontogeny
4. How does the behaviour develop during phylogeny

Question 12

What is ultimate vs proximate

Answer 12

Ultimate = evolutionary explanations, pertain to evolution of the species
Proximate = pertain to the individual

Question 13

Which of tinbergen’s four questions relate to proximate?

Answer 13

What is the causation of the behaviour and how does the behaviour develop during ontogeny

Question 14

Which of tinbergen’s four questions relate to ultimate

Answer 14

What is the function of the behaviour and how does the behaviour develop during phylogeny

Question 15

Describe “what is the causation of the behaviour”

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Describe “what is the function of the behaviour”

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Describe “how does the behaviour develop during ontogeny”

Answer 17

Proximate
The way the beh reflects its embryological or developmental influences
Nature vs nurtutre? Genes vs environment

Question 18

Describe “how does the behaviour develop during phylogeny”
Includes..

Answer 18

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

Question 19

What does knowledge of the behavioural repertoire of food animals help us do (4)

Answer 19

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)

Question 20

What is an ethogram

Answer 20

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)

Question 21

Repertoire vs ethogram

Answer 21

Repertoire = all the behaviours that that species shows (larger)
Ethogram = can be as big as the repertoire, or be a portion of it

Question 22

Library analogy for ethogram/repertoire

Answer 22

The library = the repertoire
Stack of books = the ethogram
Specific book = qualitative beh

Question 23

What is a qualitative behaviour with regards to an ethogram

Answer 23

Types of behaviour that you would find listed in an ethogram

Question 24

Types of ethograms

Answer 24

Table form (common)
Picture form
Behaviour sequence form

Question 25

What is quantitative behaviour

Answer 25

Degree to which we see a behaviour

Question 26

Difficulties when compiling an ethogram

Answer 26

Rarely performed behaviours
Graded displays
Inter-individual variation
Non-stereotyped behaviours