L1 - Intro to Animal Behaviour

Question 1

What is behaviour?

Answer 1

“Behaviour is: the internally coordinated responses (actions or inactions) of whole living organisms (individuals or groups) to internal and/or external stimuli, excluding responses more easily understood as developmental changes” (Levitis et al. 2009)

Question 2

Why is it important to study not just vertebrates?

Answer 2

Because less than 5% of known animal species are vertebrates

Question 3

What are 5 reasons studying animal behaviour is important?

Answer 3

• Aquaculture: post-release mortality rate
• Resolving human-wildlife conflict
• Conservation
• Neuroscience
• Public engagement

Question 4

What are the two generic starting points used to study animal behaviour?

Answer 4

Question or System

Question 5

What is an ethogram?

Answer 5

A comprehensive list, inventory, or description of all the behaviours of an organism

Question 6

Name, describe and give examples of the two main types of data animal behaviouralists record

Answer 6

Events - behaviours of short duration, generally counted not timed. E.g yawning, sneezing, vocalisation

States - behaviours that occur for an extended duration. E.g foraging, movement, freeze response

Question 7

What does how animal behaviouralists collect data depend on?

Answer 7

• How easy it is to observe
• Specific question
• How data will be analysed
• Constraints e.g people power

Question 8

Describe the Ad libitum sampling

Answer 8

Researcher records individual or group behaviours, with little or no reference to specific, well‑defined methods

Question 9

Strengths and weaknesses of Ad libitum sampling

Answer 9

Strengths:
- Initial observations/ ethograms
- Question formation
Weaknesses:
- Limited in quantity and quality of data

Question 10

Describe the focal animal sampling

Answer 10

Observations of one focal individual. Record either:
- all behaviours of individual
- all occurrences of specific behaviour/s of interest exhibited during a set period of time

Question 11

Strengths of focal animal sampling

Answer 11

Provides data on specific behaviours and is more reproducible than ad-libitum sampling

Question 12

Describe all occurrences sampling

Answer 12

Select one or more specific behavioural events and record every occurrence within the animal group

Question 13

Strengths of the all occurrences sampling

Answer 13

A useful technique to determine the rate, frequency, or synchrony of specific behaviours

Question 14

Describe binary sampling

Answer 14

Records whether specific behaviours did (1) or did not (0) occur during observation of individual or group, during a set time period.

Question 15

Weakness of binary sampling

Answer 15

Limited usefulness because information is lost by categorising the occurrence of behaviours so rigidly.

Question 16

Describe scan sampling

Answer 16

Records instantaneous activity or behavioural state of all animals in the group at predetermined time intervals (e.g., once per minute).

Question 17

Strength of scan sampling

Answer 17

Useful to understand the frequency with which all animals in the group display certain behaviours or behavioural states

Question 18

What are the three types of information animal behaviourists measure?

Answer 18

Latency, frequency and duration

Question 19

What is anthropomorphism?

Answer 19

Applying human qualities (emotions/intentions) to non-human animals or things

Question 20

What are Tinbergen’s 4 reasons for why an animal performs a behaviour?

Answer 20

• Mechanism: underlying causation
• Ontogeny: developmental history of individual
• Function: impact on fitness
• Phylogeny: evolutionary history of species

Question 21

What are the two categories Tinbergen’s 4 reasons for animal behaviour are grouped into? And which reasons go into each group?

Answer 21

Proximate and Ultimate
Proximate: mechanism and ontogeny
Ultimate: function and phylogeny

Question 22

Give an example of an experiment answering a proximate question regarding beewolf wasps

Answer 22

• Experiment looked at how do wasps navigate to their nest hole after a foraging trip
• Hypothesis was wasps use info from surroundings to find their nest again
• Data provided evidence for hypothesis
  (deals with behavioural mechanism therefore proximate)

Question 23

Give an example of an experiment answering a ultimate question regarding black headed gulls

Answer 23

• Experiment looked at why do gulls remove egg shells from their nests after the chick has hatched?
• Hypothesis was egg shells make nests more visible to predators
• Data provided evidence for hypothesis
  (deals with function and adaptive significance of behaviour therefore ultimate)