Lecture 6: Environment

Question 1

‘nature vs nurture’

Answer 1

false dichotomy (combination of both is true) genetic and environmental affects are intertwined

Question 2

‘nature’ refers to

Answer 2

genetic effect (genes)

Question 3

‘nurture’ refers to as

Answer 3

developmental or environmental effect

Question 4

honey bee example of nature/nurture interactions

Answer 4

Age-related changes in behaviour suggest a genetic programme and a clock… BUT
Juvenile hormone - plays a crucial role in age-related behavioural changes in honey bees. makes them change from working in hive to forages.
-Juvenile hormone, also controlled by genes, but whether it is secreted depends on various environmental effects
-Proximate mechanism is ETHYL OLEATE
-only forages produce it

Question 5

what does ethyl oleate do?

Answer 5

inhibits foraging in younger bees

Question 6

if you add a lot of older bees to a hive

Answer 6

fewer younger bees become foragers (Ethyl oleate released and inhibits juvenile hormone -> no transition from working to forager)

Question 7

if you add a small number of older bees to a hive…

Answer 7

more young bees become foragers

Question 8

Effects of early nutrition: who studied it

Answer 8

Professor David Barker and the fetal origins hypothesis – from 1980s-90s.

Question 9

Effects of early nutrition explanation

Answer 9

-What we experience as a fetus can have life-long effects

-Thalidomide
Fetal alcohol syndrome
Smoking
Poor diet/obesity

Question 10

‘thrifty phenotype’

Answer 10

says that reduced fetal growth is strongly associated with a number of chronic conditions later in life. This increased susceptibility results from adaptations made by the fetus in an environment limited in its supply of nutrients

Question 11

poor fatal nutrition creates + WHY

Answer 11

• small offspring.
• • Idea is that if food is short during fetal development it might also be short during growing up, so adaptive strategy is to produce a small offspring that requires less food.

Question 12

catch-up growth in animal industry

Answer 12

Animal industry, keeps growing animals on low diet until just before market, then normal food results in rapid catching up – but with less food that

Question 13

in zebra finch experiment: Fed on high and low protein

Answer 13

no difference in adult male phenotypes – a free lunch? -> no such thing!

• • explanation:
• zebra finches v short-lived anyway
• low food: use availble energy to develop breeding plumage
• die young

Question 14

Red deer: born in cold spring

Answer 14

• birth weight is low
• low birth weight means higher mortality and among those that survive they produce lower birth weight offspring themselves

Question 15

humans: Rural Gambians birth season:

Answer 15

those born in harvest season more likely to survive longer vs those in hungry season

Question 16

hormones and fatal development in litters: i.e. mice

Answer 16

as adults 2M females are more aggressive and less attractive to males than 0M females
-So offspring from the same female environment experience things differently before birth in ways that affects their adult behavior and subsequent survival and reproductive success.

Question 17

what does 1M 2M + 0M mean

Answer 17

how many males in their litter they have surrounding them

Question 18

women who have a twin brother have a higher or lower chance of getting married and having children

Answer 18

LOWER CHANCE

data from Finnish families from the 1700s and 1800s

Question 19

habituation:

Answer 19

learning something

Question 20

imprinting:

Answer 20

form of phase sensitive learning, only occurs at specific phase/stage in lifecycle

Question 21

associative learning:

Answer 21

associate one stimulus to another: classical conditioning: pavlov dogs experiments

Question 22

3 types of learning:

Answer 22

• habituation
• imprinting
• associative learning