Midterm 1 Flashcards
Lekking behaviour
Fighting for position in a group, best are at the Center, worst our used as protection on outside.
Ex: Antelopes (Topi’s)
Most important things animals do
Survive and reproduce or survive long enough to reproduce or produce kids that can reproduce -fitness
Attributes that increase fitness are ….
Adaptive
Behaviour
Acting, functioning, or Reacting in a particular way
Maladaptive
Attributes that decrease fitness
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace
Simultaneously and together came up with evolution by natural selection…. on the origin of species by means of natural selection or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle of life… 1858
Why do male lions commit infanticide
When male lions take over resident lions prides they kill all Cubs that aren’t theres and mate with all the females. If a cub is born before the gestation period, the male lions know it isn’t there’s and kill them too, sometimes a females time is just close enough to let the cub survive. Male lions count the time
Explain prolactins involvement with lions
Prolactin stimulates lactation but hinders ovulation in lionesses. By lions killing cubs, prolactin is reduced and ovulation can start.
What was the original hypothesis for lemmings
Intentional suicide in order to decrease population and continue the species
Why was the original lemmings hypothesis flawed
What happened if one of the lemmings doesn’t have the genes to commit this known suicide? Those would reproduce more and then no lemmings would die.
Proximate explanation
Immediate reason
Ex: does the animal walk fast due to long legs
Ultimate explanation
How did the behaviour evolve in the population
What was the more supported theory for lemmings dying
When the population grows too big, lemmings disperse in order to find more food and space which will decrease their stress hormones. (Proximate) they continue to disperse until pop decreases or resources are available. They are good swimmers but if they reach the ocean they will keep swimming to the wrong side until they run low on energy and die. Death is not suicide but lack of energy
Evolution
A change in the frequency of a trait variant or form within a population over inter generational time
The environment acts as a filter, is this random?
Environment takes out certain groups that are less fit/ less adaptive or less likely to produce fertile offspring. It is not random
Natural selection is the …..
Evolution is the ….
Mechanism for evolution
Process
Problems faced by all animals
Parasites, locomotion, food/nutrition, sex and reproduction, environmental constraints (temp. Humidity), and predation
Animals can deal with problems with
Physiology- enzymes, hormones and nerves to control and regulate chemical/ physical processes.
Anatomy- armour to protect against predators and parasites
Behaviour- ways of doing things
Behaviour
A reaction by an animal to some aspect of information about its internal or external environment
Behaviour is due to genes only
False, environment causes change as well
Are there any single genes for behaviour?
No, per se
How can differences in behaviour occur at the single gene level?
Usually because an enzyme doesn’t work because of spatial abnormalities due to amino acids structure -which reflects genetic code.
Or because a receptor for a hormone or neurotransmitter has a different binding affinity because of a small biochemical change
An abnormality in a the production of a single enzyme is liking to cause major change…
Yes because most enzymes have multiple functions
Artificial selection
Selecting for a particular trait in the lab
Cotton nests in mice explanation
Female mice had some variability of how much cotton they used to build nests. To test if this was genetic of behavioural scientists selected ones that used lots of cotton and only bred those and saw that those offspring used even more cotton and it continued. Therefore it had some genetic part
A variable behaviour phenotype has so,e genetic part of it if it can be…..
Selected for
White crowned sparrows songs experiment
3 different species of birds around sanfransico were tested. Eggs were taken immediately after laid and put in sounds proof areas. Then as they hatched they were put into different nests. They found that the birds took on the song of the foster parents so the songs were based on environmental differences and not genes.
During what days is the brain of young male birds receptive to information
10-50 days
On day 150 what is the name of the birds first song called
The sub song , all spring the same subsonic no matter the area, and develop dialect later.
Genes+environment have roles
Matching phase
Male birds sing subsong and comparo it to their memory of hearing it and keep trying until they get it
150-200 days
Any behaviour that comes no matter the environment is called
Innate, inbourne or instinctive.
All genetic based
Birds with zero acoustic learning (10-50 days) can do what
Produce sub song but no mature song
Pink cockatoos and Galah cockatoos relationship
Two species are often found near each other but not mating. They have contact calls for social situations between their own species and to others.
What happens if you take a young Galah egg and rear them with pink cockatoos ?
- the galah will contact call similar to foster parents instead of other galahs but however begging calls (feed me) and alarm calls stayed the same to species. So some are environmental based and some are genetic based.
HVC
Higher vocal Center
Part of birds brains that must be intake and developed for a good song to develop
(Song learning) without HVC birds wont sing
RA
Robust nucleus of the arcopallium
Singing role of bird brains
Various parts of a bird brain are…
Interconnected by nerves and hormonal secretions and all must work properly for proper singing to occur
IMAN
Part of bird brain that contributes to song learning
NXIITS
Bird brain -singing
Nucleus in neurobiology: group of related neutrons in the brain that perform similar functions or work together
Timing of gene activity in bird brains
Gene activity changes biochemical environment in brain which in turn alters other gene expression and or activity of neutrons
Young birds without proper nutrition may not sing why?
Enzymes can’t be created and therefore genes can’t be turned on
Male birds produce more songs than females, why?
Male birds have larger neurones and more complex HVC. In development, neurons increase in males and decrease in females (used in other parts). This is due to estrogen level in blood, increase in development in males.
If you take estrogen away from males…..
If you add estrogen to females…
(Birds)
HVC won’t develop as much
HVC grows and females sing like males
h2=r/s
r=
S=
Heritability formula
Difference of offspring to parental
Original parental generation genetic variability
Heritability
The ratio of difference in measured behaviour of offspring generation from parental generation to the difference in behaviour between selected parents from parental generation and parental generation mean. If heritability is near 1, it is high, if near 0, than the environment plays more of a role than genes.
Is it better to evolve all at once or by small changes
Small changes over time, large changes by mutation often cause death
Types of information and the sensory systems that detect them
Chemical- olfactory (taste and smell) Light- visual Pressure (sound)-mechanoreceptors Magnetic charges- electro receptors or electrolytes Hear-Thermoreceptors
Tympanum
Thin stretched membranes that vibrate with pressure waves
Neurons use what kind of information
Electrical
Resting potential
Action potential
Normal Voltage change between inside and outside
Voltage changes enough for cell to do something like an electrical impulse down the axon. (Dependent on sufficient depolarization to reach threshold)
How are nerve cells connected
By a gal called the synapse. Axon terminals of one neurons synapse with the dendrite of the other
Stimulation
Inhibition
Anything that causes a change
Stopping a change
Where is action potential from all neurons made sense of….
CNS
2 types of receptors
Broad band- non specific (save space in body)
Label lines-specific (only send info to Brian from one type of stimulus)
Ganglion
Concentrations of neurons equaling a brain or control Center where integration of neural input occurs
Dimensions of information
Directional/ distance
Where and what is it
Mammals have ganglion in ……
Insects have ganglion….
In one place (brain)
Throughout body
Instinct
Inbourne behaviour
As soon as a member of a species is developed they are capable of something without any teaching, occurs automatically and occurs every times
Sign stimulus
Something that triggers an instinctual reaction in an animal and causes them to do something automatically. Also called the releaser
Sometimes even after it is gone they will continue to perform the behaviour
Sign stimulus in grey bees
Male grey bees hover low to ground and mate instantly to female bees as they come out of ground. If you pull a male off a female and put it on your thumb it will try to mate with your thumb. Sensory neurons are coded in such a way that of the body is stretched in a certain way it will continue trying to copulate.
Sign stimulus in beetles
Will try to mate with anything similar to the orange colours of females
Grey goose sign stimulus
If a white object similar to size of egg rolls outside nest, the goose will retrieve it using back of bill. Even if the object is taken, it will continue to push nothing back to nest.
FAP
Fixed action pattern
INSTINCT
Sign stimulus of Gull Chick
Chicks see the red dot on the bill and will peck it sending a stimulus for regurgitation in mother.
Innate releasing mechanism
CNS component needed to be stimulated for the instinct to be triggered
Inherited and used immediately instinctively
Supernormal Response
If a sign stimulus or releaser is present in an exaggerated way the innate reaction will also be exaggerated
(Big piece of red paper cussed more pecking in gulls)
Instinctual behaviours are
- stereotyped (always more or less same)
- automatic
- go to completion even if stimulus is removed
- capable of being performed without previous experience
