Module 4: Behaviour and Ecology

Question 1

Fixed action pattern

Answer 1

• A simple, unchangeable, unlearned behaviour that goes to completion when triggered by a stimulus
• ex. migration triggered by weather/day length
• ex. sticklebacks react to red colour

Question 2

What are Tinbergen’s 4 questions about behaviour?

Answer 2

1. What stimulus, what physiological mechanisms?
2. How does experience influence behaviour?
3. How does behaviour affect survival and reproduction?
4. What is a behaviour’s evolutionary history?

Question 3

What is imprinting in geese?

Answer 3

• Behavioural learning
• ## Geese follow the first moving figure they see