non-genetic inheritance

Question 1

give and example of non-genetic inheritance of a behaviour in Vogelkop bowerbirds?

Answer 1

different populations of same species of Vogelkop have different bower style

low genetic divergence (difference) between the 2 populations
long learning process in developing bower style
may be culturally transmitted not genetically

Question 2

what is non-genetic inheritance?

Answer 2

factors in one individual influence the behaviour or development of another individual (without passing on egenes) who in turn may pass on these influences to others

Question 3

what is vertical transmission?

Answer 3

transmission between generations - parents to offspring

similar pattern to genetic inheritance as may skip generations

Question 4

what is horizontal transmission?

Answer 4

transmission within generation - between peers

not possible with genetic inheritance apart from in bacteria

Question 5

describe maternal effects as a mechanism leading to non-genetic inheritance?

Answer 5

offsprings behaviour or morphology influenced by mothers behaviour or condition - phenotype not genotype

may act pre or post-birth

Question 6

describe a pre-birth maternal effect of non-genetic inheritance?

describe an experiment showing this effect and how did they prove it wasn’t post-natal effects?

Answer 6

offspring will inherit preference for food eaten by mother during pregnancy

experiment with juniper berries finding offspring of mothers who’d eaten junipers had taste for juniper flavoured food

took young as soon as born and corss-fostered either control or other mother but still offspring prefered the food

Question 7

describe post-birth maternal effects of non-genetic inheritance?

Answer 7

plant on which caterpillar developed preference for plant in which they lay later in life

in rabbits, milk given and faecal pellets also influence offsprings preferences on top of pre-natal effects

Question 8

describe examples of social learning as a mechanism of non-genetic inheritance?

Answer 8

1) bluetits pecking through foil top of milk to get cream
- initially rare but rapidly spread (too fast to be genetic)

2) 2 groups of rats eating different flavours of food and observer rat observes demonstrator rat then given choice between food and chose same food as demonstrator had eaten from (detected from smell of breath)

Question 9

what is social learning?

Answer 9

learning that is facilitated by observation of or interaction with another individual or its products

‘observer’ individual learns from ‘demonstrator’

Question 10

how does social learning differ from individual learning?

Answer 10

heritable - passed from one individual to another

Question 11

why is social learning important?

Answer 11

less time-consuming than individual learning

exploitation of new resources

less risky than individual trial and error learning

Question 12

why not do social learning all the time?

Answer 12

could sometimes be more time-consuming

actions of others might be outdated or not relevant to your needs

can yield higher pay offs e.g discover something completely new

Question 13

what are the 5 mechanisms of social learning?

Answer 13

1. local enhancement
2. stimulus enhancement
3. observational enhancement
4. imitation
5. goal emulation

Question 14

what is local enhancement as a mechanism of social learning?

Answer 14

• presence or beh. of demonstrator draws observers behaviour to certain location and beh. then acquired through indiviudal learning

Question 15

what is observational conditioning as a mechanism of social learning?

Answer 15

observer learns association between stimulus and demonstrators behaviour

Question 16

what is imitaton as a mechanism of social learning?

Answer 16

observer copies topography (form) of demonstrator’s behaviour

Question 17

what is goal emulation as a mechanism of social learning?

Answer 17

observer attends to consequences of demonstrators action and uses own method to achieve some goal

Question 18

what is stimulus enhancement as a mechanism of social learning?

Answer 18

• presence/beh. of demonstrator draws observers attention to object or stimulus which is then generalised

Question 19

birdsong example of vertical transmission?

Answer 19

birdsong only being transmitted from father to son if son not deaf as usually learns off father

Question 20

birdsong example of horizontal transmission?

Answer 20

shared elemnts between neighbours bird song when copying each other

Question 21

what is cultural transmission?

Answer 21

behavioural techniques transitted socially and persist over generations

Question 22

examples of symbolic representation as a mechanism of non-genetic inheritance?

Answer 22

human language as allows info to be stored and retrieved and persists over long periods of time

parrot could use symbols to answer questions

chimpanzees using sign language and pointing at symbols

bees making patterns to symbolise direction of food

Question 23

what are the 3 mechanisms of non-genetic inheritance?

Answer 23

symbolic representation
maternal effects
social learning

Question 24

what is symbolic representation a a mechanism of non-genetic inheritance?

Answer 24

use of symbols to represent objects and actions

2 initally unrelated stimuli are associated with the same evet an emergent relation can develop so they become interchangeable in other contexts

Question 25

what are the difference between genetic and non-genetic transmission?

Answer 25

genetic

• dna
• alters protein production
• high fidelity (same beh. reproduced in individual who receives it)
• mutation causing variation
• discrete outcomes
• vertical transmisson only

non-genetic

• info carried through actions
• alters higher processes
• variable fidelity
• variation caused through replication error
• blended outcomes of mixed inputs
• vertical, horizontal or both transmission (e.g birdsong)