Non-genetic inheritance Flashcards
non-genetic inheritance
Divergence of bower style in the Vogelkop bowerbird Uy & Borgia (2000)
- extremely low genetic divergence
- young males take 4–7 years to develop typical adult bower style
- culturally transmitted?
Factors in one individual influence the behaviour or development of another individual (without passing on genes) who, in turn, may pass on these influences to another
vertical transmission
between generations
- parents to offspring
similar pattern to genetic inheritance
in some cases may skip generations (unlike genetic inheritance)
horizontal transmission
within generations
- e.g. peer to peer
not possible with genetic inheritance
maternal effects
Offspring’s behaviour or morphology is influenced by mother’s behaviour or condition
Variation between individuals is better explained by considering the mother’s phenotype rather than the individual’s own genotype
NOT genetic transmission (but easily confused with it)
May act pre- or post-birth
pre-birth maternal effects
inside the womb
kits prefer food that mother had even when cross fostered
Kits’ preferences determined by mother’s diet via prenatal environment
post-birth maternal effects
outside the womb
Female lays eggs on host plant and caterpillars develop there
caterpillars lay own eggs on same plants as mothers
what are kits preferences by mothers diet determined by?
prenatal environment
milk during nursing
faecal pellets deposited in nest
social learning example
Spread of milk-bottle opening by tits in UK (Fisher & Hinde (1949))
social learning
learning that is facilitated by observation of, or interaction with, another individual or its products Hoppitt & Laland (2013)
‘observer’ individual learns from ‘demonstrator’ individual
differs from individual learning because it is heritable
social transmission of food preferences in rats - Galef and Wigmore (1983)
rats either ate chocolate/cinnamon
observers also wanted to eat same food as demonstrator
why learn from others?
may be less time-consuming than individual learning
may allow exploitation of new resources, e.g. by overcoming neophobia
may be less risky than individual trial-and-error learning
why not learn from others all the time?
may sometimes be more time-consuming to wait for conspecifics than find out yourself
actions of others may be outdated or not relevant to your needs
individual learning can sometimes yield higher pay-offs
mechanisms of social learning
- Local enhancement
- Stimulus enhancement
- Observational conditioning
- Imitation
- Goal emulation
- local enhancement
Presence/behaviour of demonstrator draws observer’s attention to specific location where behaviour is then acquired through individual learning
- stimulus enhancement
Presence/behaviour of demonstrator draws observer’s attention to particular object or stimulus which is then generalised
- observational conditioning
observer learns association between stimulus and demonstrator’s behaviour
- imitation
observer copies topography of demonstrator’s behaviour
- goal emulation
observer attends to consequences of demonstrator’s actionand uses own method to achieve same goal
social transmission - vertical transmission
e.g. birdsong: father to son
Non-genetic transmission can mimic genetic transmission
social transmission - horizontal transmission
e.g. birdsong: between territorial neighbours
Non-genetic transmission can occur more widely and more rapidly than genetic transmission
May not produce exact copy of behaviour: non-genetic ‘mutations’ (errors) generate variation
cultural transmission
Where behavioural techniques are transmitted socially and persist over generations
symbolic representation
The use of arbitrary symbols to represent (or stand for) objects and actions
When two initially unrelated stimuli are associated with the same event, an emergent relation can develop such that they become interchangeable in other contexts
commands
warnings
Human language allows information to be stored and retrieved and persist over long periods of time
may not be uniquely human
information carrier of genetic transmission
DNA
information carrier of non-genetic transmission
actions
imitation
media
action of genetic transmission
alters protein production
action of non-genetic transmission
alters higher processes
cellular/cognitive
fidelity of genetic transmission
high
fidelity of non-genetic transmission
variable
cause of genetic variation
mutation
cause of non-genetic variation
replication error
consequences of mixed genetic inputs
discrete outcomes
consequences of non-genetic mixed inputs
blended outcomes
direction of transmission of genetic
vertical only
parent –> offspring
direction of transmission of non-genetic
vertical
horizontal
both
