Non-genetic Transmission Flashcards
1
Q
Genetically Coded Behaviour
A
- IE. redstarts; commons winter in mid-African regions for longer; black winter in European regions for a shorter; hybrids winter in middle time
2
Q
Heritable Variation (Excluding Genes)
A
- “… factors acting via individual that influence beh/development of another who passes them on in turn…”
- includes:
VERTICAL TRANSMISSION
HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION
3
Q
HV: Vertical Transmission
A
- between generations
- via parent to offspring
- similar to genetic inheritance
- include:
MATURNAL/PATERNAL EFFECTS
SOCIAL LEARNING
SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION
4
Q
HV: Horizontal Transmission
A
- within generations
- peer to peer
- impossible w/genetic inheritance
5
Q
HV-VT: Maternal Effects
A
- offspring’s beh/morphology dependent on mother’s beh/condition pre/post birth; variation explained via considering maternal measures rather than individual genotype
- can be:
WITHIN WOMB
OUTSIDE WOMB
WITHIN/OUTSIDE WOMB
6
Q
HV-VT-ME: Within Womb
A
- CLARK et al (1993); field mice; mother has 5 boys/1 girl in womb; testosterone passed to girl; late sexual maturity/increased aggression; likely to also have 5 boys/1 girl
7
Q
HV-VT-ME: Outside Womb
A
- DARWIN (1851); female cabbage butterflies lay eggs on host plants for larvae development; cabbage larvae lay their eggs there; rhubarb larvae lay their eggs there
8
Q
HV-VT-ME: Within/Outside Womb
A
- ie. bunny mothers eat blueberries while pregnant; offspring also eat blueberries after birth, even if she fostered; BUT if mother ate control food and fostered blueberries kittens, they still preferred blueberries
- preference determined by early environment/mothers diet AND milk content/mother’s rearing diet
9
Q
HV-VT: Nongenetic Inheritance
A
- developmental legacy of mothers/fathers transferred to daughters/sons respectively, influencing their own behaviour
10
Q
HV-VT: Paternal Effects
A
- offspring’s beh/morphology depends on father’s beh/condition; variation explained via paternal features rather than individual genotype
- can be:
PRE-BIRTH
POST-BIRTH
11
Q
HV-VT-PE: Pre-Birth
A
- HUNT & SIMMONS (2000); dung beetles; horned male helping roll dung balls leads to horned offspring; when he doesn’t, the female lays un-horned offspring
12
Q
HV-VT-PE: Post-Birth
A
- GRIFFITHS et al (1999); sparrow fathers; those w/large song repertoires produced small repertoire offspring; small rep father produced large rep offspring
13
Q
HV-VT: Social Learning
A
- differs from self-learning as heritable (ie. rats who’s parents/kin/social circle ate chocolate will prefer it to control)
- one should learn from the nearest/related/experienced/loudest/most successful
- includes:
SONG LEARNING/GENETIC TEMPLATES via…
VERTICAL TRANSMISSION (FATHER/SON)
HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION (TERRITORIAL NEIGHBOURS)
TEACHING
14
Q
HV-VT-SL: Song Learning Via Vertical Transmission
A
- ie. zebra finch; father teaches sons song; first (healthy) son replicates neatly along kHz frequency; second (deaf) son only briefly replicates end
15
Q
HV-VT-SL: Song Learning Via Horizontal Transmission
A
- ie. song sparrows; differentiate song elements from territorial neighbours’; when the start is similar, later aspects will be unshared for variation
16
Q
HV-VT-SL: Teaching
A
- Individual A modifies behaviour only in presence of naive individual B.
- A incurs cost/derives no immediate benefit.
- B acquires knowledge/skills more rapidly/at all due to A’s display.
17
Q
HV-VT-SL: Teaching (Example)
A
- 1950s macaques in dense forest.
- Primatologists lue them to forest edge w/sweet potatoes.
- Potatoes left on beach so sandy.
- Imo (young female) washes them in sea.
- Sea wash includes salt in diet.
- Now fed w/wheat; difficult sand extraction.
- Imo threw wheat into sea for separation.
- Habit spread to young (adult males slow).
- Young used to sea/salt (ie. playing/bathing)
- Ate discarded fish; collected own shellfish/fish.
- Imo dies; teaching lives.
18
Q
HV-VT: Symbolic Representation
A
- REFERENTIAL SIGNALING: represents/refers to subject/concept; permits info transmission w/o situation requiring relevant context
- MANSER (2001); meerkats have different signals for aerial/terrestrial/recruitment predators; frequencies differ in length according to urgency (short = low, etc.); rep of threat type/level = animal language
19
Q
SUMMARY
A
- behaviour can be transmitted/inherited via non-genetic mechanisms
- parental effects are always vertical; slow and easily confused w/genetic effects
- social learning is horizontal/vertical; medium; may involve imitation/conceptual learning
- symbolic representation is horizontal/vertical/skips gens; potentially rapid; rare in nature