Sensory Perception Flashcards
What is sensory ecology?
the study of the sensory systems of animals to understand how they perceive their environment and how this affects their interactions with the environment
What is Umwelt
Umwelt = the sum total of all sensory information processed by the animals nervous system daily
What does ultra describe?
Stimuli above the human ability (i.e: ULTRAviolet)
What does infra describe?
Stimuli below the human ability (i.e: INFRAred)
What do lateral lines detect in fish and shark?
Detect changes in movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water.
How do organisms react to the environment?
Physical stimulus triggers
Sensory system, causing
Motor systems, leading to
Behaviour
What is the human visible light spectrum?
700nm to 400nm (colours of the rainbow)
What receptors detect light/ vision?
Photoreceptors
What classes as infrared light?
Electromagnetic wavelengths below 400nm
When do objects emit infrared light?
when they are warmer than their environment
How do Pit Vipers (snakes) detect infrared light?
They have a special pit on their head that contains infrared sensitive receptors in membranes (detects heat) - allows them to ambush infrared-emitting prey (warm blooded creatures)
What animals can see UV light?
Butterflies
Birds
Bees
How are bees attracted to flowers?
Under UV light, flowers exhibit patterns of light and dark that guide bees to the nectar
What classes as infra sound?
below 20Hz
What classes as ultra sound?
above 20,00o Hz
What’s the peak of human hearing?
2000 - 4000 Hz
How do some animals feel sound?
They detect vibrations in the environment using vibration-detecting structures.
Vibrations travel through substrate or air/ water around them.
What are frequencies?
The number of vibrations per second, measured in Hz
What is ecolocation?
A physiological process for locating distant or invisible objects (such as prey) by means of sound waves reflected back to the emitter (such as a bat) by the objects
What frequency can bats detect with ecolocation?
10,000 - 200,000 Hz
How long does a single bat call last
a few milliseconds
How does ecolocation help bats detect food?
High freq. sounds do not travel far
They reflect off solid objects including very small ones
This allows bats to detect small targets from the echoes that reflect from the object (by making bat call sounds via the mouth/ nose)
What do lateral lines in fish do?
Detect changes in pressure around the fish to locate prey, aid shoaling etc
What does the ampullae of lorenzini do?
Detects changes in water temperature through electroreception
What are the ampullae of lorenzini + what animals are they found in?
electrorecepting organ
Each ampulla is a bundle of sensory cells containing multiple nerve fibres and a jelly-filled canal opening.
found in sharks, skates, rays and cartilaginous fish
