Chapter 25 Animal Interactions Pages 555-573 Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Behavior the conduct of an organism the way it acts means through which an organism interacts with its environment result of genes selected by the environment to survive BEHAVIOR must be adaptive to new situations Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Innate Behavior aka inborn behavior / fixed action patterns not dependent on experience behavioral pattern that occurs as soon as organism is born/hatched complex innate behaviors are called instincts Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Learned Behavior requires “experience” Imprinting Habituation has a sensitive period or genetically determined time in which the learning must occur and requires little or no practice hatchlings follow the first moving object they see classic experiments done by Konrad Lorenz Habituation exposure to a stimulus over and over again causes the response to be lost Conditioning through learning the pattern of an innate behavior is changed Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov experiment innate reflex in dog is to salivate at sight of food ring bell no response from dog present food and ring bell dog salivates repeat many times dog associates bell with food ring bell – dog will salivate dog is now conditioned needs periodical reconditioning Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Operant Conditioning allows organism to follow normal behavior how most animals are “trained” to do tricks when animal does a part of “trick” gets reward repeat until animal does it regularly then advance to next increment continue reward… until regular then add next step. etc. sometimes also known as “trial and error” learning Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

External and Internal Stimuli complex innate behavior depends on the animal’s physiology depends on internal stimuli hormones enzymes depends on external stimuli temperature light most courtship and reproductive behavior falls in this category Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Stickleback courtship male builds nest hormone initiated red belly male dances to attract female attracted to red underbelly female follows male into nest male tickles female she releases eggs Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Populations and Behavior Most animal populations only share a common habitat Some are organized through complex genetically transmitted behaviors Recognition of prey & predators Distribution of individuals Communication competition Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Social Behavior Animal Societies Populations with: Leaders Followers Job specialists Coordinators Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Dominance Hierarchies Sustained aggressive-submissive relations among a group of animals Despotism one individual rules over all others with no distinction among subordinates Pecking Order one individual (alpha) rules but the subordinates contain multiple ranks in a linear order Wolf / Dog Pack Domestic Chickens Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Caste System Caste Individuals of a particular morphological type or age group that performs specialized labor in the colony Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Honeybee Caste Honeybee Colony Queen – produces phermone - “queen substance” To form new queens larva fed “royal jelly” Workers Role varies by age and glandular development Nurse phase Feed larvae and queen Construction phase Build brood and honey cells Patrolling phase Move through hive and assist where needed Scout phase Leave hive and collect pollen Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Social Behavior Societies benefit species: defense from predators musk oxen circle when threatened by wolves prairie dogs bark to warn of danger synchronize reproduction songbird mating calls initiate endocrine function large gull colonies produce more young prairie chicken dance increased care of young Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Communication action of one organism alters the pattern of behavior of another organism Sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste are used as “signals” Discrete Signal presented as a simple yes-no, on-off message red belly of stickleback ritual preening of Mandarin duck points to “orange spot” Graded Signal presents more variability – greater motivation of presented indicates “stronger” message honeybee waggle dance rhesus monkey stare, then open mouth, head bob, sounds, all escalate “aggressive threat” Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006

Honeybee Dance Round Dance Waggle Dance attention getter search for food nearby Waggle Dance food distant figure 8 angle - direction Updated May 2006 Created by C. Ippolito May 2006