Animal Behavior Chapter 51

Behavior is what an animal does and how it does it. What is Behavior?

Ecology: Interaction between organisms and the biotic and abiotic environment Abiotic- non living; e.g., temperature, light, dissolved gas, water Biotic- living; e.g., predators, prey, mates Behavioral Ecology The study of the behavior of organisms within an evolutionary framework. e.g., communication, finding food, protection from predators

Proximate causes External stimuli- changes in day length and temp Internal stimuli - hormone levels Winter plumage Breeding plumage

Ultimate causes - address the evolutionary significance for a behavior and why natural selection favors this behavior. Why did a behavior evolve? Is it adaptive? Does it contribute to reproductive success? Example: birds that migrate have a selective advantage over birds that don't/didn't, selected for over time, could be due to long term climate changes, glaciation, disease, taking advantage of food sources, etc.

A.Behavior - What an animal does and how it does it. - some behavior is learned, some behavior is inherited B. To some extent ALL behavior has a Genetic Basis 1.some is totally genetic - which implies heritable 2.some is learned but relies ENTIRELY on genetically based mechanisms C. In general, behavior is a response to some environmental stimulus

Innate Behaviors – inherited, instinctive A. programmed by genes; B. highly stereotyped (similar each time in many individuals) C. Four Categories 1.Kinesis 2.Taxis 3.Reflex 4.Fixed Action Pattern

1.Kinesis: "change the speed of random movement in response to environmental stimulus“ 2.Taxis: "a directed movement toward or away from a stimulus; positive and negative taxes 3.Reflex: "movement of a body part in response to stimulus". 4.Fixed Action Pattern (FAP): "stereotyped and often complex series of movements, responses to a specific stimulus", hardwired, however, not purely genetic, may improve with experience a.programmed response to a stimulus b.stimulus of FAP = "releaser", sometimes called "sign stimulus“ c.examples: - courtship behavior - rhythms - daily (circadian); annual (circannual)

Many stream fish exhibit positive rheotaxis –Where they automatically swim in an upstream direction Figure 51.7b Direction of river current (b) Positive rheotaxis keeps trout facing into the current, the direction from which most food comes.

D. Characteristics of Innate Behaviors - especially FAPs: 1.The behavior is performed correctly the 1 st time without prior experience (no opportunity to learn) 2.Triggered by some external stimulus 3.Once started, run to completion with no further input 4.Breeding crosses produce hybrid behaviors

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Ethology is the study of how animals behave in their natural habitat. – Karl von Frisch: bee communication – Niko Tinbergen: herring gull experiment; digger wasps – Konrad Lorenz: imprint in geese

Karl Von Frisch- communication in bees g4jHg

Herring gull experiment by Niko Tinbergen Releaser Stimuli- stimuli that release FAP E.g., Chick and red dot on gull parents beak triggers feeding response- parent regurgitates food Laysan albatross feeding chick

Egg rolling behavior in geese is a Fixed Action Pattern XKU

Male three-spined stickleback shows aggression at models with red undersides Life-like model GVE

Migration Behavior. – Migration is the regular movement of animals over relatively long distances. – Piloting: an animal moves from one familiar landmark to another until it reaches its destination. Whale Migration Routes

The behavior is adaptive - signs that natural selection is at work a. survival may depend on behavior, learning not an option (one chance only) b. animals with simple NS may not have capacity to learn - not strictly true, "simple" animals learn c. social interactions dependent on survival require rigid performance of roles mating rituals, termite mounds

Learning - Learned Behavior: Five Categories A. Imprinting 1. a strong association learned during a specific developmental period a. "sensitive period" or "critical period" b. imprinting of baby geese on mother - Lorenz baby geese imprint on mother within hours of hatching will imprint on any object during that period 2. learning a releaser for an innate FAP

Goose imprinting by Conrad Lorenz Geese imprint on the first moving (with sound) object that they see after birth There is a selection of a specific period of time (critical period) for social attachment and mate recognition in geese (to ensure geese imprint on the same species) PW4

Imprinting in conservation biology: Need to minimize/eliminate human presence while raising California Condors condors

B. Habituation 1. decline in response to a harmless, repeated stimulus filter - prevents animal from wasting energy/attention on irrelevant stimuli adaptive CIU3O76E

Niko Tinbergen Hypothesis: digger wasps use visual landmarks to keep track of her nests C. Spatial Learning- Move pine cones Visual cue is arrangement pattern rather than objects themselves 3g9w

D. Conditioning - laboratory setting 1. classical conditioning animals make associations - Pavlov's dog associates bell with food, begins to salivate, can be extinguished and later followed by recovery (unconditioned stimulus - meat, unconditioned response - salivation, conditioned stimulus - bell, conditioned response - salivation) animal learns to perform an "old" response to a new stimulus Pavlov's dog - place dried meat powder in dog mouth - salivation - associate with bell - salivation to bell Stimulus first, behavior second (but of course there is an expectation of reward second)

2. operant conditioning a. perform behavior to receive reward or avoid punishment b. Skinner Box - levers, reward - self training elaborate protocols c. behavior first, reward second (but of course there is a stimulus, if only a thought of reward) nnlF4

Trial and Error Learning –This is called trial-and-error learning - an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or a punishment.

Octopus opening jar with crab Observational Learning WDw

Play as a behavior has no apparent external goal, but may facilitate social development or practice of certain behaviors and provide exercise. Practice and exercise may explain the ultimate bases of play

E. Insight, reasoning 1.manipulating concepts in the mind to arrive at adaptive behavior 2.mental trial-and-error 3.internal memory stores are used as additional sensory/information source All examples of tool-using: chickadees/tits and opening milk bottles Egyptian Vulture - uses rocks Cocos Finch - uses splinters of wood North American Gulls, Northwestern Crow - smash clams on sandy beaches I_eM

Cognition is the ability of an animal’s nervous system to perceive, store, process, and use information gathered by sensory receptors. The study of cognition connects nervous system function with behavior

Social behavior is any kind of interaction between two or more animals, usually of the same species. Sociobiology places social behavior in an evolutionary context Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Orcas chasing Dusky Dolphin Orca and Weddell Seal

Social Behavior in Vertebrates A. Predator Avoidance Behavior -mimicry - schooling B. Reproductive Behavior -competition -territoriality - displays C. Parental Behavior D. Communication E. Cooperative Behavior -warning alarms

Sometimes cooperation occurs. Competitive social behaviors often represent contests for resources Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig sRSk

Agonistic behavior is a contest involving threats. –Submissive behavior. –Ritual: the use of symbolic activity. –Generally, no harm is done. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig aJhgk aJhgk

Reconciliation behavior often happens between conflicting individuals. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig

Dominance hierarchies involve a ranking of individuals in a group (a “pecking order”). –Alpha, beta rankings exist. The alpha organisms control the behavior of others. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings bHbo

Territoriality is behavior where an individual defends a particular area, called the territory. –Territories are typically used for feeding, mating, and rearing young and are fixed in location. M2xc

–Drawbacks are that territoriality uses a great deal of an individual’s energy. In addition, an individual might be defending a territory and die or miss a reproductive opportunity. –Spraying behavior is where an individual marks its territory. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig

Courtship behavior consists of patterns that lead to copulation and consists of a series of displays and movements by the male or female. Natural selection favors mating behavior that maximizes the quantity or quality of mating partners Vogelkop Bowerbird M2xc M2xc

Parental investment refers to the time and resources expended for raising of offspring. –It is generally lower in males –Females usually invest more time into parenting (fecundity, egg size, care of offspring) –Females are usually more discriminating in terms of the males with whom they choose to mate. Females look for more fit males (i.e., better genes), the ultimate cause of the choice. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Mating systems differ among species. –Promiscuous: no strong bond pairs between males and females. –Monogamous: one male mating with one female. –Polygamous: an individual of one sex mating with several of the other sex. Polygyny where a single male mates with many females. Polyandry one female mates with several males. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings fZQ0ok0 fZQ0ok0

Defining animal signals and communication. –A signal is a behavior that causes a change in the behavior of another animal. –The transmission of, reception of, and response to signals make up communication. –Examples include the following: Displays such as singing, and howling. Information can be transmitted in other ways, such as chemical, tactile, electrical. Social interactions depend on diverse modes of communication Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Nz9w

–Pheromones are chemicals released by an individual that bring about mating and other behaviors. Examples include bees and ants. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig NGK0

Most social behaviors are selfish, so how do we account for behaviors that help others? –Altruism is defined as behavior that might decrease individual fitness, but increase the fitness of others. The concept of inclusive fitness can account for most altruistic behavior Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig

Altruism

Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig wA

–Inclusive fitness: How can a naked mole rat enhance its fitness by helping other members of the population? How is altruistic behavior maintained by evolution? If related individuals help each other, they are in affect helping keep their own genes in the population. Inclusive fitness is defined as the affect an individual has on proliferating its own genes by reproducing and helping relatives raise offspring. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

–Kin selection is the mechanism of inclusive fitness, where individuals help relatives raise young. –Reciprocal altruism, where an individual aids other unrelated individuals without any benefit, is rare, but sometimes seen in primates (often in humans). PE1o