Behavioral Ecology Behavioral ecology is the study of an animal’s behavior & how it is tied to its evolution, survival, and its reproductive success. – Behavior is everything an animal does and how it does it. To study behavior, two basic types of questions are asked. – Proximate questions are often considered "How" questions. » environmental stimuli, trigger event, genetic, physiological, and anatomical mechanisms – Ultimate questions are often considered "Why" questions » asks the evolutionary significance of a behavior and how it inferred fitness

Ethology Behavioral ecology can be further narrowed to the study of Ethology (organisms in their natural environments). – An ethologist will attempt to answer the following 4 questions without influencing the outcome. What is the mechanistic basis of the behavior (chemical, anatomical, & physiological)- proximate How does development of the animal influence behavior - proximate What is the evolutionary history of the behavior - ultimate How does the behavior contribute to an animal's fitness - ultimate

Behaviors studied by Ethologists FAP (Fixed action Patterns) – a sequence of unearned behaviors that once triggered is carried to completion example: Aggression in the male 3-spined stickleback – action: attacks another male in its breeding area » Proximate cause: red underbelly(trigger) » Ultimate cause: by chasing other males away the male will leave more offspring thereby having greater reproductive success

Behaviors studied by Ethologists Imprinting – a behavior that includes both innate and learned components that once learned is irreversible example: ducks following their mother – action: baby ducks will follow any real or surrogate mother that they imprint during the sensitive period (period of entrainment) » Proximate cause: during a critical period, young ducks see their mother moving away and calling » Ultimate cause: ducks that don't follow are not cared for and do not learn the necessary skills for survival

Behaviors studied by Ethologists Nature vs Nurture – Genetic components - innate actions (nature) types: – Directed movements » kinesis -a change in activity rate in response to a stimuli (non-directional) » taxis -movement toward (pos) or away (neg) from a stimulus » Migration- seasonal movement by a species – Signals(behavior causing change) and communication (signal and response) » chemical - pheromones » Auditory - bird songs, insect sounds from wings – Mating » Chemicals released during mating may help form a monogamous bond in species

Nature vs Nurture – Environmental Components (nurture) - may act to modify the genetic response learning -modification of behavior based on specific circumstances habituation- loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information – Spatial learning - learning with some degree of spatial variance Nesting sites, population density, hazards associated with food location,... may use land marks to form a cognitive map (use of multiple landmarks to identify location of food, home, mate) – associative learning - ability to associate one stimulus with another may use classical conditioning - repetitive use of consequences / reward to reinforce an association Operant conditioning – trial & error learning – cognition- the ability of an organism to perceive, store, process, and use information learned