Behaviours for survival

 The study of animal behaviour is called ethology  Some behaviour is innate- this means it is ‘in built’ ie you are born knowing how to do it  Other behaviours are learned ie by observing others  Rhythmic behaviour happens at regular intervals. Feeding is an example of this.  ‘The biological clock’ is often referred to as an explanation for these patterns

 Important components of communication are:  Stimulus for communication  Sender  Receiver  The kind of signal  How the signal is sent  The behaviour of the receiver  The setting in which the signal is sent  Communication may be through touch, posture, sound, visual display, and chemical signals

 Bees perform a ‘waggle dance’ at the hive to tell the other bees where the food is  Whales ‘sing’ underwater- this has a role in locating other whales as well as courtship implications  Dogs use ‘chemical communication’ by releasing pheromones- hormones that signal that they are ‘on heat’

 It is often safer for an organism to be part of a group than alone.  Groups often have an ‘organisation system’ or ‘social hierarchy’ with leaders and subordinates  Territorial behaviour refers to animals defending their habitat from other potential competitors  Competition may occur between organisms for space or food  Cooperation occurs when it is of benefit to all animals involved (eg hunting in packs)

 Pg 362  Questions 5, 6, 8  Pg 369  Question 2

 Conditioning- conditioning results when an association is made between two events. In Pavlov’s experiments dogs were conditioned to salivate when a bell was rung  Classical conditioning- the reward follows the stimulus  Operant conditioning- the reward follows the response

 Habituation- ‘getting used to’ an environment. Eg not hearing traffic when you live near a busy road  Insight- using reason to solve a problem. Ie using life experiences to deal with a new situation  Imprinting- the formation of an attachment to something shortly after birth (eg ducks)

 Tropism- a growth response to a stimulus  Can be positive (grow in direction of stimulus) or negative (grow in opposite direction)  Phototropism- response to light  Geotropism- response to gravity  Thigmotropism- response to touch

Phototropisms:  Auxin is a plant hormone responsible for growth  If light is evenly distributed, auxin is evenly distributed and the plant will grown straight  If light is to one side, auxin will become more concentrated on the side without sunlight, causing greater growth on that side.

Geotropisms:  See picture pg 364  Auxin accumulates on the lower side of the shoot- this causes elongation of the cells on this side. Shoot grows upwards (negative geotropism)  Roots grow downwards (positive geotropism)

 Photoperiod refers to the relative time of day and night  When plants respond to this it is called photoperiodism  Some plants only flower when the day length is shorter, others when the day length is longer

 Pg 362  Questions 5, 6, 8  Pg 369  Question 2  Pg 367  Questions 9-13  Pg 369  Question 3  Pg 370  Question 4  Pg 372  Questions’s 8,10 (these would be a good test/exam questions!!)