1. Behavioral Ecology (Part 2)
Ms. Day
AP Biology

2. Behavioral Ecology
Social behavior = the interaction among members of a population
Behavioral biology = study of what animals do when interacting with their environment
Behavior can be interpreted in terms of proximate causes (immediate interaction with the environment) or ultimate causes (evolutionary differences)

3. Behavior Ethology = study of animal behavior
Proximate cause = physiological & genetic mechanisms of behavior
Ask yourself “HOW is the behavior occurring?”
Ex: hormones, light or temperature cues, environment signals
Ultimate cause = evolutionary significance of behavior
Ask yourself “WHY is the behavior occurring?”
Protection, less competition, better mating, etc.

4. HOW?
WHY?

5. What is the proximate cause? HOW is the behavior occurring?
Colors and size of tail feathers allows peacock to attract mate
What is the ultimate cause?
WHY is the behavior occurring?
The peacock wants a girl to reproduce with 

6. Types of Behavior
Innate= behavior that is instinct or inherited (NOT LEARNED)
Ex: care for offspring by female, suckling, mating
Fixed action pattern (FAP) = sequence of unlearned (innate) acts; unchangeable; carried to completion
triggered by an external sensory stimulus or cue (called a sign stimulus)

7. Sign stimulus = external sensory cue
Ex: 3-spined stickleback (Tinbergen ‘73 Nobel)
Female Wasps, their nests and pinecone/rocks
Where is my nest?

8. This is a fixed action pattern
The graylag goose always retrieves an egg that has been bumped out of her nest in the same manner
Get back here!
This is a fixed action pattern
She carries this sequence to completion, even if the egg slips away during the process

9. Types of Behavior Con’t Learning
3. Habituation = loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey no information; simple learning
4. Imprinting = limited learning within a specific time period called the critical (or sensitive) period
5. Associative learning:
A. classical conditioning- reward/punishment behavior
Ex: fish tank, dogs and food
B. operant conditioning- trial and error
Ex: Wolf and porcupine
6. Observational learning =
imitating
EX: monkeys
I’ll never
do that
again!

10. Classical Conditioning Examples

11. What is the proximate cause?
Imprinting : a behavior that includes both learning and innate (unlearned) components and is generally irreversible
This is distinguishable from other types of learning by having a sensitive period, a limited phase in an animal’s development that is the ONLY time when certain behaviors can be learned
What is the proximate cause?
What is the ultimate cause?

12. How do young know on whom – or what – to imprint?
How do young geese know that they should follow the mother goose?
The tendency to respond is the innate behavior within the birds
The outside world provides the imprinting stimulus
Wait up,
mama!

13. Another Type of Behavior
Maturation = behavior due to developing physiological changes
Innate behavior that can not occur until a certain age/ maturation
Ex: Birds fly when they are physically able  ability to fly is innate
I can fly
now!

14. TYPES of ANIMAL MOVEMENT
Kinesis = simplest type of animal movement
random movement in response to a stimulus
NO exact direction (NON-DIRECTIONAL)
taxis
A more or less automatic movement DIRECTED toward (+ taxis) or away from (- taxis) some stimulus
Examples include rheotaxis (current) chemotaxis, hydrotaxis and phototaxis
Some animals use landmarks to find their way within an area (Ex: whales, birds)
Migration= birds migration behavior is genetically programmed and inherited

15. Movement in a directed way enables animals to:
avoid predators
migrate to a more favorable environment
obtain food
find mates and nest sites

16. Examples of Directed Movements

17. Communication and Behavior
Type
Description Ex
Chemical
Chemicals used called PHEROMONES
Reproductively receptive female moths attract male moths –emit pheromones into air
Visual
Visual displays displays of aggression or during courtship
Sickleback fish
Auditory
Sounds used to communicate over long distances, through water, and at night.
Whale songs
Tactile
Touching is common in social bonding, infant care, grooming, and mating.
Wolves greet the dominant male in the pack by licking his muzzle.

18. Social behavior promiscuous~ no strong pair bond
Agonistic behavior~ contest behavior determining access to resources
Dominance hierarchy~ linear “pecking order”
Territoriality~ an area an individual defends excluding others
Mating systems:
promiscuous~ no strong pair bond
monogamous~ one male/one female
polygamous~ 1 with many
polygyny~ 1 male/many female
polyandry~ 1 female/many males

19. Altruistic behavior THINK: “All in the family”
Behavior that is detrimental to the individual but favors the survival its relatives
WHY?
Spread of population’s genes
Ex: honey bees &
wasps
Queen, Worker (female), Drone (male parthogenesis)