1. Behavioral Biology
Chapter 51

2. Behavioral Biology Part I Part II (current areas of research)
What is behavior?
Innate Behavior
FAP/ Sign stimulus
Learned Behavior
Habituation
Imprinting
Associative learning
Classical
Operant ob
Part II
(current areas of research)
Optimal Foraging
Cognitive maps
Sociobiology

3. Behavior What an animal does and how it does it can be
Muscular seen or heard
Non muscular secretion of sex attractants
Genes influence behavior can evolve
Behav. ecology understand behav. In the evolutionary sense (Darwin)

4. Causes of Behavior
Proximate Cause mechanistic, environmental stimuli trigger behavior,
Ultimate Cause why or how behav. improves fitness
Courtship behavior in cranes

5. Behavior
Both genes and environment influence behavior
Case studies have shown this

6. Fig. 51.1
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7. Innate Behavior
Behavior that is preprogrammed into the animal all individuals exhibit the behavior, despite environmental differences
Automatic, developmentally fixed
Ex: blind birds, human infant

8. Ethology
The study of how animals behave in their natural habitat

9. Foraging Food searching behaviors
Why animals choose the food they do at that time  cost benefit
Optimal Foraging compromise between feeding cost and feeding benefits
NS refines behaviors to enhance efficiency of feeding

10. 1941|1973 Pioneers in the study of animal behavior Karl von Frisch
Niko Tinbergen
Konrad Lorenz

11. Fixed Action Patterns (FAP)
Sequence of behaviors essentially unchangeable & usually conducted to completion once it is started
sign stimulus
releaser that triggers FAP

12. courtship display in sticklebacks

13. B. Learned Behavior Innate behavior improves with performance
Modification resulting from experience

14. Imprinting
Learning at a specific critical time & forms social attachments to another
both learning & innate components
But how do the 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 innate in the birds; the outside world provides the imprinting stimulus, something to which the response will be directed. Experiments with many species of waterfowl indicate that they have no innate recognition of “mother.” They respond to and identify with the first object they encounter that has certain key characteristics. In classic experiments done in the 1930s, Konrad Lorenz showed that the most important imprinting stimulus in graylag geese is movement of an object away from the young. When incubator–hatched goslings spent their first few hours with Lorenz rather than with a goose, they imprinted on him, and from then on, they steadfastly followed him and showed no recognition of their biological mother or other adults of their own species. Again, there are both proximate and ultimate explanations
Konrad Lorenz was “mother” to these imprinted graylag goslings

15. Habituation Loss of response to stimulus “cry-wolf” effect
learn not to respond to repeated occurrences of stimulus

16. Associative learning
Learning to associate 1 feature of the environment (stimulus) with another
classical conditioning
stimulus & reward/punishment
operant conditioning
trial & error learning

17. Classical Conditioning
Pavlov’s dog is a good example.
Ivan Pavlov exposed dogs to a bell ringing and at the same time sprayed their mouths with powdered meat, causing them to salivate.
Soon, the dogs would salivate after hearing the bell but not getting any powdered meat.

18. Operant Conditioning
Trial-and-error learning - an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or a punishment

19. Cognition & Problem-Solving
Connecting behavior with nervous system
to perceive, store, process, and use information gathered by sensory receptors
problem-solving
tool use

20. Directed movements Kinesis Taxis
simple change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus
Taxis
more or less automatic, oriented movement toward (positive taxis) or away from (negative taxis) a stimulus
The sow bugs become more active in dry areas and less active in humid areas. Though sow bugs do not move toward or away from specific conditions, their increased movement under dry conditions increases the chance that they will leave a dry area and encounter a moist area. And since they slow down in a moist area, they tend to stay there once they encounter it.
In contrast to a kinesis, a taxis is a more or less automatic, oriented movement toward (a positive taxis) or away from (a negative taxis) some stimulus. For example, many stream fish, such as trout, exhibit positive rheotaxis (from the Greek rheos, current); they automatically swim or orient themselves in an upstream direction (toward the current). This taxis keeps the fish from being swept away and keeps them facing the direction from which food will come.

21. Directed movements Use of landmarks within a familiar area.
Some organisms move in response to a recognized object or environmental cue, the object is the landmark
Cognitive maps.
Some animals form cognitive maps (internal codes of spatial relationships of objects in the environment

22. 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.
Fig
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23. Orientation: animals can detect directions and travel in particular paths until reaching destination.
Navigation is the most complex, and involves determining one’s present location relative to other locations in addition to detecting compass directions.
Cues for these behaviors include the earth’s magnetic field, the sun, and the stars.
Fig
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24. 2. Competitive social behaviors often represent contests for resources
Sometimes cooperation occurs.
Fig
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25. Agonistic behavior is a contest involving threats.
Submissive behavior.
Ritual: the use of symbolic activity.
Generally, no harm is done.
Fig
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26. Reconciliation behavior often happens between conflicting individuals.
Fig
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27. Alpha, beta rankings exist.
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.
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28. 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.
Fig
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29. Natural selection favors mating behavior that maximizes the quantity or quality of mating partners
Courtship behavior consists of patterns that lead to copulation and consists of a series of displays and movements by the male or female.
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30. Also need to know Altruistic Behavior Inclusive fitness Kin selection
Pheromones
Signal/communication Honey bee dance

31. Both genes and culture build human nature
Fig
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