1. Animal Behavior Male Jumping Spider (Habronattus icenoglei)

2. Definition Behavior is the response of an animal to environmental stimuli. The study of behavior is called ethology. Ethologists are interested both in proximal and ultimate reasons for behaviors.

3. Ethology Behavior Evolution Ecology Physiology Genetics Psychology

4. Behavior and genetics Innate behavior: Stereotyped behaviors that are based on preset neural pathways and are evoked by a key stimulus. Learned behavior: a behavior the animal has developed based on its experience with a particular stimulus.

5. Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution Behavioral ecology is the study of the adaptive values of certain behaviors. Are all behaviors adaptive? How is a particular behavior adaptive? Since behaviors affect fitness and often have a genetic component, behaviors can evolve.

6. Types of behaviors Migratory behavior Territorial behavior Animal cognition Animal communication Reproductive behavior Social behavior Foraging behavior

7. Migratory Behavior Migration: long, two-way movements of animals, usually seasonal Migration often involves precise migration patterns and highly specific destinations. In some animals, these behaviors are purely innate; in others, there appears to be some learning involved.

8. Territorial Behavior Any behavior designed to maintain an animal’s exclusive use of a an area. Territorial behavior is costly. Energy costs Increased visibility to predators Increased risk of injury in encounters with competitors So why be territorial? Increased food availability or foraging area Exclusive access to mates (increased reproductive success) Access to refuges from predators

9. Animal Cognition Question: Do animals think? “thinking” includes problem-solving, planning, deception, and specific vocabulary Problem-solving is done by chimpanzees (and other primates) and some birds (corvids and others) Planning is also used by various primates and corvids Deception and predator- specific vocabulary are thought to occur in certain primate species

10. Reproductive Behavior Reproductive strategy: the set of behaviors an animal uses to maximize its reproductive success.

11. Social Systems Some animals live in social groups Benefits of sociality Shared food sources Kin selection Protection from predation Larger prey items

12. Social Systems Eusociality Invertebrates: hymenopterans, isopterans Vertebrates: naked mole rats Other social systems are highly variable in composition and seasonality.

13. Foraging Behavior Foraging behaviors should maximize efficiency. Foraging behaviors are innate, but may be altered by ecology, by season, by predator abundance, by abundance of conspecifics, or by food abundance. Foraging behavior is necessary, but can be dangerous. There are tradeoffs.

14. Observational methods Ad Libitum – take notes on everything you see. Focal Sampling – One animal, observing a defined set of behaviors. Instantaneous/Scan Sampling – At set time points, note behaviors of one or more animals. All occurances – One behavior, note every time it is performed. Each method has advantages and disadvantages and can cause different biases.

15. Experiment Today we will test habitat selection in isopods, and foraging preferences in crickets.

16. Treatment ATreatment B PhototaxisChemotaxisHydrotaxis

17. Cricket Apparatus

18. You MUST have your lab printed for next week!