Behavioral Ecology Behavior What exactly is “Behavior” and “Behavioral Ecology”? Behavior All observable or measurable muscular or secretory responses (or lack thereof) and related phenomena like changes in blood flow, surface pigments, etc., in response to changes in an animal’s internal or external environment

Animal Behavior Using this definition, behavior is broadly inclusive Simply like sweating or panting To more complex like Courtship Communication

Behavioral Ecology Behaviors are not random Animals respond in specific ways to specific stimuli in their internal or external environment For example, Temperature Response to predator Response to hunger Based on evolutionary history

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Background Darwin (1859), Origin of the Species Contains many anecdotal stories of animal behavior Instinct Chapter- suggests ways in which natural selection may have acted gradually to shape rudimentary forms of instinctive behaviors into sophisticated instincts

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Background Darwin’s 4 postulates (review) 1) Traits of organisms vary 2) Variation causes differences in survival and reproduction 3) This variation is heritable 4) Survival and reproduction are non-random Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871) First attempt to explain sexual behaviors

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Background But in the 1800s behavior was often anthropomorphized C.L. Morgan (academic grandchild of Darwin) spoke out against anthropomorphic attributes of behaviors We should "endeavor to distinguish fact from observer’s inference” “In no case may we interpret an action as the outcome of the exercise of a higher physical faculty, if it can be interpreted as the outcome of one which stands lower in the psychological scale” Oskar Pfungst’s 1907 study of the performance of Clever Hans- a horse reported to read numbers, spell, and to make calculations Pfungst used trials in which the examiners did and did not know the answers to the questions Hans could only correctly answer the questions when his examiners knew the answers Hans had learned to respond to small involuntary movements of examiners and couldn’t actually read or perform calculations

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Ethology Early-Mid 1900s Ethology developed The study of the evolutionary or functional significance of species specific behaviors Konrad Lorenz Ethology- study of the evolutionary or functional signficance of species specific behavior behaviors -Most european scientists like lorenx or tinbergen Niko Tinbergen

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Ethology Investigated the idea that behavior could be approached evolutionarily If so, then behaviors could be used to classify animals just as anatomical, morphological or physiological traits are used i.e., instinctive behaviors are similar in more closely related species and differ more in less related species But, even though they are similar in closely related species, they are still nonetheless different Ethologists formed ethograms A catalogue, list, or inventory of behaviors for a species This ethogram would then be used to ask questions regarding the adaptiveness or function of the various behaviors

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Ethology Konrad Lorenz Famous for theory of imprinting

Tinbergen’s 4 questions (1963) Form the basis for how many behavior studies are done today Proximate causes of behavior Causal explanations are concerned with mechanisms How does something work or develop 1) Causation? 2) Development/Ontogeny? Ultimate causes of behavioral diversity Functional explanations focus on why these behaviors have been selected Why did a behavior evolve? Why was it selected? 3) What is the adaptive advantage or function? 4) What is the evolutionary history of the animal which led to this behavior?

Tinbergen’s 4 questions (1963) The four major questions of behavior classified by explanation type: a dog wagging its tail Type of explanation Question Answer Proximate cause 1a Causation (physiological) Sensory cells detect a human companion and the CNS sends impulses that activate the dogs muscles 1b Causation (cognitive) Dog recognizes the human and decides to wag its tail 2. Ontogeny Tail wagging is genetically programmed but dog learns to identify his companions Ultimate cause 3. Function Taig wagging signals the dog’s friendly intentions toward its social group, fostering its membership and its survival and reproduction 4. Evolutionary history Long ago, tail wagging occurred sporadically when dogs interacted and overtime was modified into a signal during greetings

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Ethology Ethologists also gave us concepts like Appetive behaviors Variable acts or behaviors Not necessarily the same among members of the same species For example, how an animal finds food or mates Consummatory behaviors Invariable acts always performed the same by all members of the species Stereotypical behaviors repeated without variation For example, mating, killing prey

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Ethology Consummatory behaviors tend to be fixed That is they represent a fixed action pattern (FAP) A FAP is the behavior produced in response to a specific stimulus, the sign stimulus The sign stimulus triggers some genetically coded innate releasing mechanism to produce the FAP Sticklebacks -Stickleback video

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Ethology Another Tinbergen experiment Red spot on beak of herring seagulls stimulates pecking feeding behaviors by juvenile gulls Spots of different color do not induce pecking Movement is also a key stimulus

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Ethology While there are FAPs, there are also modal action patterns These may actually be more common MAPs are the mode behavior i.e., most of the individuals respond to the sign stimulus with a specific behavior, but not all individuals do There is variation in response to the sign stimulus among individuals Allows for evolution Regardless, FAPs and MAPs result in species-typical behaviors Behaviors broadly characteristic of a species and are performed by all members of the species

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Behaviorism Comparative/Behavioral Psychology also developed in the early –mid 1900s -Focused on behaviors that could be measured, trained, and changed in individuals (rather than the species) All behaviors are acquired through conditioning (learning) Developed to examine environmental requirements for behavioral development in the young Championed by James Watson “give me a dozen healthy infants, well -formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take anyone at random and train them to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and, yes, even beggar man and thief , regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors” Instrumental condition- a response of the animal is rewarded and reinforced with food

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Behaviorism Classical Conditioning- Pavlov’s Dog Dogs salivate when presented with food If presented with food and a bell, the dog learns to associate food with the bell After conditioning to predictive stimulus (bell), salivates at bell Instrumental Conditioning- Skinner Box Animal performs a behavior and is either rewarded or punished B. F. Skinner

Ethology vs Comparative Psychology Started the debate as to whether nature or nurture were more important in producing animal behaviors, But in fact these two disciplines examine different behavior and very different way “Nature vs Nurture”

But it is nature AND nurture After 6 days, chicks prefer to peck at the model of their own species the tendency to peck is probably innate, but the object that is pecked is modified as a result of experience

But it is nature AND nurture Wells 1958 Cuttlefish latency to attack shrimp declines with or without conditioning i.e. learning can take place without reinforcement Counters the idea that conditioning is necessary for learning Not Rewarded Rewarded Starved Counters the idea that reinforcement conditioning is necessary for learning, some times it just takes practice The interactions between the environment, genetics, and learning is something you should keep in mind throughout this course

But it is nature AND nurture The experiment involved nine independent groups of chicks: Tested their pecking accuracy in relation to maturity and practice Chicks were kept naïve by keeping them in the dark

But it is nature AND nurture Problems with ALL behaviors are innate Genes do affect behavior, but not all behavior patterns are inherited All animals develop within some environment that shapes their behaviors Experiments which attempt to deprive an animal of an environment are still presenting an environment where learning can take place Problems with ALL behaviors are learned Learning is a process that changes pre-existing behaviors There are several experiments that show that some behaviors can be learned or “trained” no matter the conditioning Therefore, all behaviors are a product of both genes and the environment Nature/ Nutre dichotomies have now really been abandoned

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Sociobiology Developed in 1978 E. O Wilson (U of A graduate) Merges ethology and social organization i.e., looks at evolution of social behaviors How and why certain social organizations have evolved

SocioBiology Examples: Why do animals act cooperatively? Dolphins and other marine mammal act as a group to corral fishes Cleaner animals Cleaner shrimp and cleaner wrasse have “cleaning stations” in which they feed off invertebrate parasites on unrelated fishes

Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: Conservation Behavior The newest discipline to contribute to behavioral ecology: Conservation behavior “In a world that is patently disturbed and as pristine environments that serve as scientific baselines disappear, it will be increasingly difficult to determine which behaviors are adaptive and which anachronistic.”

Keeping Behavioral Ecology Up to Date Advocates for the application of animal behavior to wildlife conservation problems Applies behavior to conservation, restoration, and management

Conservation Behavior For instance, determining what habitat animal perceive as risky to reduce human disturbance Conservation behavior is something we will talk about throughout this course