What is Behavior?

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR: Definition The study of behavior encompasses all the movements and sensations by which organisms mediate their relationship with their environment -- physical, biotic and social. Movements and sensations Mediate relationship with environment

Mediate relationship with environment?

Mediate Relationship With Environment GENETIC MAKEUP NEURAL/ ENDOCRINE MECHANISMS DEVELOPMENT OBSERVED BEHAVIOR

Mediate Relationship With Environment GENETIC MAKEUP NEURAL/ ENDOCRINE MECHANISMS DEVELOPMENT OBSERVED BEHAVIOR SOLVE PROBLEMS?

Mediate Relationship With Environment GENETIC MAKEUP NEURAL/ ENDOCRINE MECHANISMS DEVELOPMENT OBSERVED BEHAVIOR SOLVE PROBLEMS: Find Food Avoid Predators Shelter Mate Parental Care

Mediate Relationship With Environment GENETIC MAKEUP NEURAL/ ENDOCRINE MECHANISMS DEVELOPMENT OBSERVED BEHAVIOR SOLVE PROBLEMS: Find Food Avoid Predators Shelter Mate Parental Care IF SOLVE PROBLEMS, CONSEQUENCES?

Mediate relationship with environment GENES BEHAVIOR SOLVE PROBLEMS SURVIVE & REPRODUCE GENE POOL

If she solves en route problems, she experiences a successful migration. Successful migration? Survival and Reproductive Success

EN ROUTE PROBLEMS Adjust to unfamiliar habitats Acquire food in short period of time Contend with competitors Avoid predators Resolve conflicting demands Maintain health Gain adequate sleep Finding the right direction Cope with adverse weather

Mediate relationship with environment GENES BEHAVIOR SOLVE PROBLEMS SURVIVE & REPRODUCE GENE POOL GENES

Animal Behavior Nature – NurtureNature – Nurture what you are born with naturally –Innate behavior: what you are born with naturally what you learn from your environment –Learned behavior: what you learn from your environment Behavioral Ecology: Implications of AnisogamyBehavioral Ecology: Implications of Anisogamy –Why sex? –Why sexes? –Implications?

NATURE – NURTURE: CONTROVERSIAL?  Genetic Determinism: human nature might be molded by the genes.  Heritability, Intelligence and IQ Debate  Genetics of Violence  Sexual Orientation Sexual orientation is not a choice (?)

Innate Behaviors Can be performed without prior experienceCan be performed without prior experience Are performed in reasonably complete form the first timeAre performed in reasonably complete form the first time –Appear even if the animal is deprived of opportunity to learn it –Example: Egg eviction behavior in cuckoo chicks

The cuckoo chick, just hours after it hatches and before its eyes have opened, evicts the eggs of its foster parents from the nest. The parents, responding to the stimulus of the cuckoo chick's wide- gaping mouth, feed the chick, unaware that it is not related to them.

Learned Behaviors Behaviors modified by experienceBehaviors modified by experience One form of learning is called habituationOne form of learning is called habituation –A decline in response to a repeated stimulus –Prevents wasting energy and attention on irrelevant stimuli –Example: Repeated physical stimulation of sea anemones

Learned Behaviors A more complex form of learning is called trial-and-error learningA more complex form of learning is called trial-and-error learning –New and appropriate responses to stimuli are acquired through experience –Response to naturally occurring stimuli based on rewards and punishments –Often occurs during play or exploratory behavior

PLAY BEHAVIOR

NATURE - NURTURE Seemingly innate behavior can be modified by experienceSeemingly innate behavior can be modified by experience Example: Herring gull chicks come to recognize own parents as they mature

NATURE - NURTURE Learning may be governed by innate constraintsLearning may be governed by innate constraints ExamplesExamples –Robins learn only songs of adult robins –Birds imprint only on their “parent” during the sensitive period in their development

NATURE – NURTURE: CONTROVERSIAL?  Genetic Determinism: human nature might be molded by the genes.  Heritability, Intelligence and IQ Debate  Genetics of Violence  Sexual Orientation Sexual orientation is not a choice (?)

NATURE - NURTURE Stephen Pinker. ''The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature'‘. Tabula rasa (Latin: blank slate) refers to the epistemological thesis that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and sensory perception. Implication: all human minds are equal because they are equally blank, equally free of innate, genetically shaped, abilities and behaviors. Consider child-rearing: children's characters are shaped by their genes, by their peer group and by chance experiences; parents cannot mold their children's nature, nor should they wish to, any more than they can redesign that of their spouses. Those little slates are not as blank as they may seem. If genes do contribute substantially to the development of personal characteristics such as intelligence and personality, then many wonder if this implies that genes determine who we are. No: Misunderstanding of development.