1. Chapter 51
Behavioral Ecology

2. The modern scientific discipline of behavioral ecology
Extends observations of animal behavior by studying how such behavior is controlled and how it develops, evolves, and contributes to survival and reproductive success

3. The scientific questions that can be asked about behavior can be divided into two classes
Those that focus on the immediate stimulus and mechanism for the behavior
Those that explore how the behavior contributes to survival and reproduction

4. What Is Behavior? Behavior Is what an animal does and how it does it
Includes muscular and nonmuscular activity
Figure 51.2
Dorsal fin
Anal fin

5. Learning is the modification of behavior
Is also considered a behavioral process
Learning is the modification of behavior
Based on specific experiences
Learned behaviors
Range from very simple to very complex

6. Proximate and Ultimate Questions
Proximate, or “how,” questions about behavior
Focus on the environmental stimuli that trigger a behavior
Focus on the genetic, physiological, and anatomical mechanisms underlying a behavioral act
Ultimate, or “why,” questions about behavior
Address the evolutionary significance of a behavior

7. Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior
Particularly in natural environments

8. A fixed action pattern (FAP)
Fixed Action Patterns
A fixed action pattern (FAP)
Is a sequence of unlearned, innate behaviors that is unchangeable
Once initiated, is usually carried to completion
A FAP is triggered by an external sensory stimulus
Known as a sign stimulus

9. In male stickleback fish, the stimulus for attack behavior
Is the red underside of an intruder
Figure 51.3a
(a) A male three-spined stickleback fish shows its red underside.

10. When presented with unrealistic models
As long as some red is present, the attack behavior occurs
Figure 51.3b
(b) The realistic model at the top, without a red underside, produces no aggressive response in a male three-spined stickleback fish. The other models, with red undersides, produce strong responses.

11. Proximate and ultimate causes for the FAP attack behavior in male stickleback fish
Figure 51.4
ULTIMATE CAUSE: By chasing away other male sticklebacks, a male decreases the chance that eggs laid in his nesting territory will be fertilized by another male.
BEHAVIOR: A male stickleback fish attacks other male sticklebacks that invade its nesting territory.
PROXIMATE CAUSE: The red belly of the intruding male acts as a sign stimulus
that releases aggression in a male stickleback.

12. Imprinting is a type of behavior
That includes both learning and innate components and is generally irreversible
Imprinting is distinguished from other types of learning by a sensitive period
A limited phase in an animal’s development that is the only time when certain behaviors can be learned
Ducks following their mother

13. There are proximate and ultimate causes for this type of behavior
Figure 51.5
BEHAVIOR: Young geese follow and imprint on their mother.
PROXIMATE CAUSE: During an early, critical developmental stage, the young geese observe their mother moving away from them and calling.
ULTIMATE CAUSE: On average, geese that follow and imprint on their mother receive more care and learn necessary skills, and thus have a greater chance of surviving than those that do not follow their mother.

14. Behavior that is developmentally fixed
Genetic Component
Behavior that is developmentally fixed
Is called innate behavior and is under strong genetic influence
Many animal movements
Are under substantial genetic influence
These types of movements
Are called directed movements

15. Kinesis
A kinesis
Is a simple change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus

16. Sow bugs
Become more active in dry areas and less active in humid areas
Figure 51.7a
Dry open area
Moist site under leaf
(a) Kinesis increases the chance that a sow bug will encounter and stay in a moist environment.

17. Taxis
A taxis
Is a more or less automatic, oriented movement toward or away from a stimulus

18. Many stream fish exhibit positive rheotaxis
Where they automatically swim in an upstream direction
Direction
of river
current
(b) Positive rheotaxis keeps trout facing into the current, the direction from which most food comes.
Figure 51.7b

19. Many features of migratory behavior in birds
Migration
Many features of migratory behavior in birds
Have been found to be genetically programmed
Figure 51.8

20. Animal Signals and Communication
In behavioral ecology
A signal is a behavior that causes a change in another animal’s behavior
Communication
Is the reception of and response to signals

21. Animals communicate using
Visual, auditory, chemical, tactile, and electrical signals
The type of signal used to transmit information
Is closely related to an animal’s lifestyle and environment

22. Chemical Communication
Many animals that communicate through odors
Emit chemical substances called pheromones

23. When a minnow or catfish is injured
An alarm substance in the fish’s skin disperses in the water, inducing a fright response among fish in the area
Figure 51.9a, b
(a) Minnows are widely dispersed in an aquarium before an alarm substance is introduced.
(b) Within seconds of the alarm substance being introduced, minnows aggregate near the bottom of the aquarium and reduce their movement.

24. Habituation (“cry-wolf” effect)
Is a loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information

25. Spatial learning is the modification of behavior
Showed how digger wasps use landmarks to find the entrances to their nests
Figure 51.14
CONCLUSION
A female digger wasp excavates and cares for four or five separate underground nests, flying to each nest daily with food for the single larva in the nest. To test his hypothesis that the wasp uses visual landmarks to locate the nests, Niko Tinbergen marked one nest with a ring of pinecones.
EXPERIMENT
Nest
When the wasp returned, she flew to the center of the pinecone circle instead of to the nearby nest. Repeating the experiment with many wasps, Tinbergen obtained the same results.
RESULTS
The experiment supported the hypothesis that digger wasps use landmarks to keep track of their nests.
No Nest
Based on experience with the spatial structure of the environment
After the mother visited the nest and flew away, Tinbergen moved the pinecones a few feet to one side of the nest.

26. Cognitive Maps A cognitive map
Is an internal representation of the spatial relationships between objects in an animal’s surroundings
Hard to distinguish whether animal is using landmarks or a true cognitive map.

27. Associative Learning In associative learning
Animals associate one feature of their environment with another
Classical conditioning is a type of associative learning
In which an arbitrary stimulus is associated with a reward or punishment (dog and bone)
Operant conditioning is another type of associative learning
In which an animal learns to associate one of its behaviors with a reward or punishment
Trial and error learning

28. Cognition and Problem Solving
Cognition is the ability of an animal’s nervous system
To perceive, store, process, and use information gathered by sensory receptors
Problem solving can be learned
By observing the behavior of other animals

29. The genetic components of behavior
Natural Selection
Natural selection favors behaviors that increase survival and reproductive success
The genetic components of behavior
Evolve through natural selection
Behavior can affect fitness
Through its influence on foraging and mate choice

30. Optimal foraging theory
Foraging Behavior
Optimal foraging theory
Views foraging behavior as a compromise between the benefits of nutrition and the costs of obtaining food

31. Energy Costs and Benefits
Reto Zach
Conducted a cost-benefit analysis of feeding behavior in crows
The crows eat molluscs called whelks
But must drop them from the air to crack the shells
Correlated with a fewer number of drops, indicating a trade-off between energy gained (food) and energy expended

32. Mating Behavior and Mate Choice
Is the product of a form of natural selection called sexual selection
In many species, mating is promiscuous
With no strong pair-bonds or lasting relationships

33. In monogamous relationships
One male mates with one female
In a system called polygyny
One male mates with many females
The males are often more showy and larger than the females
In polyandrous systems
One female mates with many males
The females are often more showy than the males

34. Paternity and the needs of the young
Influences parental care and mating behavior
In species that produce large numbers of offspring
Parental care is at least as likely to be carried out by males as females
Figure 51.26
Eggs

35. Sexual Selection and Mate Choice
In intersexual selection
Members of one sex choose mates on the basis of particular characteristics
Intrasexual selection
Involves competition among members of one sex for mates

36. Mate Choice by Females Male zebra finches
Are more ornate than females, a trait that may affect mate choice by the females
Figure 51.27

37. Male Competition for Mates Male competition for mates
Is a source of intrasexual selection that can reduce variation among males
Figure 51.30

38. Many social behaviors are selfish Natural selection favors behavior
Concept of inclusive fitness can account for most altruistic social behavior
Many social behaviors are selfish
Natural selection favors behavior
That maximizes an individual’s survival and reproduction

39. On occasion, some animals
Altruism
On occasion, some animals
Behave in ways that reduce their individual fitness but increase the fitness of others
This kind of behavior
Is called altruism, or selflessness

40. Altruistic behavior can be explained by inclusive fitness
The total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing its own offspring and by providing aid that enables close relatives to produce offspring

41. Hamilton’s Rule and Kin Selection
Hamilton proposed a quantitative measure
For predicting when natural selection would favor altruistic acts among related individuals
The three key variables in an altruistic act are
The benefit to the recipient
The cost to the altruist
The coefficient of relatedness (the probability that two relatives may share the same genes)
Natural selection favors altruism when the benefit to the recipient
Multiplied by the coefficient of relatedness exceeds the cost to the altruist
This inequality
Is called Hamilton’s rule

42. Kin selection is the natural selection
That favors this kind of altruistic behavior by enhancing reproductive success of relatives
An example of kin selection and altruism
Is the warning behavior observed in Belding’s ground squirrels

43. Altruistic behavior toward unrelated individuals
Reciprocal Altruism
Altruistic behavior toward unrelated individuals
Can be adaptive if the aided individual returns the favor in the future
This type of altruism
Is called reciprocal altruism

44. Social Learning Social learning
Forms the roots of culture
Culture can be defined as a system of information transfer through observation or teaching
That influences the behavior of individuals in a population

45. Social Learning of Alarm Calls
Vervet Monkeys: Infant monkeys give undiscriminating alarm calls at first
But learn to fine-tune them by the time they are adults

46. Human behavior, like that of other species
Is the result of interactions between genes and environment
However, our social and cultural institutions
May provide the only feature in which there is no continuum between humans and other animals