1. Biology Sylvia S. Mader Michael Windelspecht
Chapter 43
Behavioral Ecology
Lecture Outline
See separate FlexArt PowerPoint slides for all figures and tables pre-inserted into PowerPoint without notes. 1
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 1

2. Outline 43.1 Inheritance Influences Behavior
43.2 The Environment Influences Behavior
43.3 Animal Communication
43.4 Behaviors That Increase Fitness

3. 43.1 Inheritance Influences Behavior
Behavior - any action that can be observed and described
Nature (inherited) versus nurture (environmental) questions are still debated
Genes influence development of neural and hormonal mechanisms controlling behavior
Today, most evidence points to the conclusion that most behaviors have a genetic basis

4. Inheritance Influences Behavior
Experiments That Suggest that Behavior has a Genetic Basis
Nest-Building Behavior in Lovebirds
Fischers’s lovebirds and peach-faced lovebirds build nests and carry leaves in different ways
Hybrid offspring between these two species had difficulty carrying nesting materials
Food Choice in Garter Snakes
Inland populations are aquatic and feed on frogs and fish while coastal populations are terrestrial and feed primarily on slugs
Inland populations refuse to consume slugs in the laboratory, however, hybrid offspring between these two species accept slugs as a food source
Twin Studies in Humans
Human twins separated at birth and raised under different environmental conditions have been shown to have similar food preferences, activity patterns, and select mates with similar characteristics

5. Feeding Behavior in Garter Snakes
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. 25
inland
coastal 20 15
Inland garter snake does not eat slugs.
Percentage of Snakes 10 5
Coastal garter snake eats slugs.
Tongue Flicks per Minute
(Coastal): © John Sullivan/Monica Rua/Ribbitt Photography; (Inland): © R. Andrew Odum/Peter Arnold, Inc.

6. Inheritance Influences Behavior
Experiments That Suggest that Behavior has a Genetic Basis (continued)
Egg-Laying Behavior in Marine Snails
Egg Laying Hormone in the marine snail Aplysia has been isolated and demonstrated to control all of the components of egg laying in this species
Nurturing Behavior in Mice
Maternal behavior in mice is dependent upon a single gene termed fosB

7. Maternal Care in Mice 0.8 fosB alleles present fosB alleles
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
0.8
fosB alleles
present
fosB alleles
not present
0.6
Proportion of
Pups Retrieved
0.4
0.2 a.
b. fosB alleles present.
c. fosB alleles not present.
b,c: From J.R. Brown et al, "A defect in nurturing mice lacking Gene for fosB" Cell v. 86, 1996 pp , © Cell Press

8. 43.2 The Environment Influences Behavior
Fixed Action Patterns (FAP’s)
Originally assumed to be elicited by a sign stimulus
Increasingly, scientists have found this behavior to develop further after practice
Learning
A durable change in behavior brought about by experience
Ex: pecking behavior in laughing gulls

9. The Environment Influences Behavior
Imprinting
Imitation of behavior observed during sensitive period
Ex: Goslings follow any moving object after birth
Sensitive period
Period of time in which a particular behavior develops

10. The Environment Influences Behavior
Social Interactions and Learning
Avian brain is especially sensitive to acoustical stimuli during a sensitive period
Social experience appears to have an even stronger influence over development of singing
Ex: white-crowned sparrow signing

11. The Environment Influences Behavior
Associative Learning
Any change in behavior that involves an association between two events
Examples of Associative Learning
Classical conditioning
The paired presentation of two different types of stimuli causes an animal to form an association between them 11

12. The Environment Influences Behavior
Classical Conditioning
The paired presentation of two different stimuli causes an animal to form an association between them
Ex: Pavlov - dogs salivate when presented with food. 12

13. Classical Conditioning
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
saliva at
sight of food
(unconditioned
response)
saliva at
sound of bell only
(conditioned response)
sound of bell
(conditioned
Stimulus)
food
(unconditioned
stimulus)
apparatus to
measure saliva

14. The Environment Influences Behavior
Examples of Associative Learning
Operant Conditioning
Gradual strengthening of stimulus-response connections
Trick-training in animals 14

15. The Environment Influences Behavior
Orientation and Migratory Behavior
Orientation
The ability to travel in a particular direction
Many birds use the sun or star for cues
Migration
Long-distance travel from one location to another
Ex: Starling migration
Navigation
The ability to change direction in response to environmental cues
Clues may come from the Earth’s magnetic field 15

16. Starling Migratory Experiment
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Breeding
range
Wintering
range
Holland
Switzerland
Spain
typical migratory
route of starlings
experimental relocation
of all starlings
flight path of
experienced starlings
flight path of
inexperienced starlings

17. The Environment Influences Behavior
Cognitive Learning
Learning through observation, imitation, and insight
Insight learning
Solving a problem without prior experience
Animal appears to draw upon prior experience with other circumstances to solve the problem 17

18. Do Animals Have Emotions?
Body language of animals can be interpreted to suggest that they have feelings
Scientists believe that they have sufficient data to suggest that many vertebrates have feelings:
Fear, joy, embarrassment, jealousy, love, anger, sadness, fear 18

19. 43.3 Animal Communication
Some animals are largely solitary and join with a member of the opposite sex only to reproduce.
Others pair, bond, and cooperate in raising offspring.
Societies
Members are organized in a cooperative manner extending beyond sexual or parental behavior

20. Animal Communication Communicative Behavior
Communication is an action by a sender that influences the behavior of a receiver
May be purposeful, but does not have to be

21. Animal Communication Chemical Communication
Pheromones are chemical signals that are passed between members of the same species
Some animals are capable of secreting different pheromones, each with a different meaning 21

22. Animal Communication Auditory communication
Faster than chemical communication
Effective both day and night
Can be modified by loudness, pattern, repetition, and duration
Language is the ultimate auditory communication 22

23. Animal Communication Visual communication
Allows animals to signal others without chemical or auditory messages
Visual signals are most often used
By species that are active during the day
In contests between males who make use of threat postures
To establish dominance

24. Male Baboon Displaying Full Threat

25. Animal Communication Tactile Communication
Occurs when one animal touches another
Gull chicks peck at the parent’s beak in order to induce the parent to feed them
Foraging honeybees use tactile communication to impart information about the environment
Honeybees return to the hive and perform a waggle dance
The dance indicates the distance and direction of a food source

26. 43.4 Behaviors That Increase Fitness
Behavioral ecology
Assumes that behavior is subject to natural selection
Behavior has a genetic basis
Some behaviors lead to increased survival and number of offspring
Behaviors of animals we observe today has adaptive value 26

27. Behaviors That Increase Fitness
Territoriality and Fitness
Territoriality is protecting an area against other individuals
Male gibbons maintain their territory by singing and fight to defend their territory
Defending a territory costs energy
Benefits of territoriality include a source of food, the right to one or more females, a place to rear young, and a place providing protection from predators
Territoriality is more likely to occur during times of reproduction

28. Behaviors That Increase Fitness
Foraging for Food
Animals must acquire a food source that will provide more energy than the effort of acquiring the food
The optimal foraging model states that it is adaptive for foraging behavior to be as energetically efficient as possible 28

29. Foraging for Food 6.0 6 5 4.0 Number of Mussels Eaten per Day 4
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
6.0 6 5
4.0
Number of Mussels Eaten per Day 4
Energy Gain (J/s) 3
2.0 2 1 10 20 30 40 50
Length of Mussel (mm)

30. Behaviors That Increase Fitness
Reproductive Strategies and Fitness
Polygamous
Males mate with multiple females
Females invest more in the offspring
Polyandrous
One female mates with more than one male
The environment cannot support several young
Monogamous
One male mates with one female
Occurs when males have limited mating opportunities, territoriality exists, and the male is certain the offspring are his 30

31. Hamadryas Baboons
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
© Thomas Dobner 2006/Alamy

32. Behaviors That Increase Fitness
Sexual Selection
Adaptive changes in females and males that lead to differential reproductive success
Sexual selection often results in
Female choice
Male competition

33. Sexual Selection in Male Bowerbirds
Male bowerbirds build a nest and attract a female through visual and auditory courtship behavior
Displays are highly intense and aggressive
Male displays that are too aggressive startle females and may not be able to accurately assess male traits
Studies demonstrate that females prefer intensely displaying males as mates, and that successful males modulate their intensity in response to female signals
Thereby attracting females without threatening them

34. © D. Robert & Lorri Franz/Corbis
Competition
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
© D. Robert & Lorri Franz/Corbis

35. Behaviors that Increase Fitness
Societies and Fitness
Living in a society has a greater reproductive benefit than reproductive cost
Benefits of group living include avoiding predators, rearing offspring, and finding food more easily
Group living can result in disputes over feeding places and sleeping sites
Dominance hierarchies are a way to apportion resources
Higher-ranking individuals have greater access to essential resources
Males and females may form separate dominance hierarchies

36. Behaviors That Increase Fitness
Altruism Versus Self-Interest
Altruism
Behavior that involves a reduction in individual fitness
Loss may be compensated by an increase in the fitness of another member of the society
Inclusive fitness includes
Reproductive fitness of self, and
Reproductive fitness of relatives
Genetic relatedness may underlie many/most acts of apparent altruism
Reciprocal altruism occurs in groups of animals that are mutually dependent

37. © Mark Moffett/Minden Pictures
The Queen Ant
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
© Mark Moffett/Minden Pictures

38. © J & B Photo/Animals Animals/Earth Scenes
Inclusive Fitness
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
© J & B Photo/Animals Animals/Earth Scenes