1. Chapter 51: Animal Behavior

2. Overview
Behavior- the nervous system response to a stimulus carried out by the muscular or hormonal system
Based on physiological response

3. Behavior can help animals
Obtain food
Find a partner
Maintain homeostasis

4. 51.1: Discrete sensory inputs can stimulate both simple and complex behaviors
Behavior is a response to external and internal stimuli
What does stimuli mean?

5. Ethology
The scientific study of

6. Proximate and ultimate causes of behavior
Proximate- “how”
Ultimate causation- “why”

7. Fixed action pattern (FAP)
a sequence of unlearned, innate behaviors that is unchangeable
Triggered by
Ex. Red underside of male stickleback fish
What is an innate behavior?

8. Fig. 51-3
(a)
(b)

9. Taxis and Kinesis
taxis - more or less automatic, oriented movement toward or away from a stimulus
Positive vs. Negative (explain)

10. Kinesis is a simple change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus
Ex. Becoming more/less active in humid areas

11. Migration
a regular, long-distance change in location
Some animals

12. Circadian Rhythm Rhythms that occur on a daily cycle.
Can you think of an example?
Other types of cycles?

13. Signals
A behavior that causes a change in the behavior of another individual.
Pheromones- chemical substances emitted by one individual affect other individuals (ex. Minnows alarm with injured minnows)
Visual signals- can you think of one?
Auditory signals – can you think of one?

14. Fig. 51-9
(a)
Minnows
before
alarm
(b)
Minnows
after
alarm

15. Waggle dance
Honeybees communicate the location and distances of a food source

16. Location Location Location (c) Waggle dance (food distant) A C B
Fig. 51-8c
(c)
Waggle dance (food distant) A
30° C B
Beehive
30°
Location A
Location B
Location C

17. 51.2: Learning establishes specific links between experience and behavior
the modification of behavior based on specific experiences
How does that compare to innate behavior?

18. Questions
2. How is migration based on circannual rhythms poorly suited for adaptation to global climate change?
1. If an egg rolls out of the nest, a mother graylag goose will retrieve it by nudging it with her beak and head. If researchers remove the egg or substitute a ball during this process, the goose continues to bob her beak and head while she move back to the nest. What type of behavior is this? Suggest a proximate and ultimate explanation.
3. Suppose you exposed various fish species to the alarm substance from minnows. Suggest why some species might respond like minnows, some might increase activity and some might show no change.

19. Habituation
Simple learning through loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information
For example,
Can you think of another example?

20. Imprinting A combination of learning and innate behavior
Usually irreversible
Occurs during a specific “sensitive period” what that particular behavior can be learned
For example?

21. (a) Konrad Lorenz and geese
Fig a
(a) Konrad Lorenz and geese

22. Fig b
(b) Pilot and cranes

23. Spatial Learning
Complex change in behavior based on experience with the spatial structure of the environment
Ex.

24. Fig
EXPERIMENT
Nest
Pinecone
RESULTS
Nest
No nest

25. Cognitive map
Mental representation of spatial relationships between objects in an animal’s environment.
Ex.

26. Associative learning
Animals associate one feature of their environment with another
Ex.

27. Classical conditioning
What do you know about this?
Type of associative learning in which an arbitrary stimulus is associated with a reward or punishment
For example?

28. Operant conditioning
Type of associative learning when an animal learns to associate a behavior with a reward or punishment

29. Fig

30. Cognition
a process of knowing that may include awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgment
What does that mean?
Ex.

31. Problem solving
Through trial and error, through observing other individuals.

32. Fig

33. Questions
How might associative learning explain why unrelated distasteful or stinging insects have similar colors?
Clark’s nutcrackers hide tens of thousands of seeds each fall, some of which they never retrieve. Why might there be an evolutionary advantage for the species if individuals forget the location of some caches?
Suppose you designed an laboratory environment using just a few objects as landmarks. How might you position and manipulate the objects to determine whether an animal could use a cognitive map to remember the location of a food source?

34. 51.3: Both genetic makeup and environment contribute to the development of behaviors
Can you think of an example illustrating this point?
Cross-fostering studies places the young from one species in the care of adults from another species
Twins studies

35. Genetics and behavior
Sometimes one master gene controls many behaviors
Sometimes many independent genes contribute to a single behavior

36. Questions
3. Suppose that a pair of identical twins reared apart behave identically 80% of the time when performing a particular activity. What additional information would you need to draw a conclusion about the genetic basis of the behavior?
Explain why geographic variation in garter snake prey choice might indicate that the behavior evolved by natural selection.
Why is it easier to identify mutations affecting courtship than those affecting other essential behaviors?

37. 51.4: Selection for individual survival and reproductive success can explain most behaviors
Genetic components of behavior evolve through natural selection
How so?

38. Foraging behavior
Foraging, or food-obtaining behavior, includes recognizing, searching for, capturing, and eating food items
Optimal foraging model views foraging behavior as a compromise between benefits of nutrition and costs of obtaining food
Why does it have to be a compromise? What are the +/- of each side?

39. Average number of drops
Fig
125 60 50
100 40
Average number of drops
Average number of drops 30 75
Total flight height (number of drops  drop height in m)
Total flight height 20
Drop height
preferred
by crows = 5.23 m 50 10 25 2 3 5 7 15
Drop height (m)

40. Mating systems Promiscuous- no strong pair-bonds
Monogamous- one male-one female
Can you think of an example of each?

41. Polygamous
an individual of one sex mates with several individuals of the other sex
Usually exhibit sexual dimorphism (can you break that word down to figure out what it means?)
Polygyny- one male-many females
Polyandry- one female- many males
Which do you think is the most rare?
Which sex is typically more showy in both types?

42. (b) Polygynous species
Fig b
(b) Polygynous species

43. (c) Polyandrous species
Fig c
(c) Polyandrous species

44. Evolution dictates the behavior (which type of mating behavior is most beneficial for the species?)

45. Which type of behavior would be best if offspring need a continuous supply of food?

46. Which type of behavior would be best if offspring are soon able to take care of themselves?

47. Paternity Never certain! Did you read that part in the textbook?
Advantages of external fertilization… parental care is just as likely to be by males as by females.

48. Competition for mates involves Agnostic behavior
We’ll talk about sexual selection and mate choice during the evolution unit
Competition for mates involves Agnostic behavior
Ritualized contest for who gets the resource/mate

49. Fig

50. The part about game theory and frequency-dependent selection…

51. Questions
Why does the model of fertilization correlate to a large degree with the presence or absence of male parental care?
Suppose a virus that infected a side-blotched lizard population killed many more males than females. How would the infection immediately affect the competition among the males for reproductive success?

52. 51.5: Inclusive fitness can account for the evolution of altruistic social behavior
Natural selection says evolution is based on an individual’s survival
Encourages selfish behaviors
Ex. Male animals killing babies

53. Altruism What does altruism mean?
In nature, when an animal behaves in a way that increase other’s fitness but decreases their own
Ex. Belding ground squirrel alarm call.
Naked mole rate nonreproductive males
How does that affect fitness?

54. Fig

55. Inclusive fitness is the total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing offspring and helping close relatives produce offspring

56. Reciprocal Altruism
What do you think that means?

57. Social learning leads to culture
Social learning is learning through the observation of others and forms the roots of culture
Culture is a system of information transfer through observation or teaching that influences behavior of individuals in a population

58. Case Study: Social Learning of Alarm Calls
Vervet monkeys produce distinct alarm calls for different predators
Infant monkeys give undiscriminating calls but learn to fine-tune them by the time they are adults

59. Fig

60. Learning and problem solving
Fig. 51-UN1
Imprinting
Learning and
problem solving
Spatial learning
Cognition
Associative learning
Social learning

61. Questions
What is a possible explanation for cooperative behavior among nonrelated animals?
If an animal were unable to distinguish close from distant relatives, would the concept of inclusive fitness still be applicable? Explain
Consider an individual past reproductive age, could there still be selection for an altruistic act?