Chapter 51- Behavioral Ecology Test

everything an animal does and how it does it

• Different wind and percipitation patterns
• climate determines distribution and structure of terrestrial biomes

• reffered to as the "how" questions
• focus on the environmental stimuli, if any, that trigger a behavior
• also focuses on the genetic, physiological, and anatomical mechanisms underlaying a behavioral act
• how a behavior happens and what it looks like
• Ex: How day length influences breeding by the red-crowned cranes

• reffered to as the "why" questions
• they address the evolutionary significance of a behavior
• how does behavior contribute to survival and reproduction
• adaptive value, why it is happening
• Ex: Why natural selection favors this behavior over another one

the study of how animals behave

• Karl Von Frish
• Niko Tinbergen
• Konrad Lorenz

• biologist
• studied honeybees
• he noticed workers had a specific way of telling the colony where the food was
• ---> the waggle dance

• scientist who studied fixed action patterns
• Fixed Action Patterns: innate behaviors that continue once started no matter what
• studied sticklebacks-the color red was a sign stimulus that triggered aggression

• scientist who studied geese
• saw imprinting in the geese
• Imprinting: learning to form social attatchments at the specific critical period (innate and learned characteristics)

• Inherited behaviors
• Instinctive
• developmentally fixed, strong genetic component
• ex: migration is an innate behavior

• Taxis & Kinesis
• Bird Migration
• Fixed Action Patterns
• Imprinting (innate and learned)

• direct movement towards or away from a stimulus
• ex: phototaxis in plants- movement towards light

• a non direct response to a stimulus
• ex: moving around doing a bunch of different things and stopping to notice a candybar

• considered a complex innate behavior
• migratory restlessnes seen in birds bred and raised in captivity
• navigate by sun, stars, earth magnetic fields
• experiment cross bread birds who migrate with ones who didnt and 40% of offspring tried to migrate- inherited

• sequence of behaviors essentially unchangeable and usually conducted until completion once started
• triggered by a sign stimulus

the releaser that triggers a fixed action pattern

• learning to form social attatchments at specific critical period
• organisms during that period who follow adult are more likely to survive, helping evolution
• both learning and innate components

sensitive phase for optimal (viusual) imprinting

• during a receptive period
• for some birds, learning their songs the bird will have passive listening during the sensitive period, when they are juvenile, they have a subsong, and it takes until adulthood for the final crystalized song
• however some songs are inherited

modification of behavior based on experience

• Habituation
• Spatial Learning
• Associative Learning
• Social Behavior
• Problem Solving

• Loss of response to a stimulus
• the "cry wolf" effect

the modification of behavior based on experience with the spatial structure of the environment, including the locations of nest sites, hazards, food, and prospective mates

Tinbergen moved the circle of pinecones surrounding a wasp nest and found that the wasps had used it at a landmark, because they still returned to the center of the pinecones when they had been moved from the hive

• learning to associate one feature of the environment with another
• 2 types

• Operant Conditioning
• Classical Conditioning

• trial and error learning
• associating a behavior with a reward or punishment
• ---->ex: the skinner box- if the rat pushed the button at a green light- reward food... if pushed at a red light punishment- no food or electric shock
• the rat over time learns when is good to push the button
• ex: learning what to eat is operant conditioning

• Also called Pavlovian Conditioning
• Associate a "neutral stimulus" with a "significant stimulus"
• ---->pavlov's dogs associated bell ringing (neutral stimulus) with food (significant stimulus)
• connect a reflex behavior (salivating) to associated stimulus

Interactions between individuals

• Agonistic
• Dominance
• Cooperation
• Altruism
• Communication

Behavior in animals, often a competition, which by strength or something determines the winner that will gain access to a resource such as food or a mate

Social Ranking among animals

Animals working together to accomplish something

• selflessness- rarer in animals
• an animal risks its chances of dying to save another
• is it worth it? find out by Hamiltons rule

• the transmission, reception and responce to signals
• autitory: hearing- loud calls of birds may attract mates
• chemical: pheromones- moths give of pheromones to attract mates

the ability of an animals nervous system to percieve, store, process and use info gathered by sensory receptors

• the nervous system processes information to help the animal think to solve the problem
• ex: chimps learn to use tools to crack open nuts

behavior associated with recognizing, searching for, capturing, and consuming food