Animal Behavior Chapter 51. Behavior is what an animal does and how it does it. What is Behavior?

Animal BehaviorChapter 51

• Behavior is what an animal does and how it does it.

What is Behavior?

Ecology:Interaction between organisms and the biotic and

abiotic environment• Abiotic- non living; e.g., temperature, light,

dissolved gas, water• Biotic- living; e.g., predators, prey, mates

Behavioral EcologyThe study of the behavior of organisms within an

evolutionary framework.• e.g., communication, finding food,

protection from predators

Proximate causes

• External stimuli- changes in day length and temp

• Internal stimuli - hormone levels

Winter plumage Breeding plumage

Ultimate causes - address the evolutionary significance for a behavior and why natural selection favors this behavior.

• Why did a behavior evolve?

• Is it adaptive?

• Does it contribute to reproductive success?

Example: birds that migrate have a selective advantage over birds that don't/didn't, selected for over time, could be due to long term climate changes, glaciation, disease, taking advantage of food sources, etc.

A. Behavior - What an animal does and how it does it.- some behavior is learned, some behavior is

inherited

B. To some extent ALL behavior has a Genetic Basis

1. some is totally genetic - which implies heritable2. some is learned but relies ENTIRELY on

genetically based mechanisms

C. In general, behavior is a response to some environmental stimulus

Innate Behaviors – inherited, instinctiveA. programmed by genes; B. highly stereotyped (similar each time in many individuals)C. Four Categories

1. Kinesis2. Taxis3. Reflex4. Fixed Action Pattern

1. Kinesis: "change the speed of random movement in response to environmental stimulus“

2. Taxis: "a directed movement toward or away from a stimulus; positive and negative taxes

3. Reflex: "movement of a body part in response to stimulus".

4. Fixed Action Pattern (FAP): "stereotyped and often complex series of movements, responses to a specific stimulus", hardwired, however, not purely genetic, may improve with experiencea. programmed response to a stimulusb. stimulus of FAP = "releaser", sometimes called "sign

stimulus“c. examples:

- courtship behavior- rhythms - daily (circadian); annual (circannual)

• Many stream fish exhibit positive rheotaxis

– Where they automatically swim in an upstream direction

Figure 51.7b

Direction

of river

current

(b) Positive rheotaxis keeps trout facing into the current, the direction from which most food comes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p82L4imRZ0

• Ethology is the study of how animals behave in their natural habitat.– Karl von Frisch: bee communication– Niko Tinbergen: herring gull experiment;

digger wasps– Konrad Lorenz: imprint in geese

Karl Von Frisch- communication in bees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ijI-g4jHg

Herring gull experiment by Niko Tinbergen

Releaser Stimuli- stimuli that release FAPE.g., Chick and red dot on gull parents beak triggers feeding response- parent regurgitates food

Laysan albatross feeding chick

Egg rolling behavior in geese is a Fixed Action Pattern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWcadcVBXKU

Male three-spined stickleback shows aggression at models with red undersides

Life-like model

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfcGZCGdGVE

• Migration Behavior.– Migration is the

regular movementof animals overrelatively longdistances.

–Piloting: an animalmoves from onefamiliar landmarkto another until itreaches its destination.

Whale Migration Routes

• The behavior is adaptive - signs that natural selection is at worka. survival may depend on behavior, learning not an option (one chance only)

b. animals with simple NS may not have capacity to learn

- not strictly true, "simple" animals learn

c. social interactions dependent on survival require rigid performance of roles

mating rituals, termite mounds

Learning - Learned Behavior: Five Categories

A. Imprinting

1. a strong association learned during a specific developmental period

a. "sensitive period" or "critical period"b. imprinting of baby geese on mother - Lorenz

baby geese imprint on mother within hours of hatchingwill imprint on any object during that period

2. learning a releaser for an innate FAP

Goose imprinting by Conrad LorenzGeese imprint on the first moving (with sound) object that they see after birthThere is a selection of a specific period of time (critical period) for social attachment and mate recognition in geese (to ensure geese imprint on the same species)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqZmW7uIPW4

Imprinting in conservation biology:Need to minimize/eliminate human presence while raising California Condors

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=imprinting+with+california+condors

B. Habituation

1. decline in response to a harmless, repeated stimulus

filter - prevents animal from wasting energy/attention on irrelevant stimuliadaptive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN-CIU3O76E

Niko Tinbergen

Hypothesis: digger wasps use visual landmarks to keep track of her nests

C. Spatial Learning-

Move pine cones

Visual cue is arrangement pattern rather than objects themselves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFn4hCZ3g9w

D. Conditioning - laboratory setting

1. classical conditioning animals make associations - Pavlov's dog associates bell with food, begins to salivate, can be extinguished and later followed by recovery (unconditioned stimulus - meat, unconditioned response - salivation, conditioned stimulus - bell, conditioned response - salivation)

animal learns to perform an "old" response to a new stimulus

Pavlov's dog- place dried meat powder in dog mouth - salivation- associate with bell - salivation to bell

Stimulus first, behavior second (but of course there is an expectation of reward second)

• Trial and Error Learning

–This is called trial-and-error learning - an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or a punishment.

Octopus opening jar with crab

Observational Learning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQwJXvlTWDw

• Play as a behavior has no apparent external goal, but may facilitate social development or practice of certain behaviors and provide exercise.

Practice and exercise may explain the ultimate bases of play

E. Insight, reasoning

1. manipulating concepts in the mind to arrive at adaptive behavior

2. mental trial-and-error

3. internal memory stores are used as additional sensory/information source

All examples of tool-using:

• chickadees/tits and opening milk bottles

• Egyptian Vulture - uses rocks

• Cocos Finch - uses splinters of wood

• North American Gulls, Northwestern Crow - smash clams on sandy beaches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Tm9QdI_eM

• Social behavior is any kind of interaction between two or more animals, usually of the same species.

Sociobiology places social behavior in an evolutionary context

Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Orcas chasing Dusky DolphinOrca and Weddell Seal

Social Behavior in VertebratesA. Predator Avoidance Behavior-mimicry- schoolingB. Reproductive Behavior-competition

-territoriality- displaysC. Parental BehaviorD. CommunicationE. Cooperative Behavior-warning alarms

• Sometimescooperation occurs.

Competitive social behaviors often represent contests for resources


Fig. 51.18https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3xmqbNsRSk

• Agonistic behavior is a contest involving threats.– Submissive behavior.– Ritual: the use of symbolic activity.– Generally, no harm is done.


Fig. 51.19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Fx3CaJhgk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Fx3CaJhgk

• Reconciliation behavior often happens between conflicting individuals.


Fig. 51.20

• Dominance hierarchies involve a ranking of individuals in a group (a “pecking order”).

–Alpha, beta rankings exist.• The alpha organisms control the behavior of

others.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJvATG3bHbo

• Territoriality is behavior where an individual defends a particular area, called the territory.

–Territories are typically used for feeding, mating, and rearing young and are fixed in location.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQI5KUfM2xc

• Courtship behavior consists of patterns that lead to copulation and consists of a series of displays and movements by the male or female.

Natural selection favors mating behavior that maximizes the quantity

or quality of mating partners

Vogelkop Bowerbird



• Parental investment refers to the time and resources expended for raising of offspring.– It is generally lower in males

– Females usually invest more time into parenting (fecundity, egg size, care of offspring)

– Females are usually more discriminating in terms of the males with whom they choose to mate.• Females look for more fit males (i.e., better genes),

the ultimate cause of the choice.


• Mating systems differ among species.– Promiscuous: no strong bond pairs between

males and females.

– Monogamous: one male mating with one female.

– Polygamous: an individual of one sex mating with several of the other sex.• Polygyny where a single male mates with many

females.• Polyandry one female mates with several males.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7j-fZQ0ok0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7j-fZQ0ok0

– Pheromones are chemicals released by an individual that bring about mating and other behaviors.• Examples include bees and ants.


Fig. 51.26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcHt5n3NGK0

• Most social behaviors are selfish, so how do we account for behaviors that help others?–Altruism is defined

as behavior that mightdecrease individual fitness, but increase the fitness of others.

The concept of inclusive fitness can account for most altruistic behavior


Fig. 51.28

Altruism


Fig. 51.29https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5DcOEzW1wA

– Inclusive fitness: How can a naked mole rat enhance its fitness by helping other members of the population?• How is altruistic behavior maintained by

evolution?• If related individuals help each other, they

are in affect helping keep their own genes in the population.

• Inclusive fitness is defined as the affect an individual has on proliferating its own genes by reproducing and helping relatives raise offspring.


– Kin selection is the mechanism of inclusive fitness, where individuals help relatives raise young.

– Reciprocal altruism, where an individual aids other unrelated individuals without any benefit, is rare, but sometimes seen in primates (often in humans).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZTAW0vPE1o

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Animal Behavior Chapter 51. Behavior is what an animal does and how it does it. What is Behavior?