Transcript LE 01-10b - Biology at Mott

Animal Behavior
Behavior is what an animal does
and how it does it.
 Result
of genetic and environmental
factors
 Essential for survival and
reproduction
 Subject of natural selection over time
Behavior can be simple or
extremely complex.
 Bacterial
cell “behaves” by moving
toward a sugar source.
 Allows bacteria to live and
reproduce.
 Animals with complex nervous
systems receive and process large
amounts or information and produce
complex patterns of behavior.
Ethology is the study of Behavior
Behavior can be explained in two different
ways
 PROXIMATE CAUSATION answers the
“what and how” questions.
 Proximate includes effects of heredity,
environment, and sensory-motor
mechanisms.
 ULTIMATE CAUSATION answers the “why”
questions.
 Ultimate studies origin and evolution of
behavior in terms of reproductive success.

Questions: Male songbird sings.
Proximate cause
asks how.
 Measure hormone
levels.
 Examine neuron
connections.

Ultimate cause
asks why.
 Evolutionary value.
 Defense of territory
 Attract females

Fig. 51-2
Founding fathers of
Ethology
Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen won
the Nobel Prize for their work in the study of innate
behavior.
Innate Behavior
 Stereotyped
behaviors that occur in
the same way in different individuals
of a species.
 Behavior pathways are structured in
genetic blueprints.
 Behavior occurs the same way from
the first time and throughout the
entire life of the animal.
Fixed Action Patterns
 FAP
is a sequence of unlearned acts
that is largely unchangeable and
usually carried to completion once
initiated.
 A sign stimuli is a “signal” in the
environment that triggers a FAP
behavior.
Fig. 51-3
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(a)
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(b)
Male stickleback fish have
red bellies.
Female stickleback fish have
swollen, not red bellies.
Males react aggressively to
red underbellies and also to
anything that resembles red
underbellies.
Males do not react
aggressively to swollen
underbellies or models that
do not have red
underbellies.
Egg Rolling in Geese
Once a goose detects the sign stimuli,( in
this case an egg out of the nest), the
goose goes through a series of
programmed movements to return egg to
nest.
 The goose will roll baseballs and even beer
cans into nest.
 It will then remove the objects that are
not eggs.

Fig. 51-4
Kinesis is a simple movement in response to a
stimuli.
Animals become more or less active in response
to stimuli, without any real orientation
Dry open
area
Sow
bug
Moist site
under leaf
A Taxis is movement toward or
away from a stimulus.
 mitosis
Migration is a long regular
change in location.
 Observed
in birds, fish, other animals
 Often pass through environments
have never visited.
 How do they find their way?
– Can orient themselves using sun.
– Nocturnal animals can use the North
Star.
– Some evidence that some animals can
detect the earths magnetic field.
Fig. 51-5
Behavioral Rhythms
 Circadian
clock is an internal
mechansim that maintains a 24 hour
activity cycle.
 Circannual rhythms are linked to the
yearly cycle of seasons.
 Some behavioral cycles are linked to
the new and full moon.
The behavioral cycles of the fiddler
crab are linked to the tides that cover
and uncover its burrow.
Animal Signals and
Communication
A
stimulus transmitted from one
animal to another is called a signal.
 The transmission and reception of
signals between animals is
communication.
In courtship of fruit flies: a) male recognizes female,
(visual communication) then female releases
chemicals to attract male (chemical communication).
(a) Orienting
(b) Tapping
(c) “Singing”
In b) male taps female’s foreleg (tactile
communication, then c) male rubs his
wings together, creating a “song”.
Honey Bee Dance Language
(a) Worker bees
(b) Round dance
(food near)
(c) Waggle dance
(food distant)
A
30°
C
B
Location A
Beehive
Location B
Location C
Pheromones are chemical
substances that communicate
through emitted odors.
 Serve
as reproductive attractants
 Trigger specific courtship behaviors
 Can be used to communicate danger
Fig. 51-9
(a) Minnows
before
alarm
(b) Minnows
after
alarm
Learning is the modification of
behavior based on specific
experiences
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Habituation is one of the simplest forms of
learning.
Habituation is the loss of responsiveness to
stimuli that conveys little or no new information.
“Cry Wolf Effect”
Time and energy can be applied to finding food,
or mate and not wasted on irrelevant stimuli.
Imprinting is a behavior that involves both
innate and learned components

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Long lasting behavioral
response to a particular
individual.
Must occur during a
sensitive period of
development
Young imprint on their
parent and learn basic
behaviors of their species.
Some birds will respond to
first object they see that
has certain characteristics.
(a) Konrad Lorenz and geese
Fig. 51-10b
(b) Pilot and cranes
Associative Learning
 After
eating a monarch butterfly
catepillar (has bad taste), mouse
avoids in the future.
 The ability to associate one
environmental feature with another
is associative learning.
 Two types of associative learning:
classical conditioning and operant
conditioning.
In classical conditioning, an arbitrary
stimulus becomes with a particular outcome
– “Pavlov’s Dog”
 Operant
Conditioning is
the result of trial
and error.
Cognition is the most complex form of
learning.
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Processes of
knowing
Awareness
Reasoning
Recollection
judgement
Agonistic Behavior often involves ritualistic contest
that determines which competitor gains access to
a resource, such as food or mates.
Altruism
 Reduction
of individual fitness to
increase the fitness of other
individuals in the population.
 Belding squirrels give high pitched
alarm call to warn unaware
individuals, but draw attention of
predator to themselves.
 Honeybee workers are sterile and
devote all their energy and labor on
behalf of a single fertile female.
Why Altruism?
The principle of inclusive fitness may
answer the why.
 Altruism only exists among close relatives
– parent sacrifices life to protect young, or
siblings, but not distant cousins.
 Makes sense evolutionarily. These genes
are closest to individual and keeps those
who share genes in the population.
 Natural selection that favors altruistic
behavior by enhancing the reproductive
success of relatives is “kin selection”.

Social learning is the basis of culture and
is defined as the transfer of information
through copying behavior of other members
of the population and the teaching of the
behavior.
Fig. 51-32