Transcript Communication - Groby Bio Page

F215 control, genomes and environment
Module 4 – responding to the environment
Starter
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij
tMIXQXD0E
Innate responses

Why did you behave the way you
did?
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Why do we have innate behaviours?

Look at the table on p240 – the
characteristics of innate behaviour.
Introduction to behaviour
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BEHAVIOUR:
Responses of an organism to its environment
which increase its chances of survival.
 - enables them to survive and seek out
favourable environments.

Two types:
 Innate
▪ instinctive, automatic trigger
 Learned
▪ memory retains information and modifies
response
Glossary

Ethology
 Study of behaviour
 Natural behaviour of animals in their natural
environment

Psychology
 Controlled conditions in a lab
 Interested in how animals learned new patterns
of behaviour

Behaviouralism
 Study of behavioural events involving stimuli and
response
Debate – “nature-nurture”

Is an animals behaviour largely
controlled by nature or nurture?
Nature-nurture debate

Nature
 “genes”
 ethologists

Nurture
 “experiences during
lifetime”
 Psychologists
 behaviouralists
Human Behaviour

Are aspects of our behaviour largely
determined by our genes?
 Therefore not our fault
Are aspects of our behaviour largely
determined by our environment?
 To what extent does choice – free will –
allow us to override any innate tendencies
to particular behaviour patterns?

 Discuss these ideas – what are your thoughts?
Learning Outcomes

Explain the advantages to organisms
of innate behaviour.
Innate behaviour (instinctive)

“Pattern of inherited, pre-set behaviour that
does not require learning or practice”

Survival mechanism

Advantage because organisms respond the
right way to the stimulus immediately – this is
because no learning is needed.

Innate behaviour is stereotyped – the same
in every individual of the species.
Learning Outcomes

Describe escape reflexes, taxes and
kineses as examples of geneticallydetermined innate behaviours..
Genes and Behaviour


Simplest types of genetically
determined innate behaviour are seen
in invertebrates
Three examples are:
 Escape reflexes
 Kineses
 Taxes
Escape Reflex


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The function of the
escape reflex is to
avoid predators
Involuntary responses
that follow a specific
pattern in response to
a given stimulus.
Example
 Earthworms withdraw
underground if it receives
a light touch on the front
end
Kineses

Orientation behaviour
 The rate of movement
increases when the
organism is in
unfavourable conditions

“non-directional”
 Response is to change
the rate of movement in
relation to the intensity of
the stimulus

Example
 Woodlice avoid
predation by living in
dark, damp areas
Kinesis
A response
involving changed
level of activity
 Stimulus = humidity

 The higher the
humidity the slower
the rate of
movement.
Taxes

“directional” orientation response
 The direction of movement is in relation to
the stimulus triggering the behavioural
response
▪
▪
▪
▪
Positive phototaxis
Negative phototaxis
Positive chemotaxis
Negative chemotaxis
Taxes
A directional
locomotory
response
 Examples

 Maggots have
photoreceptors at
anterior ends
▪ Show negative
phototaxis
 Nematode worms
show chemotaxes
Is behaviour innate?

Believed that most behaviour is an
interaction between genes and
environment.
Complex innate behaviours
 Series of responses to a stimulus/stimuli
 Dragon fly
▪ Nymph crawls out pond, Drags itself up plant
stem
▪ Attaches feet firmly, hangs on as skin splits
▪ As emerges, hangs downwards, twists upwards
and grabs stem, rest as wings expand and dry.
 Waggle dance by worker honey bees communication
 Sand wasps and fixed action patterns (eg
courtship and mating rituals)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IyEtekiA7E
Dragonfly nymph

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

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Crawls out of the pond
it has spent the first few
years of it’s life in
Drags itself up a plant
stem
Attaches it feet firmly
Hangs on as the skin
splits
As it emerges it follows
a distinctive pattern of
behaviour
Do humans demonstrate innate
behaviour?

Reflex action (taught in module 2)
 “a relatively rapid, automatic response to
a stimulus”
 A reflex arc
Stretch stimulus
Receptor detects stimulus
Action potentials along sensory neurone
Motor neurone carries action potential to
effector
▪ Effector brings about response (muscle
contraction)
▪
▪
▪
▪
Exam Tip

An innate response will only survive if it
confers an advantage to the species
 Examiners could link questions on
behaviour to natural selection

Exam questions could feature animals
that you have never heard of.
 It is more important that you can identify
the type of behaviour from the
information given.
Plenary

How was your response to the video
clip….

Innate?
Stereotyped?
A reflex?


Q1 p249