Animal Behavior

Chapter 51

Def: The study of how specific behaviors increase reproductive success

a) Learned behavior (nurture) – environmental and ecological basis

b) Innate behavior (nature) – genetic and evolutionary basis

1) Natural selection favors a behavioral phenotype

2) Genotypes that do not increase fitness eliminated from gene pool

I. Behavioral Ecology

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II. Types of Behavior

a) Instinct: Inherited, __________ behavior

b) FAP (_____ _____ _______): Sequence of behavior that is unchangeable and carried to completion once started

1) External sign stimulus triggers FAP• Ex. Stickleback fish• Ex. Greylag goose

innatefixed action pattern

II. Types of Behavior

c) Habituation: loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information

1) simple form of ___________• Ex. Sea Anemones

d) Imprinting: learning that is limited to a very specific _____ _____ of an animal’s life

2) Irreversible3) Imprinting stimulus

• Ex. Salmon• Ex. Ducklings• Ex. Whooping Cranes

learning

critical period

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II. Types of Behaviore) Associative Learning: ability of animals to

associate one stimulus w/ another1) Classical Conditioning (arbitrary stimulus)

• Ex. Pavlov’s Dog

2) Operant Conditioning (Trial and Error)• Ex. B.F. Skinner’s rats

f) Observational Learning – modelingg) Spatial Learning – memory of

environment’s spatial structureh) Insight – cognition and problem solving

i) Prior experience helps an animal exposed to a new situation

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III. Oriented Movement

a) Kinesis: an undirected change in speed of an animal’s movement in response to a stimulus

b) Taxis: a directed movement in response to a stimulus

c) Migration: long-distance seasonal mvmt

IV. Social Behavior

Evolved to optimize individual fitness

IV. Animal Signals and Communication

• Important for species recognition, mating, organizing social behavior

• Occurs through visual, auditory, tactile, and chemical means (pheromones)

V. Social Behavior

a) Agnostic behavior (aggression and submission)

1) ritualized contests

2) determines who gains resources • food, mates

3) Can be psychological rather than physical

4) Establishes dominance hierarchies (pecking order and territoriality

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b) Altruistic Behaviorselfless and/or sacrificial behavior that seemingly reduce the fitness of the individual…

V. Social Behavior

increases inclusive fitness = the fitness of relatives who share identical genes

Natural selection that favors altruistic behavior = Kin Selection