Animal Behavior Exam 1

Ethologists are concerned with:

1. identifying and describing species-specific behaviors 2. understanding the evolutionary pathway through which the genetic basis for the behaviour came about 3. used field experiments and made observations of animal behaviour under natural conditions 4. discovered species specific fixed action patterns elicited by sign stimuli acting through innate releasing mechanisms

5 ways evolution can occur

1. mutations 2. natural selection 3. gene flow 4. genetic drift 5. sexual selection or non-random mating

Behaviorists and comparative psychologists: (5)

1. rejected the notion of instinct or any possible genetic basis for behaviors 2. interested in the flexibility of behavior by individuals rather than the evolution of behavior in species, and weren't interested in evolutionary or ultimate questions 3. studied how animals learn new behaviors 4. used laboratory conditions and model organisms 5. had the intention of discovering general laws of behavior that could be applied to all species including humans

heritability of 1 means

100% genetic involvement, absolutely genetically based

What is the RLF in developed countries?

2.1

Sexual selection

A form of natural selection that depends "not on the struggle for existence in relation to other organic beings or to external conditions, but on a struggle between the individuals of one sex, generally the males, for the possession of the other sex."

Michael Domjan

Combined aspects of learning with potential fitness - Bridges proximate and ultimate mechanisms

Potential for rapid reproduction + Relatively constant resources and population size over time = ____________

Competition for survival and reproduction

Two notable scientists for comparative psychology in north America - what did each do

E.L. Thorndike -pioneered use of standardized methodology and experimental method Margaret Roy Washburne - Research on motor theory of consciousness - Author of groundbreaking textbook on experimental methods in comparative psychology

intention movement - example

Incomplete behavior patterns that provide information about the activity a particular animal is about to perform and act as a signal to others. - the "play bow" done by dogs to initiate play

heritability

Proportion of phenotypic variation in a population due to genetic variation

Domestication parallels with the process of ______

evolution

Ethology

evolution of behavior patterns

___________ is a huge factor in evolution because reproductive success is the way that evolution proceeds.

Sexual Selection - male competition, female choice

Natural selection + ________ = __________

Some variability is inherited; EVOLUTION (The genetic makeup of the population changes over time, driven by natural selection)

QTL mapping

Statistical technique that combines genetic information with trait information to determine which regions of the genome contain the genes that influence the trait QTLs

Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL)

Stretches of DNA that either contain or are linked to genes influencing a trait such as behavior

Comparative Psychology

Studies animal behavior, often in a comparative manner across species, in order to understand human minds - Learning -

Classical ethology definition

Study behavior of wild animals in nature by observation and experimentation

parsimony

Using the simplest explanation to explain observations - theory developed by C. Lloyd Morgan

Competition for survival and reproduction + _______ = __________

Variability in structures and behavior; NATURAL SELECTION (On the average, the fittest organisms leave the most offspring)

Ultimate Questions about behavior

What is the function of the behavior? (Fitness/Adaptive) How did the behavior evolve? (Phylogeny)

Proximate questions about behavior

What mechanism caused the behavior? (Physiology) How does the behavior develop? (Ontogeny)

George John Romanes

formulated the comparative method of studying animal behavior, but also believed mental processes evolved from lower- to higher-order animals, with humans at the top

altricial

hatched or born in an undeveloped state and requiring care and feeding by the parents - helpless at birth, eyes are closed, can't escape predation

examples of traits that are interactional: (2)

height, weight, skin color

redirected activity

a behavior that is redirected from a threatening or inaccessible target to another target that is more convenient or less threatening. - also called redirected aggression

Innate Releasing Mechanism - how does it work

a hypothesized locus in the CNS on which Sign Stimuli operated to release the FAP - SS knocks away the innate releasing mechanism on the loci in the brain, which then allows you to see the FAP

knockout technique

a procedure in which a single gene is rendered nonfunctional - Procedure that eliminates the expression of a gene - Provides a more "fine-tuned" approach to gene-behavior interactions

pleiotropy

a single gene having multiple phenotypic effects

Time budget

a summary of the total time and relative frequency of different behaviors of an individual - the transitions between certain behaviors are also noted

Kin selection with examples

a type of natural selection that favors a certain allele because it increases the survival or reproductive success of relatives that bear the same allele. - Ex: Altruistic behaviors such as helping, selflessness - Ex: social insects, alarm calls, helpers at the nest - takes a knowledge of genetics to understand this

vacuum activity

an FAP that happens in the absence of a stimulus

what happened to the pecking response when researchers used a red stick and put a few bars on it? - what is this called - what is an explanation for this response

increased pecking response - super stimulus, or supernormal stimuli - Tinbergen did not have an explanation for this, but we now know that a bigger red section stimulates MORE of the sensory system, which causes an increased response

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

inheritance of acquired characteristics, also called Lamarckism - believed that you pass on what you acquire in your body over time - the Giraffe stretching their neck example - has been disproven

Relying on descriptive studies, ethologists discovered that many behaviors were __________

innate/ hard-wired

mid parent value

measuring something in the parents and taking the average of the parents (average height, weight, some kind of interactional characteristic or behavior)

_____________ and ______________ in the 21st Century plays a very large role in understanding animal behavior.

neuroscience; molecular biology

Most behavioral traits are polygenic, so if you measure and graph them, it will result in a .....

normal, or Gaussian distribution

QQ: If we state that young birds learn the vocalizations of their species by listening to adult birds, we are explaining the causes of this behavior on the _____ level of analysis.

ontogenetic

behavior is part of an animal's ___________

phenotype

siblicide is a ___________ event

polygenic

Evolution is a change in the frequencies of different alleles in a ______________ over the course of many generations

population or gene pool

Ernst Mayr

proposed that animal behavior causation be examined on 2 different levels: Proximate and Ultimate

Action Specific Energy (ASE)

reservoir of energy for FAPs; increases as animal refrains from the FAP and finally becomes so great that the FAP could happen in the absence of stimuli - interchangeable with the term "motivation"

In the language of classical ethology, FAPs are triggered by:

sign stimuli or releasers

great egret parents give their young __________ amounts of food, while great but heron parents give their young _________ amounts of food.

small; unlimited

examples of traits that are predominantly environmental: (2)

specific language, specific religion

William C. Dilger

studied and breeded two species of lovebird and their nest making behaviors

The characteristic that ground nesting birds and mammals such as cattle have in common is that they are:

subject to predation

example of a sign stimulus in goose chicks

t-shape stick moving in a specific direction above the chicks

cross-fostering

take the young of one species and expose them to the mother of an entirely different species - Adults are not raising young that are not of the same species???

epistasis

the action of one gene affecting the action of one or more other genes

Ethology definition

the scientific study of the function and evolution animal behavior, particularly in natural environments

Broad-Sense Heritability measures: - example

the total proportion of variance in a trait - that is, genetic variance as opposed to environmental variance. - example: foraging behavior of mice

in ethogram diagrams, the arrows indicate: - what does their width represent?

the transitions among the behavior patterns - The width of the arrows shows how often there was the transition from one behavior to another

if great blue heron chicks are put with great egret chicks, then.... - genetic or environmental influence on behavior?

they start to kill their nestmates - environmental influence on behavior

if great egret chicks are put with great blue heron chicks, then... - genetic or environmental influence on behavior?

they still kill their nest mates - genetic influence on behavior

QQ: Naming a behavior and providing a detailed description of the behavior of a species are important in constructing an ethogram, but so is noting the ____ of the behavior(s).

time budget

Precocial

to describe animals that when they hatch or are born, they are in a relatively advanced state of development

QQ: Who developed the mechanism of evolution called "the inheritance of acquired characteristics" in the 19th century?

Lamarck

Candidate genes

Major genes suspected of contributing to a large amount of the phenotypic variation in a specific trait

C. Lloyd Morgan

Morgan's Canon: the simplest psychological process possible should be used to interpret an animal's behavior

____________ are a source of genetic variability

Mutations

heritability of 0 means

NO genetic basis for this phenotype (100% the environment)

natural selection vs. evolution

NOT the same thing! natural selection= a mechanism= INDIVIDUALS evolution= a result = POPULATIONS, not individuals!

_____________ is only one way that can cause the allele proportions to change over time

Natural selection

who was one of the first to conduct a natural behavior pattern in an ethogram pattern?

Niko Tinbergen

Niko Tinbergen

One of the founders of the way we approach animal behavior today - devised Tinbergen's four questions, which suggested that proximate and ultimate could be further divided into 2 levels each - studied instinct and fixed action patterns, and did the pioneering studies on sign stimuli by observing the agonistic and courtship behavior of the 3-spined stickleback. - One of two people to have specifically earned a Nobel prize for studying animal behavior

displacement activity -example

an apparently irrelevant activity sometimes displayed by animals when confronted by conflict or thwarted from attaining a goal - motor programs that seem to discharge tension or anxiety. - described by Lorenz as "breaking the tension" caused by competing urges. - ex: if 2 birds are in conflict where their territories meet, they will be simultaneously ready to attack and retreat. As a result it is not uncommon to see the birds suddenly start grooming, or nest building.

QQ: George John Romanes is credited with formalizing the comparative method of animal behavior in the 19th century, but he unfortunately included a considerable amount of _____.

anthropomorphism

examples of traits that are predominantly genetic: (2)

blood type, eye color

Mock (1984)

conducted a cross-fostering experiment with Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons

Gregor Mendel

established key principles of the laws of inheritance of biological characteristics. - "Father of genetics"

In "Broad-Sense" Heritability the question is:

what proportion of the variance in a trait is attributable to genetic variance? - Ex: "the variance"= verbal ability

graph of Action Specific Energy (ASE) in male Guppy courtship behavior: x axis and y axis

x axis is internal stimulation - increase ASE in male from left to right y axis is external stimulation - increasing sign stimulus value in female from bottom to top

In "Narrow-Sense" Heritability the question is: -example - it can be used to...

"What portion of genetic variance is accessible to natural selection?" -It can be used to predict how animals will respond to artificial or natural selection. If a trait has a high heritability, selection or controlled breeding can change that trait. Narrow sense heritability is particularly useful in making this type of prediction. -Ex: longhorn horn length

Currently the term "Fixed Action Pattern" has fallen out of use from Ethology and substituted by phrases such as 'behavior patterns' or 'behavioral acts' or 'innate behaviors' because:

1. Behavior is not as fixed as implied by the term Fixed Action Pattern. There are subtle variations between and within animals in, for example, the duration of individual behavioral components that vary around a mean value. 2. Fixed Action Patterns are not simply innate (instinctive or "hard-wired.") They can be subtly modified by experience. 3. Behavior is modified as a result of the animal's environment - it is not always triggered in the presence of the external stimulus.

In the 20th Century there have been 3 major influences on the study of animal behavior which today are integrated:

1. Comparative Psychology 2. Ethology 3. Behavioral Ecology

2 Key implications of the Mayr-Tinbergen model of causality:

1. Competition among alternative hypotheses occurs within and NOT between the 4 analytical levels. 2. At least 4 potentially "correct" answers to any question about causality are possible because explanations at one level of analysis complement rather than supersede those at another. - no one level is the only answer

Broadly speaking, Psychologists studying animal behavior generally concentrate on: (3)

1. Experimentation in labs 2. Learning 3. A few model species (rats, primates, etc.)

distinctive characteristics of FAPs (6)

1. FAPs are stereotyped in that they comprise sequences of motor acts which occurred in rigid, predictable, and highly structured sequences. 2. FAPs are complex patterns, a characteristic that distinguishes them from simple reflexes. 3. FAPs are shown by all members of a species, or at least by all members of a given sex in the appropriate age range and physiological condition. 4. FAPs are elicited by simple yet highly specific stimuli. (More about this in just a moment!) 5. FAPs are regarded as self-exhausting. That is, the mere occurrence of the FAP reduces the ease with which it can be re-elicited. It is not the consequence of the behavior, but the mere occurrence of the behavior that makes it harder for the behavior to be elicited a second time. 6. FAPs are regarded as triggered, meaning that once elicited, FAPs continue independent of external stimulation. Once initiated, a sequence of motor acts continues even if the environment changes so that the behavior is no longer appropriate. 7. The occurrence of an FAP is independent of experience; FAPs are essentially complete on their first occurrence. S.C.A.S.E.T.I stereotyped, complex, all members, (elicited by) simple stimuli, (self-)exhausting, triggered, independent (of experience)

When observing behaviors, the two major assumptions we make are that:

1. Interactional- most behaviors are interactional 2. Polygenic- more than one gene locus contributes to the ultimate behavioral phenotype

Notable scientists for classical Ethology (3) - what did each do

1. Karl Von Frisch - studied honeybee sensory perception and communication 2. Konrad Lorenz - studied instinctive behavior in birds (imprinting), the psychohydraulic model of ASE, and displacement activities/ redirected activities 3. Niko Tinbergen - studied instinct, fixed action patterns, and releaser stimuli in 3-spined stickleback

Tinbergen's Four Questions

1. Ontogeny- an individuals development, maturing, something that happens to an individual during their lifetime -Proximate 2. Physiology- the mechanism by which the body works -Proximate 3. Fitness- survival and reproduction -Ultimate 4. Phylogeny- the evolutionary history of the species, the historical evolution of a population -Ultimate

Until relatively recently there have been 2 major "schools of thought" regarding the modern study of animal behavior: - what do they correlate with

1. Psychology (Proximate) 2. Ethology (Ultimate)

Our views of animals and animal behavior began to change in the 19th century with the advent of 3 major scientific contributions:

1. Publication of the theory of evolution by natural selection (Origin of Species) 2. development of a systematic scientific method 3. Studies in genetics and inheritance (Basic Mendelian genetics)

In behavioral and population genetics, there are 2 basic types of heritability:

1. broad sense 2. narrow sense

sign stimulus

An external sensory stimulus which triggers a fixed-action pattern. - simple features of a complex stimulus that elicit a FAP

any attribution of human characteristics (or characteristics assumed to belong only to humans) to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities

Anthropomorphism

Animal Behavior definition

Any internally coordinated, externally visible pattern of activity that responds to changing external or internal conditions

innate behavior

Behavior that has either a fixed genetic basis or a high degree of genetic preprogramming - animals with innate behaviors are unaware of the significance of their actions.

Medieval ________ were designed to illustrate moral lessons for illiterate European Christians.

Bestiaries

Alfred Russel Wallace

British naturalist who developed a hypothesis of natural selection similar to Darwin's

Behavioral Ecology

Examination of the animal within its own habitat: how the environment effects how an animal behaves

Proximate Mechanisms of behavior - what kinds of questions?

Focus on understanding immediate (mechanistic) causes of behavior - "how" and "what" questions

Ultimate Mechanisms of behavior - what kinds of questions?

Focus on understanding the ultimate (evolutionary) significance of a behavior - how does the behavior contribute to survival and reproduction? - "why" questions

Ethogram - what does it require?

Formal description or inventory of an animal's behavior - complete inventory or descriptive catalogue of the motor patterns of a given species. - Need to document an animals specific behavior, name them, and write a description with some kind of time course

which writings contained a high degree of anthropomorphism?

Greco-Roman

Replacement level fertility (RLF)

How many offspring do a couple have to have in order to just replace themselves on the planet? - unique value for each species, in different places on the planet - changes due to diseases, food and water, vaccines, war, etc. - every animal is capable of producing more than their RLF