Behavioral Ecology Exam 1

What is an ethogram? How is it helpful for sampling behavior?

A catalog of all behaviors observed for a given species Allows for more consistency between researchers Provides a way to objectively measure frequency and duration of specific types of behaviors

What is neural plasticity? Why is it adaptive? Provide examples of neural plasticity in animals

Ability of the nervous system of an individual to alter its structure and physiology in response to behavior Rats exposed to spatial learning activities had larger dendrites in brain than those not exposed

What are the four ways in which hormones are controlled? Be able to give examples of each of these.

Actions of other hormones Some hormones stimulate or inhibit the release of other hormones Ex. Thyroxine: needed to maintain proper metabolic rate Hypothalamus produces thyroid releasing hormone (TRH) TRH stimulates pituitary to release thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) TSH stimulates thyroid gland to produce Thyroxine Too much thyroxine will stop production of TRH Nervous system Brain can make appropriate adjustments to hormone secretion to ensure homeostasis and survival Ex. fight or flight response Negative feedback A change causes responses that counteract the change (maintaining homeostasis) Ex. overproduction of thyroxine Positive feedback A change causes amplification of the production of a hormone Ex. lactation

Know the four main types of animal behavior sampling methods, the pros and cons of the methods and under which circumstances you might want to use each one. If given a scenario of a type of research project, you should be able to identify which sampling method was used

Ad libitum sampling Record as much info as possible Informal, non systematic Not very reliable or precise Typically used in the beginning of a study for planning purposes Can be used to study rare but obvious behaviors Focal Animal Sampling All occurrences of specified actions of 1-2 individuals are recorded during a predetermined sample period Observer records length of sample period and amount of time focal animals are in view Easier to quantify data because not all behaviors are recorded Provides unbiased data Behavioral Sampling Observer focuses on one particular behavior rather than a particular individual Provides a rate of occurrence of a behavior Can study synchrony of behaviors within a group Only use for obvious not given frequently Instantaneous or Scan Sampling Record an individuals behavior at pre-selected moments Best for sampling longer state behaviors rather than short events Used to study percent of time spent in a certain activity If behavior of all members of a group are surveyed at once = scan sampling Provides data on distribution of behavior within a group

In which situations would a trait not be considered a true adaptation (according to the definition we are using in class)? HINT: think about the three aspects of our definition of adaptation.

Adaptations (according to our definition) are the product of natural selection Selection works with the genetic variation available to produce individuals with the highest fitness Not all phenotypes are adaptations or are the result of natural selection

What are twin and adoption studies in humans? What can they tell us about the heritability of a trait? What is problematic about these types of studies in humans?

Adoption studies: comparing adopted children to their adopted parents vs their genetic parents Verbal and spatial performance is more similar between adopted child and biological parents and between identical twins than fraternal Difficult to fully control environments Identical twins often treated more similar than fraternal twins

You should know the following hormones and their effects on behavior: adrenaline, prolactin (in mammals vs birds), testosterone, vasopressin (in voles)

Adrenaline: prepares body to fight or run Prolactin: causes nest building, increases maternal behaviors Testosterone: Increases aggression, increases mate guarding/brood defense/nest building Vasopressin: Prairie voles have more vasopressin receptors in their brain than meadow voles Prairie vole = males monogamous; more parental care Meadow vole = male polygynous less parental care

Why are additive genetic effects used to measure narrow-sense heritability as opposed to dominance interactions effects and epistasis effects? Understand the human skin tone example as it relates to additive genetic effects

Alleles whose contribution to the phenotype of a trait are not affected by other genes (or alleles), or the environment Ex: 3 different genes determine skin tone in humans Each gene contributes equally to phenotype (no dominance interactions) The more genes a person has that code for high melanin, the darker the skin will be

Which of Tinbergen's four questions are proximate and which are ultimate? Be able to give an example of a proximate vs ultimate question OR identify which type of question is being asked.

Animal Behavior Causation: Proximate Development: Proximate Evolution: Ultimate Function: Ultimate

Understand how artificial selection and field observations and experiments provide evidence for the microevolution of behaviors. Be able to give examples of each.

Artificial selection 40 year domestication study by Russian scientists using silver foxes from Siberia Only allowed the tamest foxes to breed In the field Magurran et al. (1993) showed guppy behavior differed in different spots in a river depending on predation pressure Guppies exposed to high predation showed more schooling tendency and more predator inspection behavior Guppies moved to sites with different predation pressure After several generations, behavior changed to fit predation pressure at new site

What kind of selection results from assortative (non-random) mating? How does this differ from natural selection?

Assortative mating: Individuals mate non-randomly with one another in a population Often mate is chosen based on phenotype (genotype) Only a few individuals actually reproduce Sexual selection: process that leads to adaptations that increase chances of reproducing

Define/understand the following terms: behavioral genetics, polygenic traits, quantitative trait loci

Behavioral genetics: studying the molecular genetic underpinnings of behaviors How selection favors specific genes = ultimate question Asking which specific allele/gene affects a behavior = proximate question Polygenic traits: controlled by multiple genes at different loci QTL: the set of loci (genes) that govern a trait Used to find specific location of genes that control a trait

What is a hormonal-behavioral feedback loop? What type of hormonal control is this under (positive or negative feedback)? Provide examples of a hormonal-behavioral feedback loop.

Behaviors can affect hormone concentrations Hormonal-behavioral feedback loop Ex: Levels of testosterone increase the likelihood of winning a fight Winning a fight increases testosterone production What kind of feedback is this an example of? Positive!

What is the bottleneck effect? Founder effect?

Bottleneck effect: certain traits lost due to a major reduction in population size Natural disasters, major extinction events, over-hunting, etc. Founder effect: small number of individuals dispersing to islands

Be able to give examples of how the nervous and endocrine systems work together to affect behavior (example: fight or flight response).

Brain can make appropriate adjustments to hormone secretion to ensure homeostasis and survival Ex: "Fight or flight" response In response to stress, hypothalamus in brain stimulates adrenal glands to produce: Adrenaline: prepares body to fight or run Cortisol: increases glucose levels in blood for extra energy

Once the brain has interpreted a particular nerve signal, what generally happens next?

Brain send response signal via motor neurons to effectors

Know the equations for measuring broad-sense and narrow-sense heritability. If H2 or = 0, what does this mean? If H2 or h2 = 1, what does this mean? Know the difference between VG, VD, VI, and VA. What does the total genetic variance equal?

Broad sense H2 = VG / VP If H2 = 0 there is no resemblance between relatives If H2 = 1 there is complete resemblance between relatives Narrow sense h2 = VA / VP Total genetic variance VG = VD + VI + VA VG: Genetic variance VD: The proportion of phenotypic variance related to dominance interactions VI: The proportion of phenotypic variance related to interactions between different genes or between genes and environment VA: Remaining genetic effects is called additive genetic effects

Understand how broad and narrow-sense heritability differ

Broad sense heritability a rough measure of heritability Broad-sense heritability includes ALL genetic effects Alleles (variations) of the same gene can interact with one another (dominant vs recessive alleles) Narrow sense heritability (h2): an estimate of heritability which only includes additive genetic effects Only the effects that can be transmitted intact from a parent Can ignore all allele/allele, gene/gene and gene/ environment interactions

Understand how parent-offspring regression experiments work, how to interpret the results from them and the example from Brown and Brown's (2000) study on cliff swallows

Brown and Brown (2000) studied the heritability of cliff swallow group size Group size in swallows affects survival Larger groups more likely to spread diseases and parasites Smaller groups more vulnerable to predation Found that offspring were significantly more likely to choose to live in a group of the same size as their parent

What else can affect the heritability of a trait in a population?

Can be affected by changes in genetic variation in a population Natural selection Mutations Gene flow Genetic drift Assortative mating/sexual selection

Understand how phylogenies can be used in animal behavior (understand the example given in lecture).

Can be used to understand when behavioral traits evolved in a group

What happens to genetic variation within and between populations when there is gene flow?

Can increase genetic variation within a population Reduces genetic variation between populations

What kind of data is used to construct a phylogenetic tree?

Can use morphological traits, behavioral traits and DNA to create trees

Know the two types of nerve synapses that exist and how they differ/work

Chemical synapse: Neurotransmitters are sent across synapse to next neuron Neurotransmitters bind to receptors on dendrite, allowing signal to continue to next cell Causes a short delay in response to stimuli Most common type in body Electrical synapse: Ions (charged atoms) move directly across gap via junction (membrane protein) to next neuron Allows for quicker response

Chemeoreceptors

Chemoreceptors for tasting: taste buds on tongue Chemoreceptors for smelling: olfactory cells

How/why is behavioral ecology an integrative science?

Combines multiple fields together

Slagsvold and Hansen 2001 studied sexual imprinting in a non-brood parasitic species (blue tits), while Freeburg et al. 1995 looked at sexual imprinting in the cowbird (a brood parasite). What do these two studies tell us about how sexual imprinting in a brood parasite differs from imprinting in other bird species?

Cowbirds have a malleable species and mate recognition system

What do cross-fostering experiments tell us about the importance of imprinting for later success in life?

Cross fostering experiments in birds and mammals show species reared by other species preferred the foster species to their own as an adult

Know the difference between discrete or qualitative traits vs continuous or quantitative traits. Why do behavioral traits tend to be continuous/quantitative? Be able to give examples of discrete and continuous traits.

Discrete/qualitative: phenotypic traits controlled by genes Continuous/quantitative: infinite number of varieties of each behavior Controlled by multiple genes and environment

Know the different approaches to ethology we discussed (empirical, theoretical, comparative)

Empirical: gathering data and drawing conclusions to form testable predictions (uses scientific method) Observational Experimental Manipulative Oftens includes a control treatment Theoretical: Using mathematical models to predict what could happen Often uses data from empirical studies to uniform the theoretical model Always have assumptions Always a simplified version of reality Ex. optimal foraging theory Comparative: using model animals to understand other types of animal or human behavior Comparative psychologists Combining multiple fields together to better understand a type of behavior

hormones

Endocrine glands: glands that secrete hormones Hypothalamus (in brain) Pituitary (in brain) Thyroid Pancreas Gonads Hormones = chemical signals that affect the behavior of other glands or tissues Thyroxine: needed to maintain proper metabolic rate TRH: stimulates pituitary to release thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) TSH: stimulates thyroid gland to produce Thyroxine Adrenaline: prepares body to fight or run Cortisol: increases glucose levels in blood for extra energy ADH: that causes kidneys to reabsorb water -> less urine Target cells: have receptors for hormone (bind specifically to one type of hormone)

What does the Theory of Evolution state?

Evolution: the genetic change of a population over time often leads to physical changes

Exposure to androgens (male sex hormones) before birth

Exposue to androgens (male sex hormones) before birth: Rodents: affects aggression levels, sexual activity, parental care Spotted hyenas: more dominant females provided more androgens to embryos. Higher androgens led to more aggressiveness and affected social rank and fitness. Birds: Higher levels of androgens before or at beginning of incubation can affect: Hatching time (earlier or delayed) Increased begging behavior, competitiveness, alertness and boldness in nestlings Increases growth in passerine nestlings Often decreases mortality in nestlings

What are two main ways we can gain insight into the macroevolution of behaviors over time? Give examples.

Fossil record Ex. parental care in dinosaurs and birds Ex. changes to body size, teeth and feet in horses as climate changed Phylogeny Can be used to understand when behavioral traits evolved in a group Can help us distinguish homologies from analogies

Exposure to temperature after birth:

Fruit fly larva exposed to different temps led to different wing phenotypes depending on fly's genotype Spiders can disperse via ballooning (long distance, less control) or rappelling (short distance, more control) using silk Erigone atra used rappelling when raised at warmer temps and used ballooning when raised at cooler temps More likely to find suitable habitat nearby in spring than in fall

What are the functions of filial and sexual imprinting (why is it adaptive) and what is the limitation or potential cost of imprinting?

Function of filial imprinting Precocial animals can follow parents to preferred habitat Predator avoidance Follow parents to safety Certain vocalizations may cause a chick to freeze or drop down Recognizing conspecifics for success later in life Mammals imprinting on precocial young will only feed their true offspring Function of Sexual imprinting Usually takes longer than filial imprinting Important for species recognition and increases chances of successful mating

Understand/be able to define all the terms from the genetics review at the start of this lecture (genes, alleles, locus, chromosomes, etc.

Genes: strand of DNA that codes for a protein Protein affects the phenotype Alleles: Different forms/variations of a particular gene Locus: The specific location of a gene on a chromosome Chromosomes: 1 molecule of DNA and proteins

What are helpers? What is the benefit of forgoing reproduction for a time in order to be a helper? How might young benefit from helpers at the nest?

Helpers stay with parents after mature for extended period to help raise siblings and learn important life skills Helper behavior in oldfield female mice led to superior nest building skills Cichlid fish raised by adults or adults and helpers were better at defending territories as adults than cichlids not raised by adults

Define/understand the following terms: heritability (H2), variance, dominant vs recessive alleles/dominance interactions, epistasis, additive genetic effects, regression

Heritability: the proportion of phenotypic variance due to genetic variance within a population Variance: statistical measure of variability Additive genetic effects: the average effect of individual alleles on the phenotype

evolution terms 1

Heritable: passed from parent to offspring Adaptation: any heritable trait that has evolved through the process of natural selection and increases or maintains an organism's fitness Fitness: The number of viable offspring an individual produces Mutation: a heritable change in a gene or chromosome

Why is it important to build a phylogenetic tree using homologous traits rather than analogous traits?

Homologous traits derive from a common ancestor

Understand the different types of behavioral genetic studies we discussed (termites, honeybee foraging, UV vision in birds, vasopressin in voles) and what their implications/conclusions were

Honeybee foraging Messenger RNA is created during gene expression Toma (2000) measured mRNA levels of the per gene in honeybees and found this gene affected transition from nurse to forager Did expression of gene cause foraging or did foraging cause expression of gene? UV vision in birds Vertebrate eyes posses rods and cones to perceive light images Most mammals have 2: blue, yellow Primates have 3: red, green, blue Birds have 4: red, green, blue, UV Changes in cone types often coded by single mutation in a gene Vasopressin in Voles Prairie vole males are monogamous, but some show more parental care than others Controlled by vasopressin and receptors The amount of vasopressin receptors is controlled by the gene avpr1a avpr1a has long and short allele variants Preliminary work suggested long allele responsible for males Hammock and Young (2005) bred two lines of prairie voles: 1. homozygous for long alleles; 2. homozygous for short allele Males with long allele showed more pup licking and grooming Also preferred female partners more

Understand the various examples and studies we covered of how hormones affect behavior (you do not need to know authors names or publication dates of studies)

How do birds know when its "time to breed"? In males testosterone production increases with daylength: Increases aggression Increases mate guarding/brood defense/nest building Singing to maintain breeding/nesting territory In females prolactin production increases with daylength: Causes nest building Increases maternal behaviors like egg laying and brooding Obligate brood parasites don't build nests. Why not? Female cowbirds injected with prolactin and estrogen did not develop brood patches and did not build nests Cowbirds may have lost receptors OR hormones are used for something else Mice fetuses affected by surrounding fetus' gender A male fetus surrounded by 2 males = more masculine A male fetus surrounded by 2 females = more feminine Effects of vasopressin on mating systems in voles Prairie vole = males monogamous; more parental care Meadow vole = male polygynous less parental care

You should be able to interpret the results of a truncation selection experiment and you should know the caveats associated with the narrow-sense heritability estimate. Example, does h2=0 mean genes are not influencing a trait?

If the response to selection pressure is very strong, R/S should be close to 1 Also means trait has a high heritability and is mainly controlled by genetic variance Heritability estimates refer to populations, NOT individuals Heritability is a measure of the proportion of genetic variation that contributes to the phenotypic variation h2 = 0 does not mean genes do not influence traits!

Why is the nature vs nurture argument now considered to be obsolete?

In reality, behaviors aren't solely learned or innate

Understand the Ruff example where a suite of traits are controlled by one gene with a dominant and recessive allele and how this differs from most behaviors that are controlled by multiple genes and the environment

Independent male ruffs defend their own territory, are larger and more colorful Satellite males have no territory, work with independent males to court females, smaller paler Phenotype mainly controlled by single gene SS, Ss = satellite Ss = independent

Understand what the Theory of Natural Selection is, who proposed it and what it helps to explain about organisms

Individuals with most beneficial characteristics are most reproductively successful Charles Darwin (1809-1882) British naturalist Proposed theory of natural selection using four main tenants

Know/understand the 4 tenets that explain how natural selection works

Individuals within a population vary Many traits are heritable (passed from parent to offspring Populations should grow exponentially, but they do not Resources are limited competition will ensue Individuals with beneficial traits will survive better than others and will pass their traits on to more offspring

Understand the difference between largely innate vs learned behaviors. What are the pros/cons of innate traits? Pros and cons of learned traits? Be able to provide examples of both innate and learned traits or to be able to identify given behaviors as either largely innate or learned

Innate Subject to natural selection Inflexible Prevents learning a wrong behavior Could be maladaptive in certain situations Does not require any time to learn Learned Flexible Good for dynamic environments Risky (could learn incorrect behavior) Requires time to learn Sometimes passed from one generation to the next (cultural transmission) Able to evolve over time

Define/understand the following terms: Innate vs learned behaviors, heritable traits, heritability (what does high vs low heritability mean?), cultural transmission, anthropomorphism

Innate: Mostly genetic/instinctual Heritable traits: passed from parent offspring via genes Learned: Modified over an individual's life based on experiences Cultural transmission: passed from one generation to the next Heritability: measurement of genetic variation of a particular trait within a population High heritability = trait mainly controlled by genes Low heritability = trait mainly influences by environment Anthropomorphism: Giving human qualities to animals, or explaining animal behavior in terms of human like thinking and reasoning

What kinds of relationships does behavioral ecology focus on?

Intraspecific: individuals of the same species Mating Family relationships Competition cooperative/learning Aggression Interspecific: different species Competition Predator-prey Parasite-host Mutualisms Individuals and their environment Migration Navigation Habitat selection Foraging

Communication

Japanese quail call to eggs to accelerate and synchronize hatching Fairywren mothers teach embryos their begging call Nestling fairy wrens that produced calls more similar to their mother were fed more Allows fairy wrens to detect brood parasitic cuckoo nestlings more easily Zebra finches call to eggs about to hatch when environmental temps are > 26 C (78.8 F) Nestlings exposed to incubation calls as eggs: In hotter temps, grew less adaptation to surviving in hot conditions? In hotter temps, more likely to call while begging Had better reproductive fitness as adult Bobwhite quail embryos produce clicking sounds to accelerate development of other embryos Pig-nosed turtle embryos might use vibrations to help synchronize hatching

What are the benefits of studying behavioral ecology for people?

Learn how to hunt/find animals for food Learn how to care for animals we use to help humans Learn how to get rid of pests or control disease vectors Learn how to better conserve the species we have left Just for plain scientific curiosity Learn about ourselves

Define/understand the following terms: learning, phenotypic plasticity (be able to give examples), conditioned behaviors, generalization (be able to give examples), optimal memory (examples), cognitive learning, insight vs observational learning

Learning (individual learning): a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience Phenotypic plasticity: the ability to produce different phenotypes depending on the environment Learning is a type of phenotypic plasticity Some brood parasite hosts more likely to reject a parasitic egg when they see more female brood parasites in the area

Understand the different examples of neuroethology studies we covered (you do not need to know authors names or publication dates of studies)

Looking at how brain activity changes when animals are exposed to different stimuli Larger hippocampus in animals that have to remember things more Mushroom body size larger in foraging bees than in bees that remain in the colony Mushroom body size changed based on how often bees foraged Rats exposed to spatial learning activities had larger dendrites in brain than those not exposed Many birds and aquatic mammals are able to sleep with one eye open Can respond quickly to predators and come to surface to breathe Study on mallards showed ducks in the middle of a group more likely to be fully asleep Ducks on edges keep exposed side awake

Understand how the nut cracking crows in California vs Japan is probably an example of cultural transmission

Many anecdotal reports of crows using cars as nutcrackers for hard nuts Critol and Switzer found no evidence of this at UC Davis, California Nihei describes multiple variations of nut placing behavior in japan Behavior seems to have started around 1975 at the Kadan Driving school Spread out from there to surrounding areas

Understand the honeybee example and what determines whether larvae develop into either queen adults or worker adults.

Many social insects have castes Types of individuals that differ behaviorally and often morphologically Honey Bees: Queens: large, reproduce, do not forage or defend colony Workers: smaller, do not reproduce, spend day foraging, defending colony, nest building Factors that affect these roles include: Amount and quality of food provided to larva Hormones produced by the queen

Understand the problems with anthropomorphizing an animal's behavior and be able to give examples of anthropomorphism

May be difficult to test with experiments May lead to erroneous conclusions Ex. assuming a bee stung you because you made it mad

Know and be able to explain the four types of animal behavior questions as outlined by Niko Tinbergen and be able to provide an example of each question if given a scenario OR identify which type of question is being asked.

Mechanistic or causation: what specific processes cause the behavior? Hormonal and/or neurobiological reasons for behavior What stimuli elicit the behavior Developmental: How does the behavior change over time as the animal develops? What role do genetics and the environment play? Survival value or function: What is the survival value of that behavior? What is its function? How is that behavior adaptive? Evolutionary/phylogenetic: ow/why/when did the behavior evolve? Often uses phylogenies to answer questions

Know the types of sensory receptors we discussed and what types of stimuli are they specialized for receiving? Where are the various sensory receptors for tasting, smelling, hearing, maintaining balance and seeing found in the human body?

Mechanoreceptors = stimulated by changes in pressure or body movement (touch, hearing, balance) Mechanoreceptors in ear for hearing and maintaining balance: hair cells Electroreceptors = stimulated by changes in electric fields (only in aquatic organisms) Thermoreceptors = stimulated by changes in the external or internal temperature Pain receptors = stimulated by tissue damage or oxygen deprivation to tissues Chemoreceptors = stimulated by changes in the chemical concentration of substances (olfaction, tasting) Photoreceptors = stimulated by light energy (vision)

Understand the basics of the lateral line system and electroreception in fish that we discussed

Mechanoreceptors in lateral line system in fish Sense vibrations in the water Can be used for hunting or avoiding predation Also called hair cells Several hair cells = neuromast organ Electroreceptors detect changes in electric fields in water Can use to find hidden prey using electrical discharge of muscles E.g: Ampullae of Lorenzini in sharks/rays Pores in skin filled with electrically conductive gel attached to electroreceptor Can use for communication and navigation (e.g. elephantnose fish)

What factors can lead to genetic drift?

Meiosis : produces genetically unique gametes to increase genetic variation in a population

evolution terms 2

Microevolution: Evolution at a small scale; within a species/population Artificial selection: Humans select which animals breed together based on preferred traits Macroevolution: Evolution at a large scale; above the species level

Understand how the number of cone types can influence color vision in animals

Most mammals have 2: blue, yellow Humans have 3: red, green, blue Birds have 4: red, green, blue, UV Mantis shrimp: 12-16

What 4 requirements are needed in order for natural selection to be able to act on a behavior? Be able to provide an example of such a behavior or explain whether or not a given behavior is under natural selection or not using the 4 requirements.

Must be variation in the behavior Must be a behavior that can be passed onto offspring (heritable, genes play some role) Resources are limited (there is competition) with respect to the behavior Must be fitness consequences (some varieties of the behavior allow for better survival) If a behavior has some level of heritability, it can be considered an adaptation

What is the ultimate source of genetic variation in the gene pool?

Mutation

Understand the functions of and the basics about how the nervous and endocrine systems work (what was discussed in class)

Nervous system Takes in sensory information from outside and inside body, interprets it and responds accordingly Relies on electrical and chemical impulses to quickly transfer information around the body Use neurons to receive and transmit signals Split into central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system (all other sensory and motor nerves)

neuron terms

Neurons: receive and transmit signals Cell body contains nucleus and organelles Dendrites = receive signals from sensory receptors and other neurons Axon = transmits neural signals away from cell body Only one per neuron

Define/understand the following terms: ontogeny, altricial vs precocial (be able to give examples), filial and sexual imprinting (be able to give examples), sensitive period, critical period, imprinting stimulus

Ontogeny: The development of an organism from earliest stages Can be affected by both genetic and environmental factors Altricial: born completely helpless Precocial: born more developed Filial imprinting: The process where an animal develops a social attachment to a particular individual or object Sensitive period: the time period during which ana animal can form an attachment Critical period: the time during the sensitive period where attachment response performance is greatest. Imprinting stimulus: ex. Duck call for ducklings Sexual imprinting: individuals learn to direct their sexual behavior towards some stimulus objects, but not at others.

What affects an animal's phenotype/behavior?

Phenotype = genotype + environment

Explain the difference between phenotypic variance, genetic variance and environmental variance and give examples. What does phenotypic variance equal?

Phenotypic variance: variance in a behavioral trait Genetic variance: due to genes Environmental variance: due to environment VP = VG + VE VP = Phenotypic variance VG = Genetic variance VE = Environmental variance

evolution terms 3

Phylogeny: the history of the evolution of a species or group Homologous structures: a trait shared by two or more species due to a shared common ancestor Analogous structures : A trait shared by two or more species due to similar natural selection pressures, not a common ancestor Convergent evolution: similar adaptations due to similar environmental constraints Example: Wings on insects, bats, birds phylogenetic trees: used to understand a species' evolutionary history Taxa (group/species) placed at ends of branches Characters placed opposite of taxa names (if present)

Be able to explain the difference between ultimate and proximate behavioral questions.

Proximate: Understanding the immediate causes of behavior (small picture) Ultimate: Understanding the evolutionary forces that have shaped the behavior (big picture)

Understand the 5 mechanisms of evolution and all the details that were discussed about each.

Random evolutionary force Ultimate source of genetic variation in the gene pool Introduces new alleles into the population Beneficial, neutral or harmful (depends on environment) Harmful mutations often removed by natural selection

Exposure to stress hormones before birth

Rats: young of stressed mothers were anxious and cautious after birth Common lizard: embryos exposed to more stress hormones less likely to disperse as adults Humans: children of mothers exposed to extremely stressful situations during pregnancy tended to have increased anxiety, depression, attention, and learning deficits

Why is UV vision important to birds? What do birds use their UV vision for?

Recognizing different species that appear identical to humans Hunting: rodent scent marks reflect UV Mating: some species are brighter in the UV Foraging: some fruits reflect UV Egg recognition: most bird eggs reflect some UV

eye terms

Rods: suited for night vision, peripheral vision, and perception of motion Cones: for color vision Retina: tissue layer at back of eye

You should understand what the "Response to selection" and "Selection pressure" terms mean in the truncation selection experiment.

S = Selection pressure: x1 - x0 The truncation process simulates selection pressure R = response to selection: x2 - x0 The mean of the second generation (x2) minus the mean of the original population (x0) represents the response to selection

What are examples of different selective agents that drive natural selection?

Selective agents (selection pressure) Environment Intraspecific (mate choice, competition) Interspecific (predation, parasitism, etc.)

neuron terms cont.

Sensory neuron = take nerve signals from sensory receptors to CNS Sensory receptors = cells that convert external and internal stimuli into nerve signals The dendrites of sensory neurons Motor neurons = take nerve signals from CNS to muscles, glands, and organs

Know the various studies we discussed that show the importance of maternal/paternal care in behavioral development in mammals (you do not need to know any authors names or dates)

Socially deprived some monkeys Monkeys had different degrees of behavioral deficits depending on severity of social deprivation Not responding to conspecifics Rocking and swaying Self-clasping and huddling Poor maternal behavior to own offspring Harlow et al. were able to rehabilitate isolated monkeys by exposing them to normal younger monkeys Motherless mothers did better raising their second offspring Effects of social deprivation were not irreversible, but some behavioral deficits were still exhibited In prairie voles, sometimes pups are raised by one mother and sometimes by both parents Ahem and Young (2009) found pups raised by one mother: Received less parental care than biparental pups (A) Females provided less parental care to their own young than females raised by both parents (B) Both males and females took longer to find a mate

The difference between an event vs state behavior (be able to give examples) and how you could measure each

State behaviors are those that occur for some length of time, such as resting or feeding and many other maintenance-related behaviors. On the other hand, event behaviors are those that are brief and often sudden, such as aggression or breeding behavior.

Understand the basics of how a nerve impulse works (what was discussed in class)

Stimuli are sensed by sensory receptors and converted into a nerve signal Stimuli must be strong enough to cause nerve cell to fire On/off switch NOT a dimmer switch Stronger stimuli cause more neurons to fire Stronger stimuli cause neurons to fire more frequently Once nerve cell fires, signal is sent to next neuron via axon Neuron must cross a synapse (gap) to reach next neuron

brain stuff

Synapse: gap to reach next neuron Neurotransmitters: bind to receptors on dendrite, allowing signal to continue to next cell Effectors: cause behavioral response (muscles, glands, organs) neuroethology: study of the neurobiological underpinnings of behavior hippocampus: responsible for memory function Mushroom bodies: cluster of neurons in invertebrate brains that help with spatial learning

What are cross-fostering experiments? What can they tell us about the heritability of a trait? Give examples of cross-fostering experiments and understand the experiments by Brown and Brown on cliff swallows and Slagsvold and Hansen (2001) on great tits and blue tits and the implications of their results.

Taking young from its parent(s) and placing them in the care of a different parent Helps distinguish between environmental and genetic effects Brown and Brown cross-fostered cliff swallows from large and small colonies Offspring still showed the same group-size preference as their genetic parents when they became adults Slagsvold and Hansen (2001): study trying to understand how brood parasitism could evolve Put great tit eggs into blue tit nests Young survived well, but low reproductive success Associated with blue tits as adults Gave blue tit alarm calls Did not attract or accept a mate of their own species Effects were irreversible

Behavior

The coordinated responses of whole living organisms to internal and/or external stimuli

Ethology

The study of behavior and its causes

Physiology

The study of how living organisms and their bodies function

Evolutionary biology

The study of how organisms change over time

Ecology

The study of relationships between organisms and their environment

Comparative psychology

The study of the behavior and mental processes of animals in order to understand human behavior

Understand how filial imprinting has been studied in precocial birds (what was the experimental setup like?)

To study imprinting in precocial birds, young bird exposed to an imprinting stimulus Tested a few days later with initial stimulus and model of adult Following response of chick recorded Greater response when visual and auditory cues are presented at same time

What are the two common ways to estimate narrow-sense heritability?

Truncation selection experiment Parent offspring Regression

Be able to explain how to perform a truncation selection experiment and parent-offspring regression experiment. You will be given the formulas needed to solve a problem related to a truncation selection experiment. You should know how to calculate mean on your own for a set of data in order to solve these truncation selection problems. Any formulas given will usually not provide the definition of each variable in the formula, so you will have to know this on your own.

Truncation selection: Find the average of a phenotypic behavioral trait in a population (x0) Truncate the population above or below a specific phenotypic threshold and find the mean of this truncated group (x1) Only these individuals breed, producing the next generation (x2) Parent offspring regression Measure phenotypic behavioral trait of parents Measure same trait in offspring at same point in development Compare parent and offspring measurements using a regression Measures the dependence of one variable on another The slope of the line equals the heritability of the trait in the tested environment Line going up indicates higher heritability No relationship (flat line) indicates no heritability

Understand how axons vary and why that matters for behavior

Vary in length and diameter Bigger axon = faster behavioral responses

Can evolution happen within our own life times (can we observe it happening over time)?

Yes, microevolution

Exposure to hormones after birth:

Young tree lizards given high dose of progesterone and testosterone become territorial, while lizards given low does become satellite males Satellites exposed to more corticosterone (stress hormone) became nomadic Satellites exposed to less corticosterone became sedentary

Why are dendrites branched?

branched to receive multiple signals at once

How is h2 calculated in a truncation selection experiment?

h2 = R/S S = Selection pressure R = response to selection

What is the limitation of using a phylogenetic tree? Why do they need to be updated every now and then?

represents a hypothesis of how things may have evolved