IBIO 313 Exam 1

aggression

a trait that is heritable

function (4 questions)

adaptive function relevance to fitness/survival and natural selection

learning flexibility

adaptive modification at any life stage

radical behaviorism

all behavior is learned

phylogeny (4 questions)

ancestory/evolutionary history of behavior/decision-making

-learn about humans through studying animal models -labs give experimental control -learning -assumption-behavior develops through learning not instinct

animal psychology (4) early 20th century

The Umwelt concept

animals live in a species specific, subjective world (sensory data to internal world gives action to objects)

-salience of external stimuli -changes in internal state

classes of influence in motivation and behavior repertoires

behavioral flexibility

behavioral development changes over lifespan

phylogenetic evidence for nature

behavioral traits show similar patterns to other traits

key figures in ethology

Niko Tinbergen Konrad Lorenz Karl von Frisch Jakob von Uexkull Charles Darwin

genetics

how to explain variation in behavior based on age, sex, individual, etc

classical ethology

learned and instinctive

learning as instinct

learning attends to certain cues, not others (basic phenomenon)

developmental evidence for nature

many behavioral traits develop independent of experience

genes and environment, learned and instinctive

modern view of behavioral development

mutation screen

molecular genetic approach

traits can be in a state of compromise or reflect trade-offs (problems of imperfection)

consequences of behavior

cross-fostering

control environment

comparing relatives

control environment using 'common garden', take environment out of the mix, they grow up in the same environment

supernormal stimuli

different arrangement of color gave a better response (herring gull recognizing parent)

unexplained data

distance of dot from prediction line

natural selection

driver of adaptive evolutionary change, differential success of inherited variance, needs variation among members of same population, inheritance and differential 'success' correlating to phenotype

experiments in testing

used to rule out competing hypotheses and control confounding variables

physical mechanisms ontogeny

proximate questions (how)

artificial selection

selective breeding, needs some heritability to work, response to selection needs high heritability in order to have specific, goal offspring

-innate -automatically trigger/release an instinctive response

sign stimuli requirements (2)

species specificity

some species need to learn what their parent looks like (ducks and chickens)

humans see things/colors differently than other animals, our sensory worlds are not the same

the results of Karl von Frisch study of the unwelt concept (honeybees)

cue specificity

what stimuli can elicit the following and imprinting (movement, sound, size)

physiological causation (4 questions)

what stimuli is involved

-sexual selection -natural selection

which 2 forces result in adaptive evolutionary change?

Konrad Lorenz

who believed in classical ethology

Jakob von Uexkull

who came up with Umwelt concept

konrad lorenz

who studied imprinting

Karl von Frisch

who was the person who studied hoeybees and the umwelt concept

correlational approach to testing

infer effects on fitness

nature

-behavioral traits are stereotypes and species-specific -homology of anatomy and behavior

aspects of fixed action pattern

-extended sequences -stereotyped -species specific -elicited by simple stimulus -all or none fashion -in-born/innate -once begun, no sensory feedback needed

Charles Darwin

-first ethologist -continuity vs. diversity of form (evolution by process of 'descent with modification') -complexity and adaptation - 'design' (biological designs and natural selection)

motivation and behavioral repertoires

-relationship to 'decision-making'/'action selection' -salience of external stimuli -changes in internal state -ethogram is how they study animals

learning speed in honeybees and personality in dogs

2 examples of artificial selection

watson and skinner

2 people who believed in radical behaviorism

-fine-tuning behavior to environment -species differ at degree of flexibility -behavior has been shaped by natural selection

3 aspects of behavioral flexibility

-observed in Living organism -conditions for expression must be right -behavior is fluid, dynamic and vuariable

3 challenges with studying behavior

1. inferring causation from correlation 2. multiple causation 3. answering questions about the evolutionary past

3 things you can't do with hypotheses

-critical period/sensitive period -irreversibility -cue specificity -species specificity

4 constraints on imprinting

-genetic drift -mutation -gene flow -inbreeding

4 forces that are non-adaptive evolutionary change

-isolation -hybridization -compare relatives -heritability -artificial selection -cross-fostering

6 phenotypic genetic approaches

key figures in psychology

Ivan Pavlov Edward Thordike J.B. Watson B.F. Skinner

fixed action pattern (classical ethology) weird bird video

Konrad Lorenz hypothesized fundamental 'units' of behavior

1. observe patterns in nature 2. ask questions about patterns 3. formulate hypotheses (tentative answers to questions) 4. deduce predictions made by hypotheses 5. perform experiments or observations to test predictions

Scientific method (5 steps)

-physiological causation -ontogeny/development -phylogeny -function

Tinberg's Four Questions

logic of mutation screen genetic approach

cause mutations (x-ray, chemical) and screen for their effects

ontogeny/development (4 questions)

changes over life span of animal, learning/maturation

-studying animal for its own sake -natural behavior -natural environments -instinct -evolution of instincts

ethology (5) early 20th century

charles darwin vs george darwin (grandson)

example of comparing relatives genetic approach

cricket chirping, long calling dads give offspring with long calling, with some short calling

example of comparing relatives in 'common garden'

cliff swallows and their colony size, they preferred colony sizes they were born into, not raised in

example of cross-fostering

migratory direction

example of hybridization genetic approach

migratory direction in blackcaps, even handraised birds show preferred migratory direction

example of isolation genetic approach

flies with shock, test memory, dunce flies have wiped out learning ability

example of mutation screen genetic approach

imprinting

formation of an attachment by one animal on another, can be anything

nature vs. nurture

genes vs environment

you come up with predictions to the question you asked and then test them to try to falsify hypotheses

how are predictions used to test hypotheses?

hypotheses are tentative questions/plausible guess to an answer

how do hypotheses relate to questions?

experimental approach

hypothesis: song functions to defend territory -remove birds and replace with songs

goal of mutation screen genetic approach

identify specific genes that influence expression of behavior

learning as instinct (classic example)

imprinting, bird song, digger wasp spatial learning

hypotheses

in the form of a statement

heritability

measures strength of genetic effects, quantify relative similarities, leans more toward middle mark due to environment and genes both having an effect (regression toward the mean), correlation coefficient

filial imprinting

offspring imprints on parent

behavior as part of biology, comparative anatomy

original ethologists thought...

supernormal stimuli

oystercatcher prefers bigger/ostrich egg not its own, mechanisms evolutionary implications

some traits don't fossilize so you can't trace its evolutionary past (eyes)

problem with tracing evolutionary past

function

questions about adaptive value

it is just the color red that sets three-spined sticklebacks off/aggression

results of Niko Tinberg's experiment

homology

similarity because of a shared ancestry

homoplasy

similarity because of independent/convergent evolution

sign stimuli

simple stimulus that represents a meaningful social of ecological partner

trait-oriented

start with a trait, ask how that trait affects survival and reproduction

problem-oriented

start with challenges to survival and reproduction and ask what are the traits that enable the animal to solve problems

evolutionary change

successful individuals leave more offspring (more copies of their genes) changing population composition

directional selection

the mean shifts, ex. generation two is shifted towards faster moving animals

disruptive selection

the mean stays the same, polymorphism, there are two humps with a ditch in the middle

stabilizing selection

the mean stays the same, the population just becomes more concentrated around the mean

critical period/sensitive period

time window within which the model must be exposed to animal capable of imprinting (15 hrs posthatch)

mendelian inheritance

trait you are studying is influenced by a single genetic locus, not usually the case

polygenic inheritance

trait you are studying is influenced by more than one loci, most traits are like this, distributed as normal bell-curve

-imprinting -song development

two case studies of behavioral development

behavioral development and learning (adaptive behavioral flexibility at given life)

two forms of behavioral flexibility

patterns/puzzles we see (pattern) and causal processes/performances (process)

two types of questions

phylogeny function

ultimate questions (why)

-variation -inheritance -differential success

what 3 things does natural selection need?

the study of history and function

what are the so-called 'ultimate questions' about biological traits?

eyes

what is an example of a homologous trait in all vertebrates?

eyes

what is an example of homoplasy of mollusca and vertebrata

interaction between genes and environment

what is variation in behavior influenced by?

adaptation

why do animals do what they do?

trait-oriented examples

why do birds sing? why mostly males? why mostly in breeding season?