PSYC 311, TEST 1
What are 3 common types of experiences that lead to learning?
-Single stimulus - response to neutral/arbitrary stimulus -Stimulus-stimulus -response-reinforcer
How does training affect aggression in male blue gourami fish?
Blue gourami males that are trained to associate a cue (light) with an intruder are more aggressive in actual battles/contests. Males that won in contest 1 were more likely to win in contest 2 than were males that had lost in contest 1.
Selective breeding of wild-caught foxes resulted in changes in both behavior and appearance across generations. What are some examples of such changes?
Changes in Appearance- -9th generation: Floppy ears, instead of pricking up soon after birth, ears stay floppy up to three months. Color variation, first kits born with spotted fur and star pattern on forehead. -13th generation: Curly tail, untamed foxes' tails point downwards, tamed ones' curl up upon seeing humans. -15th generation: Shorter tail, rarely, vertebrae are shorter, thicker, and fewer in number. Changes in behavior- -2nd generation: became more approachable, aggressive response to humans started to disappear. -4th generation: Tail wagging, some kits (pups) wag tails and approach humans voluntarily. Petting, kits whimper and allow themselves to be petted and carried by humans. -6th generation: Full affinity, when letting out of cage, friendliest kits follow humans and lick them
When a natural unconditioned response becomes associated with a conditioned stimulus, what is it called?
Conditioned response
Which type of trait involves convergent evolution?
Convergent Evolution- convergent evolution is the process whereby organisms not closely related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches. Answer: Analogous trait
How does the case study of damselfly larvae and antipredator behavior allow us to distinguish between behavior that is innate (inherited) and behavior that is learned?
Damselflies in groups 1 and 2 in the second experiment had learned to associate pike plus the scent of any potential prey with danger, and this association translated into a reduced foraging rate even when they encountered the scent of pike and mealworm.
What triggers spine formation in the sea mat?
When colonies of the sea mat are exposed to chemical stimuli from a predator, individuals in these colonies grow a spine.
What did the transplantation experiment show about how quickly natural selection can act on antipredator behavior in guppies (i.e. does it take thousands of years or several generations?)
When tested, these fish showed antipredator behavior similar to that of their ancestors from the original high-predation site in the Arima River. One possible explanation is that the original colonizers spread fast, and since their antipredator behavior was beneficial when they reached high-predation sites in the Turure River, natural selection simply maintained such behavior. A more tantalizing, but to date untested hypothesis, is that the Arima River fish and their descendants colonized their new habitat at a much slower rate. If this were the case, natural selection may have shifted the colonizers and early descendants one way—toward the norm for low-predation sites—and then, later on, shifted the late descendants back in the opposite direction—toward the norm for fish from high-predation sites.
Theoretical approach
a basic image of society that guides thinking and research
What is phenotypic plasticity?
Is the ability of an organism to produce different phenotypes depending on environmental conditions.
Why do painted redstarts show flushing behavior if it is not learned?
It's actually a fixed genetic response rather than a learning behavior.
In honeybees, what hormone causes the shift from in-hive worker to forager? What effect does removal of hormone's gland (corpus allatum) have on foraging behavior?
Juvenile hormone III
How does the sex of the tested pairs of rats affect the level of aggression observed? [Does aggression differ when same-sex pairs are compared to opposite-sex pairs?]
More aggression with same-sex pairs as opposed to opposite-sex pairs
What effect does day length have on testosterone levels and reproductive behavior in male birds?
More daylight=More testosterone=more reproductivity
How does predation pressure affect group size, number of offspring, and offspring size in guppies?
Most guppy studies use fish from the Northern Mountains of Trinidad and Tobago. In many of these streams, guppies can be found both upstream and downstream of a series of waterfalls. These waterfalls act as a barrier to many of the guppies' predators. Upstream of waterfalls, guppies are typically under only slight predation pressure from one small species of fish; in contrast, downstream of the waterfalls, populations of guppies are often under severe predation pressure from numerous piscine (fish) predators. High-predation and low-predation sites in the same streams are often only kilometers apart, but there is little gene flow between high- and low-predation sites, so if the type of predators differ dramatically based on site, then natural selection should favor different traits in upstream and downstream guppy populations. And indeed, between-population comparisons in guppies have found differences with respect to many traits, including antipredator behavior, color, number of offspring in each clutch, size of offspring, aging patterns, and age at reproduction. Recent genomewide genetic scans of guppies from many sites have found "genetic signatures" indicative of natural selection favoring different sets of alleles linked to behavioral traits at high- and low-predation sites. Using a combination of field and laboratory experiments, David Reznick and his colleagues have found that guppies from high-predation sites mature faster, produce more broods of smaller offspring, and tend to channel their resources to reproduction when compared to guppies from low-predation sites. Why? At high-predation sites, guppy predators tend to be much larger and can eat a guppy no matter how large the guppy gets. At such sites, producing many smaller fish should be favored in guppies, as this is akin to buying lots of lottery tickets and hoping that one is a winner. At low-predation sites, only a single small fish predator (Rivulus hartii) of guppie exists. If guppies can get past a certain size threshold, they are safe from R. hartii.
In honeybees, what nervous system structure is important for foraging behavior?
Mushroom bodies
What are the 3 foundations of ethology?
Natural Selection: Increased frequency of particular trait → ensures survival and fitness Individual Learning: Single organism affects behavior based on experiences Cultural Transmission/ Social Learning: Communication
Who are the three fathers of modern ethology?
Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907-1988): From the Netherlands, focused on birds, bees, and fish Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989): From Austria, focused on imprinting with geese Karl von Frisch (1886-1982): From Austria, focused on honeybees
Which vole species shows sex differences in the size of this brain structure?
No difference
What are 4 important things that animals learn about?
Predators Mates Family aggression
Tinbergen's 4 types of questions can be categorized into 2 types of analyses; what are they and what does each refer to in terms of factors that can shape behavior?
Proximate Analysis: Immediate cause (mechanistic and developmental) Ultimate Analysis: Evolutionary forces (survival value and evolutionary/phylogenetic)
How does the hot dog example of scavenging in rats illustrate between-generation as well as within-generation transfer of learning?
Read above: Gen 1 is within-generation and Gen 2 is between-generation
What effect does removal of hormone's gland (corpus allatum) have on foraging behavior?
Removal results in slowed shift to foraging
What type of analysis is applied to building the simplest tree that accounts for existing data?
Researchers have developed a number of techniques to handle the problem of distinguishing between possible phylogenetic trees. The most common of these techniques is parsimony analysis. The concept of parsimony is most often associated with the ideas of a fourteenth-century philosopher named William of Ockam (sometimes spelled Occam), who argued that "entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity." This concept is now referred to as Ockam's razor, and within evolutionary biology it has been taken to mean that the phylogenetic tree that requires the least number of evolutionary changes is the most likely to be correct.
How does the background (predator-rich vs. predator-free) of naïve (inexperienced) offspring of stickleback fish influence learning about food and predators?
Researchers only discovered interpopulational differences with respect to learning and antipredator behaviors in the behavioral scenario in which they hypothesized natural selection was operating-in learning to avoid areas associated with danger.
What is the relationship between hormones, glands, and target cells (i.e. what do glands and target cells do?)?
The endocrine system is made up of glands (specialized organs) that secrete hormones (chem. Messengers that affect target cells) into the bloodstream (vertebrates) or extracellular fluid (invertebrates) to target cells (receptors)
Why was singing behavior dangerous for male field crickets? What strategy do non-singing males use to find females?
The parasitic flies are the reason for the danger of using their song. To find females they had other "songs" they would u
How do the concepts of direct and indirect fitness apply to a female monkey and her two daughters?
Direct: Mom → offspring Indirect: Offspring → offspring OR mom
How does the example of novel object approach time in ravens illustrate 2 of these prerequisites?
The raven illustrates 2 of the prerequisites through variation of the trait and fitness consequences of the trait. Ravens that are reluctant to approach novel objects may add fewer new food items to their diet and hence have relatively low reproductive success. However, ravens that approach novel objects quickly may add new food items to their diet and hence have relatively high reproductive success.
What is Thorndike's law of effect?
Thorndike suggested that "responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation"
What testing apparatuses did Thorndike (book & video clip) and Skinner use for their instrumental conditioning studies?
Thorndike used a puzzle box. Skinner used a skinner box
Are all forms of learning considered phenotypic plasticity?
yes
How did the demonstrator rat's diet influence the observer rat's food preference? In other words, if the demonstrator ate cocoa-flavored food, did the observer also prefer cocoa-flavored food?
-"Demonstrator" goes out and finds new food source and then smells like this food source. They then go back to the colony and the "Observers" smell the odor. If Demonstrator is given cocoa, observer picks cocoa a majority of the time. -If the demonstrator ate cinnamon-flavored food, how did the observer like cocoa-flavored food? [Make sure you know the difference between the "demonstrator" rat and the "observer" rat.] ..If the demonstrator was given cinnamon, the observers did not prefer that compared to if the demonstrator was given cocoa.
What are 2 general types of effects that hormones can have on animals and their behavior? Give an example of each.
-Activational: short-term effects (in adulthood) Testosterone makes males more likely to be aggressive -Organizational: long-term effects (during development) Males surrounded by girls act more feminized, females around guys more masculine as adults
How does parental investment relate to the ability to learn about mates in different animal species? Consider the parenting strategies of Japanese quail, blue gourami fish, and Mongolian gerbils.
-Level of parental investment is correlated with ability to learn about potential mates (ex: location of opposite sex) -For animals with low parental investment by males, males show greater learning ability (need females to provide investment) -For animals with equal parental investment, learning ability of males and females is similar. -Ex: japanese quail (low), blue gourami (equal), and mongolian gerbil (equal)
The study of plumage coloration (feather color) in the house finch demonstrates analysis from proximate (how? what?) and ultimate (why?) perspectives. For male and female finches, what determines plumage coloration? What contributes to differences between males and females?
-Male plumage brightness depends on amount of carotenoid color pigment eaten via different plants -Female plumage brightness depends on differential availability of pigment-containing foods -Differences between males and females depends on differences in foraging strategies: Males seek out pigment-containing food whereas females do not
Paper wasps are similar to what 2 groups of vertebrate animals in that they exhibit facial learning?
-Primates and rodents. -Primate signals - visual, auditory, tactile -Rodent signals - tactile, visual, smell-taste
What are the characteristics of the 2 main hormone types?
-Protein/Peptide: made from amino acids, water-soluble -Steroid: made from cholesterol, fat soluble
What is the evidence for this learning?
-Recognition of the churr call -Churr call is likely to be learned: Parents and young sound similar Cross-fostered unrelated young sound like adoptive parents Related young raised apart sound different
Know the African wild dog example of how natural selection might influence hunting strategy (individual vs. group hunting).
-To see this, let's examine how natural selection might have favored "pack hunting" behavior in wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). Modern wild dogs tend to hunt in packs of ten individuals, but what would a hypothetical scenario for the evolution of the trait "hunt in packs" look like -In our wild dogs hunting scenario, suppose that in the evolutionary past, individuals that hunted as part of a group got more meat, on average, than wild dogs that hunted alone, and that the more food a wild dog took in, the more offspring it could produce (Figure 2.5). If wild dogs that prefer to hunt in groups produce offspring that also like to hunt in groups, this behavioral variant will increase in frequency over time, helping us to understand why modern wild dogs display this behavior. This increase will occur even if group-hunting behavior produces only a very slight advantage in terms of the number of offspring an individual raises. To see why, we need to think about the implication of small fitness differences that are magnified over long periods of time; that is, we need to conceptualize natural selection in terms of an evolutionary time frame.
Know the two examples of natural selection presented in lecture:
1) Loss of singing in male crickets (Marlene Zuk): It became harder to track male Pacific field crickets in Hawaii based on their singing. There was a change of their wing structure found (which is responsible for the singing). There is a parasitic fly attracted to their song that laid eggs in them and killed them. This may have caused them to evolve to longer have a song. 2) Xenophobia in common mole rats: They inhabit either arid and dry areas, or mesic and wet. Does their reaction to strangers have to do with where they inhabit? Arid environment mole rats had the highest level of rejection (probably because of lack of resources, food and water may be more scarce leading them to fend more for food). In mixed sex pairs, overall less rejection and aggression because of desire for genetic diversity.
Know the examples of cultural transmission presented in lecture:
1) Scavenging or foraging in rats (cocoa vs. cinnamon; hot dog). How does cultural transmission differ from individual learning? [Hint: What is social learning? Which process allows for between-generation transfer of learning?] -Model of Cultural Transmission: Demonstrator goes out and eats a hot dog. Generation 1 observers smell the demonstrator. Rat pups (Gen 2) smell the Gen 1 rats after Gen 1 eats hot dogs. Then Gen 2 starts eating hot dogs.
Know the two examples of individual learning presented in lecture:
1) The model for learning involving female birds choosing males for high reproductive fitness: If a female produces 1 egg with Male 1, 4 eggs with Male 2, and 2 eggs with Male 3, she should choose Male 2 because it yields the highest amount of eggs and is associated with the highest chance of survival for her genetics. 2) Foraging in grasshoppers: Visual and olfactory cues were consistently paired with nutritionally balanced or nutritionally unbalanced diets in the learning treatment. In the random treatment, the cues are not consistently paired with either diet. With the consistent cues, they began to learn to find the balanced diet. Additionally, the growth rates for the grasshoppers in the learning treatment were significantly higher than in the random treatment.
Know the 2 examples of adaptation:
1) antipredator behavior in guppies Two components of antipredator behavior—called shoaling and predator inspection—have been studied in great detail by animal behaviorists. Shoaling, or swimming together in a group (also referred to as schooling), is a measure of group cohesiveness, whereas predator inspection behavior refers to the tendency for individuals to move toward a predator to gain various types of information. Because research from many fish species has found that swimming in large groups provides more protection from predators than swimming in small groups, many ethologists have hypothesized that guppies from high-predation sites would shoal more tightly, and in greater numbers, than guppies from low- predation sites. The data from the field are in line with this prediction. Furthermore, guppies from high-predation sites inspect a predator more cautiously, but more often, than their low-predation counterparts. This difference, too, is likely the result of contrasting natural selection pressures at high- and low-predation sites—inspecting a threat cautiously, but frequently, should be more strongly favored in areas of high versus low predation. 2) cooperative behavior/eusociality in naked mole rats. These small, hairless rodents of tropical Africa display eusociality, an extreme form of sociality that is present in many social insect groups. Naked mole rats were the first vertebrates discovered to display the three characteristics associated with this extreme form of sociality, namely: 1- A reproductive division of labor in which individuals in certain castes reproduce and individuals in other castes do not. 2- Overlapping generations, such that individuals of different generations are alive at the same time. 3- Communal care of young.
Know the 2 examples of hormones affecting behavior by 2 different stimuli:
1) environmental stress in Magellanic penguins 2) day length in birds.
Know the 2 examples of population comparisons that demonstrate effects of natural selection on learning:
1) foraging tasks in Zenaida doves -More birds from the group living population surpassed the "learning criteria" for foraging tasks than did birds that had lived alone (territorial population). 2) predator avoidance in stickleback fish. -8 fish were tested from each high and low predation population. Fish from areas of high predation learned to avoid an area associated with predation more quickly than fish from low predation areas.
Know the 2 examples of phenotypic plasticity that do not involve learning:
1) spine formation in the sea mat Sea mats produce spines when predators are present. In absence of predators, sea mats do not produce spines. 2) flushing behavior in the painted redstart. Painted redstart birds flap their wings and tail under branches and "flush" insects out to eat. Birds reared in the lab also show "flushing" behavior.
Two learning theories dealing with a cost-benefit perspective are:
1) trade-off between learning and lifespan (i.e. can have one at the cost of the other) 2) predictability or stability in the environment within-lifetime and between- generation influences balance between learning and genetically determined responses.
Know the 2 real-world examples of artificial selection presented in lecture and video clips:
1) tumbler pigeons "Tumble" as they fall while flying 2) "domesticated" silver foxes. Foxes used in Siberia to generate fur. A scientist bred the foxes to try and understand tameness.
What are the 3 main prerequisites for the study of natural selection?
1- Variation in the trait: different varieties of the trait. 2- Fitness consequences of the trait: different varieties of the trait must affect reproductive success differently. 3- A mode of inheritance: a means by which the trait is passed on to the next generation.
With regards to Pavlovian conditioning, what are the 2 general types of stimuli and conditioning that are possible?
2 types of stimuli are: -Appetitive - positive, pleasant (food, mate, safety) -Aversive - negative, unpleasant (shock, bad smell) 2 types of conditioning are: -Excitatory - first stimulus predicts second stimulus (positive relationship) -Inhibitory - first stimulus does not predict second stimulus (negative relationship)
How is parental care in Mongolian gerbils affected by in utero position? [Hint: Uterine positions result in different circulating testosterone levels of developing embryos.]
2F males have a lower level of male-typical behaviors Less aggressive Less sexual activity
What is the difference between a homologous trait and an analogous trait?
A homology is a trait shared by two or more species because those species shared a common ancestor. For example, all female mammals produce milk for their young, and they all possess this homologous trait because mammals share a common ancestor that produced milk. Analogous trait shared by more than one species but not due to common ancestor. (Ex: wings)
Which prerequisite is illustrated by colony size/nesting preference in cliff swallows?
A mode of inheritance: a means by which the trait is passed on to the next generation. The idea here is simple. Parents pass on genes to their offspring, so when narrow-sense heritability is high, the behavioral variation in the offspring should map onto the behavioral variation observed in parents. The greater the role environmental variance—differences between the environments experienced by parents and offspring in relation to diet, location, and so forth— plays in determining variance in behavior, the lower the heritability of that behavior.
For the purposes of this course, how is learning defined?
A relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience
Empirical approach
A study conducted via careful observations and scientifically based research. Making observations and hypothesizing.
How do arid (dry) and mesic (moist) environments affect xenophobic behavior in common mole rats? [Hint: How is aggression affected?]
Arid is more aggressive because of fending for food, whereas the mesic mole rats have plenty of resources available.
What was the task used to test paper wasps for facial learning?
Associating shock/no shock with visual cue Sheehan and Tibet took individual wasps and exposed them to facial images of two other (stimulus) wasps. One of the pictures was paired with an electric shock while the other was not. The researchers learned whether the wasps learned to avoid the facial image associated with the electric shock, and how quickly they learned. Results show that wasps were able to pair a specific facial image with the electric shock. Wasps were not able to pair image of stimulus wasps that lacked antennae, or the faces on these pictures had been artificially rearranged with an electric shock. So, only intact faces produced learning. Wasps were also not capable to pairing geometric patterns with an electric shock.
What are 3 different approaches used to study ethology?
Empirical approach Conceptual approach Theoretical approach
Why do males seek out pigment-containing food (i.e. what are the benefits of brighter plumage?)?
Females prefer brighter plumage
In the herding dog model for artificial selection, how might the proportion of good herders change across generations?
First, we would begin our breeding program by choosing the individuals that are already closest to our ideal herding dog—that is, those that behaved the way we wanted our dogs to behave. We could determine which male and female collies were best at herding sheep and keeping flocks safe, and then preferentially breed those individuals. That is, in every generation we would sort the dogs we had, choose those that met our breeding criteria (herding ability) and allow them the chance to mate, while denying breeding opportunities to those dogs that failed to meet our criteria. With each new generation of dogs, we would repeat this process, producing individuals that were coming closer and closer to our ideal dog variety. Eventually we would recognize that we were as close as we were ever going to get to our ideal herding dog.
How does living arrangement affect learning of foraging tasks in doves?
Group living doves are better learners due to differences in previous experiences and differences due to natural selection.
Know the difference between first order conditioning (the simple case involving one conditioned stimulus) and second order conditioning (involving 2 conditioned stimuli).
In first order conditioning: CS1 + US → CR; CS1 →CR Blue stick + cat odor → hiding; blue stick →hiding In second order conditioning: CS2 → CS1; CS2 → CR Yellow light → blue stick; yellow light → hiding
What happens during Pavlovian conditioning (i.e. what happens to a neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus?)?
In pavlovian conditioning, the rat subsequently learns to associate stimulus 1 (blue stick) with stimulus 2 (cat odor) and responds to stimulus 1 by climbing under the chip shavings in its cage as soon as the blue stick appears but before the odor is sprayed in
Kinship theory suggests that the more closely related individual organisms are, the more likely they are to show cooperation. How does eusociality in naked mole rats illustrate this?
Kinship theory suggests that the more genetically related individuals are, the more cooperation they will show with each other. Using this logic, Kern Reeve and his colleagues hypothesized that naked mole rats are very cooperative with others in their colony in part because they are close genetic relatives. Reeve and his colleagues found that because of very high levels of inbreeding—a result of mating between relatives—the average genetic relatedness in their colonies of naked mole rats was extremely high, as predicted by kinship theory (see Braude, 2000, for an alternative view). The exact value they came up with was an average relatedness of 0.81 within naked mole rat colonies. To put this number in some perspective, unrelated individuals have a value of 0 for this indicator, brothers score (on average) 0.5, and the most related of all individuals, identical twins, score 1.0 (Figure 2.20). Thus, naked mole rat individuals, on average, fall between normal siblings and identical twins on a relatedness scale, and they even lean toward the identical twins' side of the equation. The cooperative and altruistic behavioral adaptations seen in naked mole rats are then largely driven by the high degree of genetic relatedness seen within colonies.
How does the size of this structure vary between foragers and non-foragers and does it depend on the age of the bee?
Larger mushroom bodies in foragers, not due to age
What is learnability and what are the 3 types?
Learnability - ability to learn under certain conditions 3 types are: Overshadowing Blocking Latent inhibition
Spatial learning differs between prairie voles and meadow voles. How do these differences relate to home range size and spatial learning abilities of males and females? What brain structure is important for this type of learning?
Male meadow vole home ranges are 10x larger than female's (polygamous species) Male prairie voles are similar to the females (monogamous) hippocampus
Which species of vole has higher levels of vasopressin receptor in the brain? Is there an experimental way to change the behavior of male meadow voles?
Meadow voles Increasing V1a receptors
How do prairie voles and meadow voles differ in terms of their mating and reproductive behaviors (i.e. mating strategy, parental care)?
Meadow voles are more social=more babies due to increases of vasopressin
Nikolaas Tinbergen proposed that the study of animal behavior involves 4 types of questions? What are they?
Mechanistic: What stimuli elicits behavior? How does their physiology respond? Developmental: How does behavior change as they mature? How do influences on development affect behavior in adulthood? Survival Value: How does behavior affect reproduction and survival? Evolutionary/phylogenetic: Does behavior vary across phylogeny? When did behavior first appear?
What is instrumental conditioning?
Occurs when the response is made by an animal is reinforced (increased) by the presentation of a reward or the termination of an aversive stimulus, or when the response is suppressed (decreased) by the presentation of aversive stimulus or the termination of reward.
What hormone increases foraging behavior in honeybees? [Hint: It is similar in structure to the "fight or flight" hormone in vertebrates, noradrenaline.]
Octopamine
What antipredator behavior strategy do ducks and aquatic mammals share?
Only half of the brain is asleep at a time
Which visual stimuli resulted in facial learning (caterpillar, geometric pattern, rearranged wasp face, antenna-less wasp face, normal wasp face)?
Only intact faces produced learning so normal wasp face
What kind of association is made in this type of learning?
Operant conditioning
How do overshadowing, blocking, and latent inhibition affect learning (i.e. ability to make associations, respond to CS, etc.)?
Overshadowing affects learning because it causes a decreased response to one CS due to simultaneous presentation of a second CS during training. Presence of a second CS during training weakens the association between the first CS and the US. Blocking affects learning due to the prior association between a CS and US can interfere or block learning to associate a different CS with the same US. Response to a CS is weaker in animals that have made a previous association between the US and a different CS. Latent inhibition affects learning due to previous exposure to a stimulus with no consequence interferes with or inhibits an animal's ability to form associations with it.
Which species of paper wasps show facial learning: P. fuscatus or P. metricus?
P. fuscatas showed facial learning
Why do females seek out brightly-colored males (i.e. what are the benefits?)?
Pathogen resistance Better parental care Better foragers
What are 2 examples of single stimulus learning?
Sensitization - if they become more sensitized to the stimulus -Rat pays more attention each time Habituation - if they become less sensitized to the stimulus -Rat pays less attention each time
What effect does ecotourism stress have on penguin chicks?
Show higher levels of stress hormones
What happens to parental care in castrated male gerbils?
Spent more time with pups and in the nest
What are phylogenetic trees used for?
To study common ancestry, evolutionary biologists construct phylogenetic trees, which depict the evolutionary history of a group of species, genera, families, and so forth. These trees graphically depict the phylogeny of the groups of organisms in question. Can be used to trace common ancestry traits.
How does training affect antipredator behavior in hellbender salamanders? What type of training is used (Pavlovian? Instrumental?)?
Trained animals move more quickly in response to odor than untrained animals (odor but no alarm mucus). Classical conditioning (pavlovian)
How do the sonic muscles of type I fish differ from those of type II fish?
Type 1 males have bigger muscles, they are better singers
Two neurohormones are involved in the display of social and reproductive behavior in voles; what are they?
Vasopressin and Oxytocin Produced by nerve cells
From which type of approach did the concept of kin selection arise?
W.D. Hamilton Conceptual approach
How do long-tailed tits learn about family?
long -tailed tits often act as "helpers" for close genetic relatives (nest building, foraging, feeding chicks)
Are all forms of phenotypic plasticity considered learning?
no