BI407 Animal Behavior - Introduction

animal behavior

the study of what animals do, how they do it, and why

Tinbergen’s definition of animal behavior

the total movements made by the intact animal

Davis’s definition of animal behavior

what an animal (or plant) does

Beck’s and Levitis’s definition of animal behavior

animal behavior is any internally coordinated, externally visible pattern of activity that responds to changing internal or external conditions

internally coordinated behavior

involves internal processes: hormones, neurotransmitters, sensory systems

externally visible behavior

behavior must be observable and measurable

responsive to changing conditions behavior

behaviors adjust to internal or external stimuli

example of internally coordinated behavior

male giraffes’ aggression during breeding season

example of externally visible behavior

squirrel eating an acorn

example of responsive to changing conditions behavior

birds vocalize in response to day length and temperature

classical schools of behavioral studies

ethology (nature) vs. behaviorism (nurture)

ethology

study of largely innate behavior in its natural habitat

ethology focus

focus on how mechanisms respond to changes in stimuli

important figures in ethology

Tinbergen, von Frisch, Lorenz

behaviorism

study of learning by observing animals in a controlled lab setting

behaviorism focus

focus on observable events that lead to modifications of behavior

important figures in behaviorism

Pavlov, Skinner

ethogram

a description and complete behavioral inventory of behavior

instinctive behaviors

actions under strong genetic control

fixed action pattern

invariant, unlearned, and once initiated, carried to completion

releasers

specific stimuli causing responses of fixed action patterns

proximate cause

the immediate, mechanistic causes of a process

ultimate origin

the causes that led the process to evolve

Tinbergen’s four questions

mechanism, development/ontogeny, current utility or adaptive function, evolutionary history

Tinbergen’s four questions proximate

mechanism and development/ontogeny

Tinbergen’s four questions ultimate

current utility or adaptive function and evolutionary history

Tinbergen’s four questions mechanism

how neuronal-hormonal mechanisms control behavior in real time

Tinbergen’s four questions development/ontogeny

how genes and the environment shape behavior

Tinbergen’s four questions current utility or adaptive function

how a behavior increases survival and/or reproduction

Tinbergen’s four questions evolutionary history

the phylogenetic history of a behavior

phylogenetic constraints

options are limited by physiology and morphology inherited from common ancestor

time budget

total and relative time spent in each behavior

measuring behavior

behaviors must be measurable and recognizable by independent observers

hypothesis testing

alternative methods to study animal behavior

hypothesis testing types

observational, experimental, comparative

observational method

involves recording behavior without manipulating animals or their environment

observational method uses

describe behaviors, test hypotheses in both captive and wild settings

experimental method

involves manipulating one or more variables in a controlled setting to determine cause-and-effect relationship in behavior

experimental method uses

test specific hypotheses about behavioral responses, identify causal relationships between environmental cues and behavior

major goal of behavioral ecology

understanding the evolutionary origins of behavior, its phylogenetic history

comparative method

involves comparing behavior across related species to understand how it evolved

comparative method uses

determine whether behaviors are ancestral or derived, identify traits that are adaptive, map traits onto phylogeny to infer evolutionary history

comparative method relies on

a well-supported phylogenetic tree, comparative behavioral data, assumes that shared ancestry and divergence help explain behavioral patterns

phylogenetics

focuses on uncovering the patterns of evolutionary relatedness among (extant and extinct) different species

phylogenetic correlation

due to common ancestry

ecological correlation

convergence due to natural selection

homology

a shared character state that has been inherited from a common ancestor

homoplasy

a shared but independently derived character