Intro Bio Unit 3 Exam Prep. *not done

ch 51, 22, and 23 *not done

How is behavior defined? Why are behaviors subject to natural selection?

• An action carried out by muscles under control of the nervous system in response to a stimulus

• Behaviors are subject to natural selection because they are essential for survival and reproduction

What did Nicholas Tinbergen find when studying animal behavior?

• Nicholas Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behavior and his work with the stickleback fish is a classic study.

• Tinbergen found that the color red is a sign stimulus triggering a fixed action pattern (FAP) of aggressive behavior in male stickleback fish

What is migration?

• A regular, long-distance change in location

What is a circadian clock?

• A circadian clock is an internal mechanism that maintains a 24-hour activity rhythm or cycle.

What are circadian rhythms? Identify two behaviors, either plant or animal, that demonstrate a circadian rhythm.

• A circadian rhythm is the output of a circadian clock, a daily cycle of rest and

activity with far-reaching effects on behavioral physiology.

Ex: The sleep cycle of humans using melatonin and the amount of sunlight throughout the day; The opening of the morning glory flowers (open in AM, close in PM)

What are two strategies birds use to migrate?

1. Track their position relative to the sun

• Adjust to changes in the sun’s position relative to Earth via circadian clock

• Circadian clock = Mechanism that measures 24 hr day cycles

2. Using the North Star

• Used by nocturnal animals

• Ex: Pigeons who use their position relative to Earth’s magnetic fields and are thus able to navigate without solar or celestial clues

Provide examples for how animals communicate with each other.

1. Male and female fruit flies communicate during courtship using visual, chemical, tactile, and auditory signals.

• The male recognizes the female visually, detects her chemical cues, taps her abdomen, and vibrates his wings to produce a species‑specific song that signals readiness to mate

2. Visual communication

• Returning bees perform a dance like a “waggle dance” or a “round dance” to communicate to the rest of the hive where food is located.

• “Round dance” = Leave to search for food

• “Waggle dance” = Communicates direction and distance of food

3. Chemical

• Ex: Minnows and catfish, when injured, release a substance from their skin that induces a fright response in other fish.

4. Fruit fly communicate using visual, chemical, tactile, auditory cues.

What are pheromones? What information can be transmitted through pheromones?

• Pheromones are chemical substances emitted by animals that are used to communicate through odors or taste with members of their own species.

• They transmit information about sex, social order, and alarm signals.

What is the difference between innate and learned behavior? Provide an example of each.

• Innate behavior → Developmentally fixed / “born with” and nearly all individuals in a population will exhibit virtually the same behavior despite internal and environmental differences during development and throughout life.

Ex: Pheremone signaling; A baby crying when it’s hungry or tired; Pulling your hand back from hot stove

• Learned behavior is variable and depends life experience.

Ex: Riding a bike; Learning a language

How do innate and learned behaviors increase an organism’s fitness?

• Fitness = An organism’s chances to survive, reproduce (and pass its genes on to the next generation)

• Innate behaviors like pheromone signals are released by an organism and detected by potential mates, increasing chances of reproduction.

• Learned behaviors like aggressiveness in mice ensure their reproductive success by establishing clear boundaries for mating territories.

Describe the process of imprinting. Explain what a sensitive / critical period is.

• Imprinting is the formation at a specific stage in life of a long-lasting behavioral response to a particular individual or object.

• Imprinting is distinguished from other types of learning by having a sensitive period or a a critical period - a limited developmental phase when this type of learning can occur.

• During the sensitive period, the young imprint on their parent and learn the basic behaviors of their species, while the parent learns to recognize its offspring.

Describe the classic study of parental imprinting done by Konrad Loren

• Lorenz found that when incubator-hatched goslings spent their first few hours with him rather than with a goose, they imprinted on him and showed no recognition of their mother or of adults of their own species.

What special challenges did researchers face in order to return captive-raised whooping cranes to the wild?

• Scientists tried raising whooping cranes in captivity using sand hill cranes as foster parents, which didn’t work because the whooping cranes imprinted on their foster parents so they did not form a pair-bond (a strong attachment) with a whooping crane mate.

• To avoid this, captive breeding programs must isolate cranes and expose them to sights and sounds of members of their own species.

• Additionally, people who work with captive whooping cranes have to wear “crane suits” to prevent imprinting them.

What are the different kinds of learning?

2 Main kinds of learning:

1. Spatial learning

2. Associative learning

What is spatial learning? Provide an example.

• An animal establishes a memory that reflects the environment’s spatial environment.

• Ex: A mouse making it’s way through a maze faster after doing it multiple times

What is associative learning? Provide an example.

• The ability to associate one environmental feature (ex: color) with another (ex: foul taste)

• Allows individuals to predict future events and adapt their behavior based on the past / outside information.

• Ex: Pavlov's Dog → A dog hears a bell (neutral stimulus) right before receiving food (unconditioned stimulus). Over time, the dog learns to associate the sound of the bell with food and begins to salivate at the sound alone

Monarch butterflies pupate on milkweed plants, and their caterpillars and adults incorporate toxic compounds from these plants. If a blue jay feeds on a monarch butterfly, it will vomit almost immediately. There is a monarch mimic - the viceroy butterfly - what does associative learning predict will be a blue jay’s response?

The blue jay will most likely avoid the mimic

What are the types of associative learning?

Two types:

1. Classical conditioning

2. Operant conditioning

Describe classical conditioning used by Ivan Pavlov with dogs.

• There are two types of associative learning: Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning.

• Pavlov used classical conditioning to get a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell. In this case an arbitrary stimulus became associated with a particular outcome because he always rang a bell just before feeding the dog.

• The dog would eventually salivate when the bell sounded, anticipating food.

How is classical conditioning different from operant conditioning?

What is cognition? Give three examples of cognition in animal species, including at least one bird behavior among them.

Many bird songs are learned during a sensitive period. What will happen if a white-crowned sparrow does not hear the song of its species during this time?

Describe an example of social learning.

What is foraging behavior?

What is proposed by the optimal foraging model? Explain it in terms of cost and benefit and cite two examples from your text.

To demonstrate that you understand the principle of optimal foraging, describe a food source that you would not be likely to exploit and explain why.

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