Animal Behavior Exam 1

Behavior

Behavior

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

What influences behavior?

Behavior is shaped by powerful selective forces and plasticity that allows individual learning. This helps optimize an individual's fitness and shapes species' life histories over time.

Ethology

study of an animal’s behavior in its natural environment. It focuses on what animals do, how and why they do it, and is observational, descriptive, mechanistic, and rooted in evolution.

Behaviorism

study of behavior linked by conditioning—a simple form of learning to generate behavior. It is often experimental and has roots in psychology.

Behavioral ecology

studies how behavior evolves in relation to ecological conditions, such as physical and social environments.

sociobiology

scientific study of the biological, ecological, and evolutionary aspects of social behavior in animals and humans.

conservation behavior

the application of animal behavior knowledge to solve wildlife conservation problems.

natural selection

process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Adaptation

change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment.

How is natural selection related to instinct

Natural selection favors animals that leave the most offspring, often influencing instinctual behaviors that enhance survival and reproduction.

How is adaptation related to behavior

Adaptation is as much behavioral as it is morphological and physiological.

Consciousness

state of being awake and aware of one’s surroundings.

Cognition

mental ability to separate oneself from the moment, contemplate the past and future, and adjust present actions.

What is the difference between consciousness and cognition

Consciousness is about awareness, while cognition is about knowing and thinking. Both are used as measures of animal intelligence.

Anthropomorphism

attributing human traits or emotions to animals, such as inferring an animal's mental state from its behavior based on what a human would feel.

Umwelt

refers to understanding the sensory-perceptual world of an organism—the unique world that each individual inhabits.

Innate behavior

automatic, hereditary, and does not require conscious thought. It is triggered by specific stimuli and is performed the same way every time.

Learned behavior

comes from experience or teaching. It generally improves with practice and helps individuals respond better to specific situations.

Timbergen’s 4 questions

1. What is the mechanism that produces a behavior? (causation)

2. How does a behavior develop? (ontogeny)

3. What is the survival value of a behavior?

4. How did the behavior evolve from an ancestral state?

Fixed action pattern

innate and coordinated patterning of muscle movements which proceed to completion when released

Supernormal stimuli

inherently unnatural stimuli that triggers a release in a behavior

Double-blind experimentation

neither the subject or experimenter know the correct response

mRNA

Messenger ribonucleic acid- transport of nucleotide coding for a protein to the ribosome and synthesizing a protein

Gene

sequence of nucleotides in DNA forming part of chromosome; unit of heredity

Allele

alternative forms of a gene

Genotype

genetic constitution of an individual organism; sum total of all the alleles at all the loci in an organism

Phenotype

outward manifestation of a trait- actual behavior, morphology, physiology

Neural system

• collect info and organize response

• all behavior is organized by nervous system-physiological key to animal behavior

• where learning meets genetics

Endocrine system

• chemical messengers of the body

• transmit signals from glands to organs via body fluids

• long-term regulation

• short-term response

• hormone mothership-hypothalamus + pituitary gland

3 interacting components of the Neuro-endocrine system

1. sensory input system

2. central nervous system &/or endocrine system

3. output systems (e.g. muscles)

Resting potential

electrical difference between inside/outside of a nerve cell when no pulse is being transmitted

Action potential

wave of cell membrane depolarization triggered by release of neurotransmitter from synaptic terminals

Afferent (sensory) neurons

neurons that carry signals from a receptor organ at the periphery toward the CNS

Efferent (motor) neurons

axons that carry signals from the CNS to muscles and glands (making use of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine)

Interneurons

interactive mid-way neurons that process the sensory inputs and determine the motor response

CNS

concentration of key elements of the nervous system where incoming information is organized, prioritized, and translated to decisions

Neuroethology

study of neural mechanisms of natural behaviors

Johnston’s Organ

auditory organ in many insect species

Algesiometry

measurement of pain in humans and animals

Nociceptor

sensory neuron that responds to damaging or potentially damaging stimuli by sending “possible treat” signals to the CNS

AWA

regulates the treatment of animals in research, teaching, testing, exhibition, and transportation that is enforced by USDA, APHIS, and IACUC

3 R’s of Animal Welfare

Refinement, Replacement, Reduction

Refinement

methods that minimize or alleviate potential pain and distress and enhance animal well-being (e.g. reducing handling time, alternatives to blood sampling, limiting activities during sensitive life history moments) MOST IMPORTANT TO WILDLIFE RESEARCH

Replacement

methods that replace or avoid the use of animals. examples include the use of alternatives methods or the replacement of higher-order animals such as mammals with “lower” animals

Reduction

methods that obtain comparable levels of info from the use of fewer animals; or, more information from a given number of animals so that fewer animals are needed to complete a research project

Humane Endpoint

a predetermined early indicator or symptom that precedes more severe suffering

Animal Rights

belief that animals have the right to live as they choose, without being used by humans for their own benefit

What is the mechanism that produces a behavior

proximate (genes)

How did the behavior evolve from an ancestral state?

Ultimate (genes)

Proximate

the immediate cause/current behavioral mechanism

Ultimate

long-term cause/evolutionary history

Conditions for Natural Selection

1. There is variation among individuals within populations

2. Variation is “heritable”

3. Variation leads to differences in survival and reproduction among individuals in the population (i.e. variable fitness)

Heritability

proportion of phenotypic variation explained by genetic variation

Adaptation

changes (physiological, behavioral) brought about by the process of natural selection

Evolution

change in the frequencies of different alleles in a population of organisms over generations

Polygenic behavior

takes many genes working in coordination to generate a specific behavior

Stabilizing selection

selective pressure toward average phenotype

Directional selection

selective pressure toward one extreme

Disruptive selection

selective pressure toward differential extremes

Artificial Selection

process of humans deliberately choosing certain varieties of an organism over others by implementing breeding programs that favor such varieties

biological rhythms

behavioral or physiological attribute that changes over time on a predictable cycle

circadian rhythm

behavioral or physiological attribute that changes over time on a predictable cycle

circannual rhythm

seasonal biorhythm often tied to “biological clocks” (hibernation, migration, etc.)

circalunidian rhythm

biorhythm tied to 28-29 day cycle of moon (intertidal organisms)

Spring tide

sun and moon gravitational field aligns (full or new moon)

neap tide

moon and sun at right angles (quarter moon)

Suprachiasmatic Nuclei (SCN)

region of brain in hypothalamus in mammals, closely linked to endocrine system and master control of biological clock

trophic mismatch

when 2 interacting species from different trophic levels show different responses to climate change