Animal Behavior Exam 2

learning

a change in behavior as a result of experience (happens during an animals life time, meaning longer living animals benefit more)

what 2 factors favor the evolution of learning

• regularity of the environment

• reliability of past experience

learning and memory are grounded in what two aspects

anatomy and physiology

memory

retention of learned experiences

what are synaptic connections in the brain

signals sent to communicate that happen through dendrite spines with varying strength and number

what was the experiment done to see if dendrite spines effect learning

mice log rolling experiment

what are the costs of memory

• brain size

• need energy to support it

• forgetfulness can maximize cost (think of the file space in your brain)

T or F: memory can be reinforced and consolidated

true

what are learning differences grounded in

genetics, complex multi gene character (experiment on rats show expression of different genes in fast and slower learning groups

imprinting

learning of a critical feature in the environment at a young age and the retention of this knowledge for later use (during critical period and involves parents, experiment with Konrad with his boots and geese)

habituation

loss of response to a stimulus when the stimulus repeatedly helps animals filter out unimportant info and happens at the receptor level or CNS

conditioning

associative learning where an association is made between two I stimuli or between an action and consequence (associates conditions and outcomes while increasing efficiency)

what are the 2 types of associative learning

classical and operant

classical conditioning

learning new associations between a stimulus and an innate or learned response

operant conditioning

learned associations between learned behaviors and outcomes such as trial and error learning

2 types of operant conditioning

reinforcement (a behavior becomes more likely due to the presentation or removal of a stimulus) and punishment (a behavior between less likely due to addition or removal of stimulus)

individual vs social learning

individual- involves acquiring information through an individuals own activities

social- involves learning by observing others and requires no special effort on the past of demonstrators

food patches and local enhancement

when animals look to other foraging individuals as a cue to the location of food/leads to public information (watching others dive in, seen in migration)

teaching

the active participation of an experienced individual in facilitating learning by a naive counterpart also known as pupil

behavioral traditions

behavioral differences among populations are transmitted from one generation to the next via sexual learning

culture

differences in multi traditions among populations (think of monkeys using rocks as tools)

play

no immediate apparent survival rate but benefits could include

• improved motor skills

• muscular development

• gained knowledge of environment

• stimulate brain development

• learn social interactions

• foraging behaviors

2 types of play

auto play (when animals play alone) and social play (play in pairs or groups where interaction is a component)

cognition

ability of animal to separate itself from the moment in which it is living and to contemplate the past, predict the future, and act accordingly

T or F: our own cognition abilities make it hard to define what animal cognition is (intelligence, insight, personality, and emotion)

true

why do some species have larger brains than other species

cognitive ability is correlated with relative brain size, larger brain size is associated with lower mortality

cognitive buffer hypothesis

large brains are costly to maintain but provide survival benefits that are learned

encephalization quotient

the ratio between actual brain mass and predicted brain mass for an animal of a given size (is it greater and falling short for your predicted size based on group)

positive selection for cognition

• many studies show great tits have sophisticated foraging and mate choice behaviors

• genomic research has identified some genes linked to higher cognition

• analysis of 30 great tit genomes show evidence of positive selection

insight learning

spontaneous problem solving without the benefit of trial and error learning (can you figure it out on the fly without prior experience with the problem) *considered to be a higher cognitive ability, chimp using stick to reach banana when in cage

tool use

favored by selection when it enhances foraging ability

numerical abilities

number is an abstract concept and not an inherent property, the ability to count and assess more vs less can help characterize cognitive ability (number of speckling on egg shell in birds or bears touching ipad screen)

spatial memory or cognitive map

a mental representation of an animals landscape used for calculating optimal routes, involves reflection, problem solving, and foresight

intelligence

hard to define but general properties include

• quickness to learn

• ability to retain info

• problem solving

traits of intelligent animals

social (living and working in groups), carnivores/predators (hunting animals)

properties of a good test

• give the same result if taken again by the same animal (making it standardized)

• demonstrate measurable combination of quickness, retention, and problem solving

• be predictive of future performance

animals emotions

mental states that animals experience

• do animals experience the emotions we feel?

• can we test the hypothesis

• anatomy and physiology suggest architecture might be present

empathy

the ability to project or feel the emotions of another animal

personality

consistent differences in the behavior of an individual animal over the course of its lifetime

personality triats

• boldness

• aggressiveness

• activity level

• exploration

• docility

• impulsivity

T or F: behavioral plasticity is optimal

true, ability to adapt and change. This is not normally the case though as heritable traits are favored more related to fitness

3 broad questions concerning personalities

• why are individuals consistent in their behavior

• why are there individual differences in behavior

• why are behavioral traits sometimes correlated among each other

what factors can influence personality

• social context- jumping spiders

• pathogens- crickets

• predators- Eurasian minnows

communication

a process in which a specialized signal produced by one individual affects the behavior of another

sinnaler

individual that produces a signal

receiver

individual that detects a signal

unintended audience

eavesdropper, public information- signal that are generally available to other animals in the environment

audience effect

occurs when the presence of bystanders influences the behavior of a signaler

signals

a product that has evolved to carry a specific meaning to another animal (visual and behavioral, think of poison frogs)

• chemical

• electrical

• substrate-borne

• vocalizations

extended phenotypic signal

those that are expressed beyond the body of an individual and often include modification of the environment (fish that draws design in the sand to attract female)

• there’s greater flexibility than in physical signals

• display can be more impressive than the actual individual

• costly to produce and to maintain

what does a signal indicate

cues- passive indicators about the environment

signals- active indicators about an organism

does it encode specific information (signals)

• how we interpret a signal might be different

• assumption that signals encode specific information problematic

• it can imply a language like meaning of communication

• can shift the focus of research in non meaningful directions

• signals influence behavior as if they contain info about something specific

the environment affecting aspects of a signal/signal transmission

• how rapidly they move through the environment

• how quickly they can be modified by a signaler

• persistence (lingering in the environment)

*this impacts the use of signals and the evolution of them

auditory signals and the environment

• can travel long distances but will degrade over time

• rates of degradation are affected by habitat structure

• dense vegetation causes higher frequency sounds to attenuate more quickly than low frequency sounds

example of bowerbird

researchers wanted to know if calls varied according to auditory properties of environment, since natural selection favors vocalizations that do not attenuate

leaf noise vs automobile noise

20 dB vs 80-100 dB

chemical signals and the enviroment

• benefits: independent of light/don’t have to see smell, transmitted through water or air, can be long lasting and can travel long distances

• downsides:

receivers point of view

• enhance acuity

• separate honest from dishonest signals (act more convincing/heighten their perspective)

three conditions that favor honest signals

• if the fitness interests of the signaler and receiver are similar

• when the signals cannot be faked

• because they are costly to produce or maintain

dishonest signals

• favored when fitness interests of signaler and receiver conflict

• mate choice

• parental care

• common between species

• predation- can lead to arms races (how can do something first)

isogamous

describes species in which all gametes are the same size

• no male or female (think algae and bacteria for example)

• fertilization still occurs

anisogamous

describes species that produce gametes of two different sizes

• males produce small motile gametes

• females produce somewhat larger gametes that are motile or not motile

what may have led to anisogamy

• parents have fixed amounts of energy to allocate to gametes

• disruptive selection based on size-number trade off (more offspring the smaller the individuals, the less likely to survive)

• beneficial for at least one sex to have larger gametes- survival

why sexual reproduction at all-put things up to chance

Downsides:

• only contributes half your genome (half mom half dad)

• loose good gene combinations

Upsides

• genetic variation

• partially reset epigenetic signals

• reduce potential for harmful alleles having an effect

different selective environments exist that benefit asexual or sexual reproduction

• asexual reproduction (stable environments, optimum exists, natural selection favors retention of specific genetic combinations)

• sexual reproduction (unstable environments, no optimum exists, natural selection should favor new combinations to favor the shift of the optimum)

what is the best type of reproduction

both sexual and asexual reproduction

red queen hypothesis

proposes that organisms must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate not merely to gain reproductive advantage, but also simply to survive

• constant running to keep in place

• Co evolutionary arms race

conflict between the sexes in reproductive strategy

• females reproductive success is most strongly limited by the number and success of eggs that she can produce (larger eggs, nutrients going to embryo, parental care, =all species should be picky)

• male reproductive success is limited by the number of mates

why is there a 50/50 sex ratio

• amount of investment in males and females at the population level is what matters

• if population is unequal, the rarer sex becomes more valuable

mating systems

the description of the social association and number of sexual partners an individual has during one breeding season

understood by 2 factors

• sexual conflict

• resource limitations and distribution

social vs genetic mating systems

social- the presumed mating behaviors of individuals based on social associations

genetic- based on the actual number of sexual partners in a social mating system that contribute to a set of offspring

monogamy

the pairing of one male and one female, does not mean it lasts for life (can be a season or even a nest in a season)

why did it evolve- better parental care (definite two parents), energy of finding a fate (once you have one your set)

cost

entire reproductive investment depends on the mate

• mate choice is under intense selection pressure

• extra pair copulation’s can hedge bets

• serial monogamy can bet hedge

if parental care is not involved- territorial cooperation hypothesis (partners have to work together to defend resources), enforcement (mate guarding, prolonged copulation (blocking other males from mating)

polygyny

association of one male with more than one female

• involves intraspecific competition between the females

• membership is a harem (total group of animals, the one male and many female)

• females can have pecking order (more dominant or less dominant females)

polygyny threshold model

females should mate polygynously only when the benefits of doing so exceed the costs (more rich resources more likely to choose polygyny

female defense polygyny

occurs when females are clustered and males compete to monopolize that group of females

resource defense polygyny

occurs when male territory centers on a resource needed for breeding success

polyandry

one female mates with many males

resource defense polyandry

female controls territory with resources and males coexist on it

cooperative polyandry

when females have several mates and cooperate with them to raise offspring (bees)

promiscuity

when there are no pair bonds and males and females mate randomly

• characterized by scramble competition

• in theory it should be rare in animals because choosiness is predicted

what conditions made it favorable-

• unpredictable environments

• inability to hold territory or resources

polygynandry

associations are formed between multiple males and multiple females

• multi male and multi female

• AKA plural breeding

• still maintain some exclusivity

• example would be lions

genetic mating systems revisited

• extra pair compulsions (trying to hedge their bets/not too put eggs in one basket)

• genetic quality hypothesis- females engage in multi-male mating can improve fitness of offspring via genetic mechanisms

• increasing heterozygosity

• reduction in likelihood of deleterious alleles

reproducing involves 3 phases

1. survival

2. attracting a mate (surviving until sexual maturity and then need to find a mate)

3. actually reproducing

characteristics involved in mating

primary sexual characteristics- organs involved directly in reproduction

secondary sexual characteristics- morphological differences between the sexes indirectly involved in reproduction/physical traits

sexual selection

selection that acts on heritable traits that affect reproduction via mate competition and mate choice

• inter (between sexes) vs intra (in same sex) sexual selection

• traits that enhance reproduction success

• not necessarily survival

• can occur before mating (mate competition and choice) or after mating (through behavior)

mate competition

selection in which one sex competes with other members of the same sex for access to the other sex for reproduction

mate choice

selection by one sex for members of the other sex for reproduction

mate guarding

when a male follows his mate to prevent her from mating with rivals (trying to prevent extra pair compulsions)

extra pair young

offspring of a pair bonded female produced outside the pair bond by a third party male

sperm competition

competition between sperm of different males to fertilize eggs

cryptic female choice

when female influences the fertilization success of sperm from one male over that of others- female doesn’t have to be picky up front but can be afterwards

mate choice

selection by one sex for members of the other sex for reproduction

indirect genetic benefits- genetic benefits females can obtain for their offspring by mating with males that have high genetic quality

Fisher proposed two ways female choice could affect a trait

1. its fitness advantage, independent of female choice

2. female preference for it

3. Fisher suggested male traits should co-evolve with female preference and became increasingly exaggerated, known as runaway selection

sexy son hypothesis

female picks male because of characters that make him attractive, which also makes attractive sons

Zahavi

proposed Handicap principle, well developed secondary sexual characteristics are costly to survival but reliable signals of fitness

• high quality individuals

• Costly traits may indicate good genes

• Hamilton-Zuk hypothesis-parasites (better display less likely to have high parasite load)

direct material benefits

• are immediate enhancers of fitness or survival

nuptial gifts- provide nutrition and can increase female reproduction success

• territory quality

how does a trait in males become the focus of female mate preference

ornaments- structures/features used to attract females

sensory bias hypothesis- female mating preferences are a byproduct of pre-existing biases in a females sensory system

female guppies prefer orange males (possibly linked to foods in that environment)

mate choice can drive creation of alternative tactics

alternative mating tactics- multiple behavioral mating phenotypes in a population

satellite male- a male remains near a bourgeois male to intercept females that are attracted to the bourgeois male

sneaker male- male attempts to avoid detection so that he can quickly enter a bourgeois territory to fertilize eggs being deposited in a nest

conditional strategy

use of a particular strategy based on an individuals condition