Animal Behavior - Exam 3

What is animal communication?

A signal produced by one animal provides information that affects another animal's behavior.

Who is the signaler?

The animal producing the signal.

Who is the receiver?

The animal detecting and responding to the signal.

How does a signal differ from a cue?

A signal evolved for communication; a cue provides information incidentally.

Does a signal require conscious intention?

No. An animal can produce a communication signal without consciously intending to communicate.

What is an example of a cue?

A mosquito detecting carbon dioxide released when an animal breathes.

What are three major types of animal signals?

Chemical, auditory, and visual signals.

What are pheromones?

Chemical signals used for communication between members of the same species.

What environmental factors can affect communication?

Temperature, light, precipitation, predators, distance, and human disturbance.

What is an honest signal?

A signal that reliably provides accurate information about the signaler or environment.

When are honest signals especially likely?

When signaler and receiver interests align, when signals cannot easily be faked, or when production costs maintain reliability.

How can a costly signal remain honest?

Lower-quality individuals may be unable to afford the cost of producing or maintaining it.

What is a dishonest signal?

A signal that misleads the receiver in a way that benefits the signaler.

Why can deceptive communication create a coevolutionary arms race?

Receivers evolve ways to resist deception while signalers evolve ways to exploit receivers.

What were the two frog call types discussed in the traffic-noise study?

Advertisement calls and territorial calls.

What is the main function of an advertisement call?

Attracting mates.

What is the main function of a territorial call?

Signaling territory ownership or responding to rivals.

What information can frog advertisement calls honestly indicate?

Body size.

What hypothesis did the frog traffic-noise experiment test?

Traffic noise changes frog calling behavior.

What was manipulated in the frog traffic-noise experiment?

Traffic-noise playback at 65 or 75 decibels, presented in different orders.

What dependent variables were measured in the frog experiment?

Call rate, call length, and peak call frequency.

Why did researchers use different orders of noise levels?

To evaluate whether responses depended on the order of exposure.

What did P1 and P2 represent in the frog graphs?

Silence before noise exposure and silence after noise exposure.

What did N1 and N2 represent in the frog graphs?

The first and second traffic-noise exposure periods.

What happened to frog call rate during traffic-noise exposure?

It generally decreased during noise and increased again after the noise ended.

Did the frog graphs show one consistent increase in call length under noise?

No. Call-length patterns varied between exposure sequences.

What is the main takeaway from the frog experiment?

Human-generated noise can alter acoustic communication.

What is aposematism?

A warning signal advertising that an organism is dangerous, toxic, or otherwise unprofitable to attack.

What is Batesian mimicry?

A relatively harmless species resembles a harmful species and gains protection.

Which snake was the harmful model in the mimicry study?

The venomous coral snake.

Which snake was the harmless mimic in the lecture example?

The milk snake.

How do predators benefit from responding to a genuine warning signal?

They avoid dangerous or unprofitable prey.

How does a Batesian mimic benefit from resembling a harmful model?

Predators may avoid it even though it lacks the model's defenses.

What hypothesis did the snake-replica experiment test?

The presence of venomous coral snakes affects predator attacks on harmless mimics.

How did researchers test the snake-mimicry hypothesis?

They placed mimic replicas in locations with and without coral snakes and recorded predator attacks.

What was the dependent variable in the snake-replica study?

Predator attack frequency or the proportion of attacks directed at mimic replicas.

How did attacks on mimics change with increasing latitude and elevation?

Attacks generally increased as coral snakes became rarer or absent.

What is the main takeaway from the snake study?

Batesian mimicry provides stronger protection where predators encounter the harmful modelWhat is kleptoparasitism?

How do fork-tailed drongos use deceptive alarm calls?

They cause other animals to flee or abandon food, which the drongos then steal.

Which target species was emphasized in the drongo experiments?

Southern pied babblers.

What three alarm-call categories were discussed in the drongo lecture?

Drongo-specific alarms, mimicked target-species alarms, and mimicked other-species alarms.

Why do babblers respond to drongo alarm calls despite the risk of deception?

Some alarms provide useful predator warnings, and ignoring a real warning can be costly.

What was the first drongo study's hypothesis?

Mimicked alarm calls make target birds abandon food for longer.

What was the independent variable in the first drongo playback experiment?

The type of call played.

What was the dependent variable in the first drongo playback experiment?

The duration of the babbler's response.

What was the control in the first drongo playback experiment?

A non-alarm territorial call.

How many babblers were tested in the first playback experiment?

Twenty.

How did babblers respond to mimicked alarms compared with drongo-specific alarms?

Mimicked alarms produced longer responses.

Did target-species and other-species mimicked alarms differ significantly in response duration in the displayed graph?

No. Their difference was labeled nonsignificant.

What is habituation?

A decrease in response after repeated exposure to a stimulus.

Why is habituation a problem for deceptive drongos?

Targets may stop responding to repeated false alarms.

What was the second drongo study's hypothesis?

Drongos can maintain target responses by changing their false alarm-call type.

How did researchers test whether changing calls prevents habituation?

They compared three repeated calls of one type with sequences that switched call type on the third call.

What happened when the same alarm type was repeated?

Babbler response duration decreased.

What happened when the third alarm switched to a different type?

The response increased relative to continuing the same call.

What is the main takeaway from the call-switching experiment?

Changing alarm types helps drongos overcome target habituation.

What benefit can drongos provide to small babbler groups?

Additional predator vigilance through sentinel behavior.

Why might small babbler groups tolerate drongos?

The benefit of predator detection can outweigh the cost of stolen food.

Why might large babbler groups tolerate drongos less?

They can provide more of their own vigilance, making food theft a larger relative cost.

How did successful drongo food theft change with increasing babbler group size?

It decreased.

How did babbler alarm responses change with increasing group size?

Larger groups were less likely to flee and more likely to ignore drongo alarms.

How did babbler sentinel behavior respond to drongo presence in small groups?

Small groups spent less time acting as sentinels when a drongo was present.

How did babbler sentinel behavior respond to drongo presence in large groups?

Large groups spent more time acting as sentinels when a drongo was present.

What general principle does the drongo-babbler relationship illustrate?

The costs and benefits of an interaction depend on social contextWhat is learning?

How can learning improve fitness?

It helps animals adjust behavior using information from past experiences.

What are costs of learning?

Time, energy, dangerous mistakes, brain maintenance, and sometimes delayed reproduction.

Why can learning be especially risky for inexperienced juveniles?

They may make harmful mistakes before acquiring useful information.

Why does learning not evolve for every behavior?

Its benefits do not always outweigh its costs.

When is learning especially useful?

When the best action varies and past experience reliably predicts future conditions.

Why might an innate response be favored in a highly consistent environment?

The same response works repeatedly, reducing the benefit of learning it.

Why might learning be less useful in a completely unpredictable environment?

Past experience provides little reliable information about future conditions.

What does selectively neutral mean?

Having no net effect on fitness relative to an alternative.

What is behavioral plasticity?

The ability to change behavior in response to conditions or experience.

What is habituation?

A reduced response to a repeated or prolonged stimulus.

Why can habituation be beneficial?

It prevents unnecessary responses to repeated harmless stimuli.

How does habituation differ from sensory adaptation?

Habituation involves a learned response reduction; sensory adaptation involves reduced sensitivity in sensory systems.

What is neural plasticity?

The nervous system's ability to change its structure, function, or connections.

What neural changes can accompany learning?

Changes in receptors, dendritic spines, synapses, and neurotransmitter signaling.

What is spatial memory?

Memory for locations and spatial relationships.

Why is spatial memory useful to food-caching birds?

It helps them relocate stored food.

Which bird in the lecture caches food: marsh tit or blue tit?

Marsh tit.

Which brain region was emphasized in the bird spatial-memory studies?

The hippocampus.

What hypothesis did the comparative bird study test?

Relative hippocampal size is associated with reliance on spatial memory for food caching.

What groups were compared in the food-hoarding study?

Nonhoarders, nonspecialized hoarders, and specialized hoarders.

Why did researchers account for overall brain or body size?

To distinguish relative hippocampal differences from general differences in animal size.

What pattern appeared in the comparative food-hoarding results?

Specialized hoarders had the largest relative hippocampal formations.

Does a correlation between hippocampal size and hoarding prove that hoarding caused the size difference?

No. Correlation alone does not establish causation.

Which insect brain structure was examined in the honeybee neuroplasticity study?

The mushroom bodies.

What was the honeybee neuroplasticity hypothesis?

Foraging intensity is associated with structural changes in the mushroom bodies.

What was measured in the honeybee brain study?

Mushroom-body volume and synaptic bouton number and density.

How did mushroom-body volume relate to foraging intensity in the displayed graph?

It increased with foraging intensity.

Did every bouton-density measurement increase with foraging intensity?

No. One displayed region showed little or no relationship.

What is the main takeaway from the honeybee brain study?

Foraging experience is associated with neural plasticity, but different brain regions can respond differently.

What is the dear enemy hypothesis?

Territorial animals show less aggression toward familiar neighbors than toward unfamiliar strangers.

Why might familiar neighbors be treated less aggressively?

They may pose a lower or more predictable threat than strangers.

What behaviors indicated aggression in the frog dear-enemy example?

Aggressive calls, physical attacks, and movement toward the stimulus.

How did movement change during repeated frog-call playback?

It generally declined with repeated exposure.

What interpretation is consistent with declining aggression during repeated playback?

The frog habituates to the repeated stimulus.

How could researchers test whether reduced responding reflects learning rather than simple fatigue?

Present a different stimulus and see whether the animal responds againWhat question did the honeybee arithmetic study investigate?

What did blue mean in the honeybee arithmetic task?

Add one.