animal behavior final part 2

What are some thing communications helps accomplish

• it helps coordinate group foraging

  • ex: honeybee waggle dance

• it helps find and secure a mate

• helps warn others about predators

  • ex: alarm calls in Richardsons squirrels

give examples of how communication can help find and secure a mate

birdsongs, birdcalls and ripple communication in water striders

what is common interest in terms of signals and their reliability

signals can be reliable if sender and receiver have common interest

what is index in terms of signals and their reliability

signals that can’t be faked

what is handicap in terms of signals and their reliability

a signal that is costly to fake

what are signals in the animal kingdome

they are ways that organisms communicate with each other via signals. animals can get information about one another this way

when is a signal dishonest

signal is dishonest when sender does somethings that manipulates behavior of receiver to benefit of sender and detriment of receiver

what is another way apart from signals that animals can get information from each other

through cues

what are cues

cues are ways for animals to acquire information from environment through incidental sources

give some examples of cues

• rustling leaves is a cue another animal is present

• When voles are running around, they

  excrete urine along trails where they

  move.

  • Birds of prey hone in on UV reflectance

  from this urine to hunt voles.

  • Bird of prey is gathering information

  about vole whereabouts from UV Cues in

  urine.

what is the definition of signals

any act or structure that influences behavior of other organisms (receivers), and which evolved specifically because of that effect. the purpose of signals is to elicit a response

what distinguishes cues from signals

signals evolved specifically under selection to influence receiver. Cues did NOT evolve for purpose of influencing receiver

what are the two aspects of signals

• a strategic element

  • content or ‘message’ signal is trying to convey. The information that can be extracted from signal. Key to determining how and why, from functional perspective, receiver should respond.

• An efficacy component

  • form or structure. Refers to how signal is constructed evolutionarily to influence response of receiver, e.g. transmission through environment, detection by sensory systems, likelihood of response

What three features of signals efficiency are particularly important for communication

• how easily signal can be distinguished from background

• how easily signal can be discriminated from other signals In environment

• how memorable signal is (and how easily it is learned)

what does evidence suggest signals have evolved to be

signals have evolved to be distinct from backgrounds

what type of signals will be better at eliciting responses

mor e intense and more contrasting signals

what have studies shown animals do to enhance their signals

they alter their calls based on the amount of natural and anthropogenic signals happening around them

what has been shown to aid in predator learning and memory

aspects of aposematic colors (brightness and contrast with background)

why may signals be costly

because many signals are flamboyant and showy in order to get the receivers attention

what is the handicap principle

it states that costly, elaborate displays could be favored precisely because they are costly, which makes them reliable

explain why the handicap principle was challenged

because if females mates with high quality male who produces costly ornaments, their offspring will gain benefit of good genes from their

father. But they’ll have to themselves bear cost of producing ornament, negating hose benefits.

• thus their is not overall fitness benefit to producing ornaments or basing mate choice upon it

what did Alan graven realize about the handicap problem

he realized it can work but only if fitness cost of producing costly ornaments is greater for low quality males than it is for high quality males. This because both high and low quality males can produce costly ornaments but only high quality males will survive with it thus only high quality males will be able to display signal and be selected to do so

are all costs energy costs

no they can be other costs like social costs EX; black spots on tibbetts face

multimodal signals

compromise components that are presented to same receiver across two or more sensory modalities

multiple messages hypothesis

• Multimodal signals may provide additional information compared to signal in single modality.

• Different parts of multimodal signal may each provide different information, which is beneficial if it results in less receiver error, or receivers being more informed

redundancy hypothesis

• Different signal components may provide redundant information, reducing uncertainty (two sources saying the same thing is better than one!).

  • Each signal component provides same “message” for receiver, perhaps decreasing likelihood of mistakes.

alerting components hypothesis

an action or component may be a way of alerting the receiver that the sender wants to send a signal. It Is basically saying “hey! look at me I wanna tell u something”

what are some costs of signaling

• eavesdropping by male rivals (wolf spiders as example)

• physiological costs (wolf spiders as example)

• eavesdropping by parasites (ex. crickets)

how can signals be modified to minimize eavesdropping

• change behavior

• reduce detectability of signal (Ex. spots on male Trinidadian guppies)

• utilize a private/hidden communication channel

how do animals change behavior to reduce eavesdropping

ceasing to signal when a risk is detected

give an example of how animals may use private communication channels to communicate

in the deep sea visualization of color is low so some use that to their advantage. dragonfish use red marking to communicate and they are one of the few organisms who can see red in the ocean so It work as a private channel

animal personalities

consistent difference in behavior between individuals, both over time and across different situations. Ex. an individual who is aggressive with others if its species may be braver and more aggressive toward predators as well or be more willing to explore

what did Charles turner pioneer the idea of

he pioneered the idea that animals have distinct, individual ways of behaving. he laid the groundwork for the field of animal personalities

what did Charles turner find about spiders and web making

he found that their is variation in web building behaviors in spiders. he also showed that spiders adapt web building to their specific environment

what is individual learning

relatively permanent change in behavior as result of experience. not “social” learning.

is individual learning adaptive

yes

what is individual learning shaped by

natural selection

phenotypic plasticity

ability of organism to produce different phenotypes depending on environmental conditions. Ex: spines of bryozoans dependent on predatory cues

sensitization

becoming more sensitive to stimuli over time

habituation

becoming less sensitive to stimuli over time

give an example of habituation can be an adaptive value

it can help animals ignore stimuli that are harmless in the wild saving them energy. For example can stop running away every time it hears sprinklers turn on thus saving energy

why would habituation be a concern if you were introducing captive animal back into the wild

the animal may get used to humans and then be to careless with them when returned to the wild

associative learning

type of learning in which association is made between stimulus and response

classical conditioning

animal learns to give response normally elicited by one stimulus (US) to new stimulus (CS) because two are repeatedly paired

what is the main mechanism for learning in dogs and cats

associative learning

give some example of how animals may be associatively learning in the wild

associating danger with sound or color with food

what is appetitive stimulus in classical conditioning

stimulus that is considered positive, rewarding, or pleasant

what is aversive stimulus in classical conditioning

any stimulus that is unpleasant (shock, noxious odor, etc)

what is excitatory conditioning in terms of classical conditioning

when CS lead to action (i.e. searching for food or hiding)

what is inhibitory conditioning in terms of classical conditioning

when CS suppresses or inhibits behavior

explain second order conditioning

when you add another stimuli to be associated with a stimuli that is already conditioned to create a response

what is blocking in terms of classical conditioning

when association between an unconditioned stimuli (1) and response prevents an individual from responding to another stimulus (2) or causes individual to response less strongly to unconditioned stimuli (2)

what is overshadowing in classical conditioning

situation in which learned response to an unconditioned stimuli is stronger when it is presented alone versus when it is paired with 2nd unconditioned stimuli

operant conditioning

occurs when response made by animal is reinforced by reward or punishment

law of effect

states that if response in presence of stimulus followed by satisfying event, association between stimulus and response will be strengthened. Conversely, if response followed by aversive event, association will be weakened.

operant response

learned action that an animal makes to change its environment

shaping

when animals can be taught novel and sometimes complex acts in order to receive reward

extinction

when reinforcement is withheld, response rate will gradually decline, just as strength of the conditioned reflex decreases when conditioned stimulus is presented many times without unconditioned stimulus

give an example of an animals who retains memory of past experiences

scrub jays demonstrate type of memory previously thought to be uniquely human

latent learning

occurs without any obvious reinforcement and is not obvious until sometime late in life

insight learning

occurs rapidly and without any obvious trial and error responses. learning how to solve a problem or do something by applying what you already know, without a period of trial and error

imprinting

form of learning that establishes long lasting behavioral response to object or individual

sensitive period

specific time frame in development during which imprinting takes place

spatial learning

establishment of memory that reflects environments spatial structure

cognitive maps

representation in animals nervous system of spatial relationships between objects in its surroundings