Unit 8.1-2

Flashcards covering key concepts related to animal behavior, ecology, and responses to environmental stimuli.

Ethology

The study of how evolutionary processes shape inherited behaviors and the ways that animals respond to specific stimuli.

Proximate Cause

How a behavior occurs or how it is modified; it includes the stimulus that causes the behavior.

Ultimate Cause

Why a behavior occurs, particularly in the context of natural selection and its contribution to survival and reproduction.

Innate Behaviors

Developmentally fixed behaviors that are hereditary and instinctive; do not require learning.

Learned Behaviors

Behaviors that depend on environmental influence; they are shaped by experience.

Fixed Action Patterns (FAPs)

A sequence of unlearned acts directly linked to a stimulus, carried out to completion.

Kinesis

A change in the rate of movement in response to a stimulus that is nondirectional.

Taxis

Directional movement towards or away from a stimulus.

Imprinting

A long-lasting behavioral response to an individual that occurs during a sensitive period of development.

Natural Selection

The process that favors behaviors (innate or learned) which increase survival and reproduction.

Altruism

Selfless behavior that reduces an individual's fitness but increases the fitness of others in the population.

Phototropism

A directional response in plants that allows them to grow towards a source of light.

Photoperiodism

The response of plants to the length of day, which affects their flowering time.

Chemical Defenses

Production of toxic or distasteful compounds by plants to deter herbivory.

Spatial Learning

Establishing memories based upon the spatial structure of an animal’s surroundings.

Social Learning

Learning through observations and imitations of others' behaviors.

Signal

A stimulus generated and transmitted from one animal to another for communication.

Pheromones

Chemical signals emitted by members of a species affecting other members of the same species.