Animal Behavior Exam 1

goose-hawk effect

a behavior observed in some young birds when another bird flies above them. If the flying bird is a goose, the young birds don’t react. If the flying bird is a hawk, the young birds crouch and are more active

adaptation

a heritable trait that has spread or is spreading by natural selection, and has replaced or is replacing any alternative traits in the population or species

inclusive fitness

direct and indirect fitness combined

direct fitness

fitness gained through personal reproduction

indirect fitness

fitness gained through reproduction of non-descendent relatives

fixed action pattern

an innate, highly stereotyped response that is triggered by a well-defined, simple stimulus; once the pattern is activated, the response is performed in its entirety

sign stimulus

the effective component of an action or object that triggers a fixed-action pattern

supernormal stimulus

a sign stimulus that is more effective in eliciting a response than naturally-occurring actions or objects

releaser

a sign stimulus given by individuals as a social signal to another

innate behavior

a behavioral pattern that reliably develops in most individuals, promoting a functional response to a releaser stimulus the first time the behavior is performed

(sexual) imprinting

a form of learned mate preference for a trait that an individual has observed in its population

syrinx

the sound-producing structure of birds that is analogous to the larynx in humans

lateral line system

sensory organs in fish that detect close-range pressure changes, vibration, and movement in water; lets fish know how far they are from other fish; similar to our vestibular system

imans

magnocellular nucleus of anterior neostriatum important in song learning and connects between other song system nuclei (missing or reduced in birds that don’t learn their songs)

higher vocal center (HVC)

used in song learning and song memory center; dense collection of neurons connects to the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA), which is connected to the nXIIts

toxoplasmosis

an infection caused by a single-celled parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, which has cats as a definitive host. Causes birth defects. Female humans find its presence in cat urine to make the smell more unpleasant.

tribo-electric senses

electroreception on filiform hairs on the heads of bees allow them to detect electrical charges on flowers. Helpful to collect pollen, differentiate flowers, and identify recently visited flowers

seismic communication

conveying information through vibrations in the ground, water, or other substrates. Used by elephants

vomeronasal organ (VNO)

the paired auxiliary olfactory sense organ in the soft tissue of the nasal septum; sensitive toward chemical cues that are related to mating or sensing prey

infrasonic frequencies

below 20 Hz; used in communication for rhinos, hippos, elephants, whales, peacocks

ultrasonic frequencies

above 20 kHz; used in communication for dolphins and bats

umwelt

the world as it is experienced by a particular organism; the perceptual world of an animal

broken-wing display

killdeer, and some other bird species, pretend to have a broken wing to lure approaching predators away from the nest

aggressive spillover hypothesis

a female’s aggressiveness toward prey during development can lead to her cannibalizing potential mate

environmental adaptation hypothesis (bird song)

promotes acoustic adaptation of vocal signals to the local environment

recognition hypothesis (bird song)

allows signals to become recognizable and thereby promotes identification of neighbors or social cohesion within groups (group, kin, individual recognition)

information sharing hypothesis (bird song)

enables expansion of the vocal repertoire in systems where living with kin favors greater information sharing

sexual selection hypothesis (bird song)

enables increases in the complexity of the vocal repertoire that is used in male-male competition or female preferences

geographic matching hypothesis (bird song)

promotes geographic variation in vocal signals, which allows assortative mating by site and promotes local adaptation

nutritional stress hypothesis (bird song)

song learning is different between species because song learning requires a larger brain and good nutrition

apostatic selection

a negative frequency-dependent selection where common forms of species are more preyed upon than “rarer” forms, giving some morphs a selective advantage

aposematism

a defense mechanism to advertise to predators that it isn’t worth attacking or eating because it’s toxic/dangerous; such as bright color patterns

crypsis

the ability of an organism to conceal itself, especially from a predator by having a color, pattern, shape, or behavior that allows it to blend into the surrounding environment

thanatosis

a behavioral state in which an animal appears to be dead in order to avoid predators

mullerian mimicry

when two toxic species mimic each other to appear undesirable to predators

batesian mimicry

when a nontoxic species mimics a toxic one to appear undesirable to predators; when an edible species resembles a distasteful or dangerous one

robust nucleus of archopallium (RA)

used in song production; motor center for song production; how a bird shapes their beak, squeezes their larynx, operates lungs, etc.

Niko Tinbergen

founder of modern ethology; won Nobel Prize in 1973; developed 4 questions/ categories about explanations for animal behavior: function, evolutionary history, causation, and development

Konrad Lorenz

won Nobel Prize in 1973; studied instinctive behavior in graylag geese and jackdaws; studied goose-hawk effect with Tinbergen; studied imprinting, domestication, and methods that didn’t involve killing/ maiming animals; group-selectionist view

Karl von Frisch

won Nobel Prize in 1973; advanced understanding of umwelts through field experiments; studied vision, pheromones, and dances of bees; helped found the journal Ethology

George John Romanes

used comparative method to study animal behavior; believed evolutionary theory was relevant to studying behavior; based on anecdotal observations; hierarchy of emotional states in animals; young protégé of Darwin

C. Lloyd Morgan

TH Huxley’s student who used observational methods to study “mental evolution” (instinct & intelligence interface); coined trial and error learning, reinforcement, inhibition, and more; Morgan’s Parsimony Principle (Morgan’s Canon)

Morgan’s Canon

a rule of parsimony in studying animal behavior; the simplest explanation for an animal’s behavior is likely the correct one; don’t assume complex psychological processes

B.F. Skinner

championed Watson’s approach; all methods must be strictly objective, studies of emotions aren’t scientific; leader in experimental psychology in America; theory of behaviorism (stimulus → response → reinforcement)

John Watson

focus on studying learning (developmental); animal behavior consists of responses, reactions, or adjustments to stimuli, usually due to past behavior; emphasis on the actual behavior, not the mental state associated with it

Frank Beach

an American ethologist viewed as the founder of behavioral endocrinology; “The Snark was a Boojum” criticized comparative psychology for its focus on a handful of species (Norway rats) versus studying a variety

Jane Goodall

a “trimate” of primatology and field-based behavioral studies; English primatologist; studied chimpanzees and discovered their making and use of tools; ad libitum observations

Birute Galadakis

a “trimate” of primatology and field-based behavioral studies; studied orangutans; Lithuanian-Canadian primatologist

Dian Fossey

a “trimate” of primatology and field-based behavioral studies; studied gorillas; American primatologist and conservationist

Maydianne Andrade

compared differences between what male and female animal behavior researchers study, showing the importance of diversity in researchers to prevent topics from being ignored; Canadian Research Chair of Integrative Behavioral Ecology

Pliny the Elder

built on Aristotle’s work with Naturalis Historia, longest single work to survive Roman times; common to humanize animal reasoning

brood parasitism

when an animal relies on another to raise its young, such as a wood duck or cow bird dumping its eggs in another’s nest

Clever Hans

“the math horse.” A horse that could supposedly do math, but really was reading human body language and facial expressions to receive a food reward. Exemplifies Morgan’s Canon

behavioral ecology

a branch of ecology concerned with the relationship between an animal’s behavior and the conditions of its environment

ethology

the study of the proximate mechanisms and adaptive value of animal behavior; discipline founded by Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz

behaviorism

the theory that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning, without appeal to thoughts or feelings; uses objective evidence of behavior

comparative psychology

the study of nonhuman animal behavior with the dual objective of understanding the behavior for its own sake and furthering the understanding of human behavior; studying similarities and differences in behavioral organization among living things

phenotype matching

when individuals adjust their phenotype to match specific environmental conditions they encounter, allowing them to perform well in different environments

polymorphism

the occurrence of discrete different forms among the members of a population or in the life cycle of an individual organism (ex: metamorphosis)

polyphenism

the occurrence of 2 or more alternative phenotypes within a species whose differences are induced by key differences (stimuli) in the environment; an inducible form of polymorphism; any individual in the population can become a morph, the genes are present, just inactive; usually irreversible

group selection

the idea that some animal behaviors occur because they’re better for the group, even if there’s a cost to the individual; self-sacrificing behaviors

optimal theory

an evolutionary theory based on the assumption that the attributes of organisms are optimal; attributes present in the organism are better than other alternatives in terms of the ratio of fitness benefits to costs

conditional strategy

a set of rules that provides for different tactics under different environmental conditions; the inherited behavioral capacity to be flexible in response to certain cues or situation

• ex: satellite and calling male crickets and frogs; producer-scrounger systems in songbirds and waterfowl; bird mobbing behavior; sneaker/display mating strategies in guppies; predator inspection behavior in male guppies

frequency dependent selection

a form of natural selection in which the fitness of a phenotype depends upon its relative frequency in the population

• ex: sex ratio of a population (dominated by females = better to be a male)

evolutionarily stable strategy

the set of rules of behavior that when adopted by a certain proportion of the population cannot be replaced by any alternative strategy

game theory

when benefits and costs are dependent on the frequency of other strategies that are used (zero-sum outcomes). Assumes multiple adaptive strategies that compete with one another in a population

egg capping

a hypothesis that certain bird species remove egg shells to prevent unhatched eggs from being covered by hatched eggs; there’s no significant reduction in hatching rates of capped eggs

optomotor response

measure head movement to correct for environmental movement; an innate, orienting behavior evoked by whole-field visual motion; reflexively moving the head or body in response to moving stripes of differing luminosity

visual grasp reflex

measure what animals are visually attending to

gilbertian mimicry

when a prey animal mimics its predator to avoid predation

aggressive mimicry

a form of similarity in which a predator or parasite gains an advantage by its resemblance to a third party

search image

a mental image of an object that is used by an animal searching for that object; visual, auditory, or olfactory

psychological models for how numbers are conceived

1. numeron model (mental symbols)

2. accumulator model (tallies)

3. object-file model (folders/filing cabinet)

reasons for maladaptive behavior

1. narrowly maladaptive, related to adaptive (hitch-hiker trait) (feeding brood parasites)

2. adaptive in another developmental period (wing pads in aquatic insects)

3. adaptive in another context (aggression in competitive interactions vs mating/parental care)

4. adaptive to one sex (nipples in male mammals)

5. benefits direct fitness at the cost of indirect fitness

6. the environment has changed too recently for natural selection to make it disappear (moths circling lights; not fearing cars)

7. traits exist due to genetic drift (song pronunciation in different bird populations)

8. behavior is less than optimal because it’s constrained by competing demands (spend time looking for food, but also for a mate)

why is extreme sexual cannibalism and siblicidal cannibalism maladaptive? Why does it likely occur?

• they negatively impact direct (sexual) and indirect (siblicidal) fitness

• occur if aggression/boldness is beneficial in another developmental stage or context (feeding); beneficial to one sex, but not the other

polyphenism examples

• temperature determining horn worm color and behavior

• geometrid moth larvae shape and behavior depending on food diet

• honeybee queen vs worker food-induced (royalactin jelly)

• socially-induced in cichlids

• predatory chemical cues inducing head capsules and spines in Daphnia

a polymorphism that isn’t a polyphenism

ruff sandpipers influenced by supergenes can be independent/dominant, satellite, and faeder morphs

• predetermined by their genes, cannot change

sex-biased learning

• female wolf spiders are more susceptible to beacon-guided spatial learning than males (landmark in water - females build burrows and rely on landmarks)

• female pinyon jays incubate eggs while males retrieve food to feed young, so males have greater spatial memory than stationary females

• prairie voles in both sexes have similar error frequency in completing a maze (monogamous species); female meadow voles perform the task much worse than males (promiscuous species - males have greater navigation skills)

costs to learning bird song

• larger brain and good nutrition (nutritional stress hypothesis)

• requires social tutors and a social environment

• requires auditory feedback/practice

• species recognition systems may be corrupted (mixing species song)

• sexual selection may depend upon the quality of the tutor

benefits to learning bird song, rather than having a species-specific song

• promotes acoustic adaptation of vocal signals to the environment (environmental adaptation hypothesis)

• allows signals to become recognizable, promoting neighbor identification (recognition hypothesis)

• allows a larger vocal repertoire for greater information sharing (information sharing hypothesis)

• promotes geographic variation in local signals, benefiting assortative mating by site (geographic mating hypothesis)

hormonal bird song development

Genes in parts of the male brain produce estrogen. Early estrogen stimulates growth of the HVC and connects to the RA. Testosterone production follows, inducing singing in adult male birds. In females, early estrogen isn’t produced, the cells destined to be an enlarged HVC connected to the RA don’t develop and die. Females have an RA, but it’s much smaller and less complex, producing simpler songs

learning bird song development

For a bird to learn a song, it must be exposed to a social tutor’s singing 10-50 days after hatching. This only works if the young bird can hear, and it may be corrupted by other species singing. Then, it must practice this song repetitively until it perfects its own song. Its song will solidify (crystallize) in place about 150-200 days after hatching.

mixed evolutionarily stable strategy (mixed ESS)

alternative strategies can invade a population, resulting in multiple morphs or behavioral strategies that are more or less successful depending on their frequency in the population

• genetically fixed

• ex: ruff sandpiper morphs; left-lipped and right-lipped scale grazing fish

stages of predation (+ antipredator strategies)

1. encounter (rarity; apparent rarity; polymorphism; seasonal changes)

2. detection (immobility/freeze; mimic background movement; crypsis; confusion of social groups; polymorphism)

3. identification (thanatosis; confusion; unpredictable behavior; aposematism; mimicry; honest signaling of unprofitability)

4. approach

5. subjugation

6. consumption/digestion

selection favors antipredator strategies that reduce the first few stages of predation

animals that detect static electric fields

• ticks - use charge to pull them from tall grass to animal

• bees - know which flowers have already been visited

• spiders - launch themselves in the air and float on silk

functional constraint on behavior

limits the values of traits or trait combinations

• ex: maximum number of offspring an animal can produce; max rate an animal can process food; max speed an animal can attain to outrun a predator

phylogenetic (historical) constraint on behavior

future behavioral patterns are limited by previous structural or behavioral adaptations

• ex: certain bird species with an innate call can only make a certain call because their ancestors could only make that call. they don’t have the structures to make a different sound

developmental constraint on behavior

limits the set of possible developmental states and their morphological expressions

• ex: limitations to learning tasks over time; exposure to specific experiences in the correct order; exposure to specific hormones in the right order at the right time; genes being turned on in the right order

genetic constraint on behavior

the pattern of genetic variation and covariation for behavioral traits; only a specific range of behaviors is possible due to the variability in the number of alleles or genes that code for a particular behavior

Belding ground squirrel dispersal from Tinbergen’s four questions

• function: juvenile males disperse to reduce chances of inbreeding

• evolutionary: strong male biases in natal dispersal characterize all ground squirrel species, suggesting it’s been selected for across difference species’ lineages

• development: dispersal is triggered by reaching a certain amount of stored fat; attainment of this value initiates locomotory and investigative behavior among males

• causation: dispersal is caused by organizational effects of male gonadal steroid hormones; juvenile males are more curious, less fearful, and more active than juvenile females

Cichlids spit and catch their fry in their mouth from Tinbergen’s four questions

• function: Spitting trains offspring in evasive techniques to avoid future predators. Retaining offspring in the mouth prevents other fish from eating them, but they escape sometimes. Moving offspring in the mouth minimizes energy costs of patrolling and protecting individuals, while also minimizing the locomotor costs of offspring. The parent can practice prey capture.

• evolutionary: Lake Victoria cichlids show mouth spawning, and the behavior predates the formation of the lake. Pelagic habitat preference evolved first, then smaller brood sizes with larger fry body sizes, then mouth brooding evolved independently, potentially to evade predators.

• development: The parent learned the fry spitting behavior when it was young, imprinted on the behavior, and does it with its own offspring.

• causation: Orientation toward young is activated by changes in water pressure and direction within the lateral line canal. Sensory cues induce retraction of fin elevator and depressor muscles and alternates sequential myomere contraction along lateral body, causing the parent fish to move forward. The buccal cavity is then expanded, displacing water and creating pressure to suck in offspring. Buccal expansion is caused by cranial kinesis of cranial joints. Regulatory genes turn off/on structural genes that produce proteins that initiate a cascade of hormonal influences.

why was big blue butterfly (Phengaris arion) conservation so difficult?

larvae rely on an ant species (Myrmica sabuleti) to complete their life cycle. The ants think the butterfly larvae are their own, taking them. The butterfly larvae start eating the ants, and the ants feed on other ants. Some butterfly larvae pretend to be a queen to receive food. Without this ant species, the butterfly species can’t increase its population size

what mechanism allows fish to take food into its mouth?

Many fish use suction feeding, where they open their mouths, expanding the buccal cavity. This increases the volume of their mouth, while decreasing pressure and establishing a pressure gradient. This pulls water, and any associated floating prey, into the fish’s mouth.

experimental (comparative) psychology vs ethology

• comparative: America; psychologists & humans; study rats, mice, pigeons; emphasize proximate mechanisms; use labs and manipulations

• ethology: Europe; biologists; diverse species; emphasize ultimate mechanisms; field studies and observations

why isn’t in vitro fertilization and cross-fostering of species a good idea for animal conservation?

These practices pose issues with the animal’s behavior. Yes, you can successfully produce more of the species you’re trying to conserve, but, if they’re not raised by their own, they likely won’t behave like a member of their own species. This poses issues for future reproductive success, and, if you can’t get the animal to reproduce, you haven’t actually done much for its long-term conservation. An example is cross-fostering in great tits and blue tits. Great tits regard any species they’re reared by as a potential mate, which means that, when raised by blue tits, they’ll try to breed with blue tits instead of their own species.

applied animal behavior in health and disease

may help us to reduce the spread of disease and parasites. Such as Toxoplasma gondii, which reproduces within cats. Cats cover their excreta, disguising the odor and potentially preventing the spread of this parasite. This has large implications for human cat-owners who are immunocompromised or pregnant, as it can negatively impact their health. This parasite also causes an increase in risk-taking behavior and a decreased fear response, especially in males, which is important for us to understand in human health situations.

applied animal behavior in animal conservation

By studying wood duck behavior, we know that they prefer low density of nests, so we place nest boxes out of sight of each other. We also know they’re facultative brood parasites, dumping a few eggs in another bird’s nest. If a nest has too many eggs, no one wants to raise them and they all die from lack of incubation. With this information, we can apply better conservation practices that keep their behavior in mind as a unique species that acts differently than other birds.

applied animal behavior in economics

Behavior of house cats was studied in a lawsuit between Fresh Step (Clorox) and Arm and Hammer (Church and Dwight). Both companies conducted studies, one in a laboratory and the other in owner’s homes, to see if cats preferred one kitty litter brand over the other. They didn’t take into account that some cats’ behavior is impacted by the presence of another cat. Fresh Step lost the law suit. Different companies may study animal behavior to determine effectiveness of their product and be able to promote it as better than competitors with evidence to back up their claims.

why don’t female birds sing elaborate songs?

male zebra finch

• early estrogen stimulates HVC growth + connects to RA

• subsequent testosterone production induces singing in adults

female zebra finch

• genes in young female brains don’t produce estrogen

• cells destined to become male HVC don’t develop and die

• low testosterone levels in adults prevent complex activation of HVC/RA