Sensory Systems and Behavioral Ecology Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from lectures on Sensory Systems and Behavioral Ecology.

Sensory Information Processing

Sensory information is conveyed to the CNS and perceived in a four-step process: 1. Stimulation 2. Transduction of stimulus into receptor potential in sensory receptor 3. Transmission of action potential in sensory neuron 4. Interpretation of stimulus in central nervous system

Sensory Cells

Respond to stimuli via stimulus-gated ion channels in their membranes which open or close depending on the sensory system involved

Sensory Transduction

Conversion of the stimulus to a receptor potential

Mechanoreceptors

Stimulated by mechanical forces, like pressure

Chemoreceptors

Detect chemicals or chemical changes

Electromagnetic receptors

React to heat and light energy

Phasic Mechanoreceptors

Intermittently activated mechanoreceptors (when the signal comes, it’s activated)

Tonic Mechanoreceptors

Continuously activated mechanoreceptors

Cutaneous receptors

Receptors in the skin that respond to stimuli at the border between internal and external environments

Nociceptors

Transmit impulses perceived as pain; Sensitive to noxious substances and tissue damage

Thermoreceptors

Sensitive to changes in temperature

Proprioceptors

Monitor muscle length and tension, providing information about the relative position or movement of animal’s body parts

Muscle spindles

Monitor stretch on muscle

Golgi tendon organs

Monitor tension on tendons

Baroreceptors

Monitor blood pressure

Taste buds

Collections of chemo-sensitive cells associated with afferent neurons

Smell (Olfaction)

In land vertebrates, involves neurons located in the upper portion of the nasal passages

Peripheral chemoreceptors

Sensitive primarily to the pH of plasma, as well as PO2 and PCO2 levels

Central chemoreceptors

Sensitive to the pH of cerebrospinal fluid

Electromagnetic Receptors

Detect electromagnetic energy in forms such as light, electricity, and magnetism

Vision

Begins with the capture of light energy by photoreceptors that can be used to determine both the direction and distance of an object

Ecology

Study of interactions among organisms and their environment

Biotic interactions

Among living things

Abiotic interactions

Between organisms and their nonliving environment

Organismal - Physiological Ecology

How organisms are physically and chemically adapted to their environment

Organismal - Behavorial Ecology

How the action or inaction of an individual organism contributes to survival and reproductive success

Behavior

Observable response of organisms to internal or external stimuli

Behavioral ecology

Studies how behavior contributes to the differential survival and reproduction of organisms

Innate behavior

Instinctive, doesn’t require learning; Preset paths in nervous system; genetic – fixed action pattern (FAP)

Fixed action patterns (FAP)

Innate or genetically programmed behavior

Innate releasing mechanism

Perception of key stimulus and triggering of motor program (FAP); Once pattern begins, it goes to completion; even if the egg is removed

Nervous and Endocrine Systems

Internal signals help drive the reaction to stimulus

Techniques of neuroethology

Identifying and mapping individual neurons, their dendrites and connections to other neurons; How their impulses and neurochemicals regulate behavior

Learned Behavior

Altered behavior as a result of previous experiences

Non-associative learning

Doesn’t require an animal to form an association between two stimuli or between a stimulus and response

Habituation

Decrease in response to a repeated stimulus

Associative learning

Association between two stimuli or between a stimulus and a response

Classical conditioning

Involuntary response becomes associated positively or negatively with a stimulus that did not originally elicit the response

Operant conditioning

Animal’s behavior reinforced by a consequence (reward or punishment)

Cognitive learning

Ability to solve problems with conscious thought and without direct environmental feedback

Optimality theory

An animal should behave in a way that maximizes benefits of a behavior minus its costs

Optimal foraging theory

An animal seeks to obtain the most energy possible with the leas expenditure of energy