Animal Behavior Exam 2

kill me ( first 4 pp)

Learning

a change in behavior as a result of experience

Learning is associated with ________ changes and the ______ capability to learn

neurological, genetic

Learning allows animals to

adapt to their environment

Learning results in 

increased fitness

Should learning evolve in a fixed or dynamic world?

neither

Fixed world

no need to learn because of environmental constancy

Dynamic world

learning is not beneficial because of the unpredictable changes in the environment

The real world is ___

intermediate

Is learning adaptive?

Yes, it is and its expected to evolve

Evolution of learning is based on:

regularity of the environment, and reliability of past experience

Whats the simpliest form of learning?

habituation

Habituation

reduction and then lack of response to a stimulus over time.

Stimulus

can be anything in the environment

reaction

is a response

Nuerology

the synapse is believed to play an important role in learning and memory

the synapse

the junctions between two nuerons

IMHV

intermediate and medial parts of hyper striatum ventral

In birds IMHV plays an important role in

memory related to imprinting

memory

retention of a learned experience

Neural Plasticity

the structural changes in the brain. especially in the number and chemical strength of synapses between neurons

Synaptic connections chance due to

formation and elimination of dendritic spines

The dynamic nature of spines

may play a roll in learning

Stimulus-response association

making an association between an environmental stimulus and a behavioral response.

Classical Conditioning (Pavlovian conditioning)

Learning new associations between stimulus and an innate or unlearned response

absent of choice

Operant conditioning

Involves learning associations between learned behavior sand outcomes

Operant conditioning can measure

an animals progress toward solving a problem, the learning curve, a decline in errors over time

4 types of Operant conditioning

Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, negative punishment

positive reinforcement

a behavior becomes more likely due to the presentation of a stimulus, such as food.

negative reinforcement

a behavior becomes more likely due to the removal of a stimulus, such as pain

positive punishment

a behavior becomes less likely due to the presentation of a stimulus

negative punishment

a behavior becomes less likely due to the removal of stimulus.

the ability to learn has both

costs and benefits

costs can include

size/weight of brain, ability to specialize in other areas etc

Learning follows the rules of natural selections-

learning only evolves where learning is needed.

social learning develops when it 

reduces the time and energy costs of learning alone

Social interactions

facilitates learning

Social learning with prairies dogs: How do young p dogs learn their predators and how to avoid them?

they learn antipredator behavior from adults

What faciliates this learning

local enhancement, public info

Local enhancement

an individual uses the presence of another as a cue for learning in the environment

public information

info obtained from activity or performance of others about the quality of the an environmental parameter or resource.

Social info in sticklebacks: high numbers of fish should indicate bets food patch

local enhancement

Social info in sticklebacks: feeding success of individuals should indicate best food patch regardless of number in the patch 

public info

behavioral traditions

differences in behavior among pops, transmitted across generations through social learning ( culture)

Ex of behavioral traditions

song dialect, characteristic song difference that vary geographically among populations. common in birds

cognition

acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of info

Cognition includes:

tool use, mirror self recognition, numerical competency, memory of past info, behavioral flexibility

Social Brain hypothesis

social pops evolve higher cognitive ability because of their social structure

Individuals that live in groups:

must recognize others and understand their social relationship to successfully interact with them in different ways.

Social brain hypothesi states:

that sociality can promote the evolutions of larger brains

foraging

acquiring food

four basic steps of foraging

Locate food

Select food

capture food

Consume food

Active foraging

involves search image and can use special mechanisms like heat and electricity

Passive foraging

(Sit-and-wait)

Elaborate capture mechanism, also specialized mechanisms

Passive foraging

mimicry- visual lores,heat sensors, mimicry- olfactory lures

time/energy

costs/benefits

Optimal foraging theory

Optimal behavior is the behavior that maximizes fitness based on natural selection.

The diet model assumes:

Foragers maximize fitness by. maximizing energy intake rate, food items are encountered on at a time in proportion to their abundance, food items can be ranked by their profitability.

Prey profitability

(j/s)=e1/s1+h1

E=

energy content

S=

Search/wait time

h=

handling

Diet Breadth

is affected by the abundance of the most profitable prey items, and not by the abundance of the least profitable items

Optimal diet model solution

is to always consume types A, B, and C while always ignoring types D and E

Zero-one rule

each food item is either always eaten or always rejected ( doesn’t actually help)

foraging decisions=

not always optimal

Optimal foraging questions

Where to look? Risk? How long to stay? Competition? When to eat something else?

Game of diminishing returns:

when a forager enters.a food patch, it initially harvest food at a high rate. But as the patch is depleted, its harvest rate declines

Optimal patch -use model

foragers experience diminishing returns as exploits a food patch.

the marginal benefit of feeding in a food patch is the instantaneous harvest rate.

Because of diminishing returns, the marginal benefit of feeding declines with time spent in a patch

The optimal patch-use model assumes:

Foragers attempt to maximize energy intake rate.

All patches are identical, travel time between patches are constant, The instantaneous harvest rate declines as a forager depletes a patch.

Optimal patch time is affected by

travel time

The optimal patch- use model predicts the

optimal time to spend exploiting each patch

for short travel times, the optimal patch time is

small

for longer travel times, the optimal patch time is

longer

Resource of defense

any feature that increases the amount of time spent by a predator in attaining is a

Sensory modalities

physical, chemical, morphological, and behavioral methods

Morphological

camouflage

physical defense

defenses which physically deter a consumer from obtaining a resource

Chemical defense

Plants produce a wide variety of toxic compounds, animals can make their own toxins but many consume toxic plants , then store the toxins themselves

Constitutive chemicals

are toxic only in high quantities and are always present

Inducible chemicals

are toxic in the smallest quantities but are only produced when attacked,

Morphological defenses

shape or color of an organism deters consumption

Cryptic morphology acts as

camouflage , either in color or body shape

Aposematic coloration

alerts consumers that an organism is toxic

Mimicry

takes on the colors/patterns of a toxic organism

Batesian:

The mimic itself is not toxic, only bluffing

Mullerian

The original and the mimic are both toxic , compounding their defense

Behavioral defense

Organisms modify their natural behaviors to avoid being consumed

Behavioral defense example

tunnels and burrow systems for movement, nocturnal active time, Herding or social groups, playing dead or false attack

Being social is a

behavioral defense

Active social defense include

mobbing, alarm calling, and vigilance behavioral

Passice social defense revolve around the

cost/benefit of gathering in large groups

confusion effect hypothesis

whole lot of animals, if they start running around then it s hard to pick

Dilution effect hypothesis

odds of surviving are better. 1/10 eaten stil 1/100 eaten

Selfish Herd hypothesis

you don’t have to be the fastest just faster than the slowest

Beneficial adaptation

when heritable variation and differential reproduction are present in a population, the trait that confers higher fitness spreads.

this trait is called beneficial adaptation becuase

it confers higher genetic success to individuals that possess it as compared to individuals that do not have it

Perfection isnt always adaptable

the right mutation doesn’t always arise

A single gene can have multiple

developmental consequences

Pleiotrophy

describes the fact that most genes have multiple developmental effcects

A gene might code for a

particularly useful adaptation against a predator, but also from a harmful developmental consequence