DAT Biology- Animal Behavior

Fitness

the ability of an organism to reproduce

Ehtology

the study of inhereted or learned behaviors

What should innate behaviors do to an animal’s fitness

increase it

Behavioral ecology

The study of how innate behaviors increase fitness

what is another name for Innate behavior

inherited behavior

Innate behavior

Behaviors that an animal is born with

What are the four types of innate behavior

instincts, reflexes, fixed action patterns, and imprinting

Instincts

Inhereted behavior

behaviors that occur with no thought, and is never taught

reflex

Inhereted behavior

a rapid involuntary response to a stimulus

What do reflexes involve

a neural circuit

What can reflex arcs be

Simple reflex arcs or complex reflex arcs

Simple reflex arcs

rapid relfexes in which peripheral nerves synapse within the spinal cord

What neural wiring happens in simple reflex arcs

peripheral nerves synapse with the spinal cord

this means that the efferent and afferent motor neurons synapse with each other in the spinal cord, making it a fast response

afferent sensory neurons

Stimulus to CNS

efferent sensory neurons

CNS to muscle

Whats an example of a simple reflex arc

kicking upon being hit by a hammer in your knee

Complex reflex arcs

slower reflexes in which peripheral nerves do not synapse with each other in the CNS

In complex reflex arc, how is the connectinon of peripheral nerves

afferent motor neurons syanpse with an interneuron that then signals to an efferent motor neuron

What seperates the two peripheral nerves in complex reflex arcs

an interneuron

What reflex arcs involves synapsing in the CNS

simple reflex arcs

Fixed action patterns

innate behavior initiated by a specific stimulus, and continues to completion even if the stimulus is not there anymore

What is an example of fixed action patterns

Goose egg rolling

Releaser/sign stimuli

what triggers a fixed action pattern

Is an innitiating stimulus flexible / adaptive

no

What is the benefit of a fixed action pattern

it tends to increase the fitness of the animal, and it generates a predictable and apropriate response that doesnt need to be learned by new generations

Imprinting

innate way that helps animals learn certain behaviors

when can imprinting occur

during the crtitical period

Once an imprinted behavior is aquired, can it ever be forgotten

no

what is an example of Imprinting

a gosling recognizes amoving object it sees in its early life as its mother

what is learned behavior

behavior that occurs after expierience or practice

Why are learned behaviors beneficial

They allow animals to adapt to unexpected events and create behaviors that will be advantageous the next time an event happens

What allows animals to create behaviors that will be advantageous the next time an event happens

learned behavior

What are the three learned behaviors

classical conditioning

operant conditioning

associative learning

Neutral stimulus

Stimulus that does not elicit a response

Unconditioned stimulus

Stimulus that does elicit a response

Unconditioned response

Response to unconditioned stimulus

What is classical conditioning

Pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus leads to an uncoditioned response

after time, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that leads to a conditioned response

stimulus generalization

occurs when a cconditioned organism responds to a stimuli that is not identical to the original conditioned stimulus

What is an example of stimulus generalization

little albert being conditioned to fear a fluffy rat (conditioned stimulus) , and being scared of a generalized stimulus (santa’s fluffy coat)

What is the stimulus generalization gradient

as a stimulus differs from the original conditioned stimulus more and more, the conditioned response will be smaller and smaller

Stimulus discrimination

the ability of an animal to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other similar but different, non-conditioned stimuli

Operant conditioning

learning via associating behaviros with rewards or punishments

in opperant conditioing, what is reinforcement

increasing the likelihood of a behavior

in opperant conditioing, what is punishment

Decreasing the likelihood of a behavior

in opperant conditioing, what is positive conditioning

adding something

in opperant conditioing, what is negative conditioning

removing something

Skinner box

a bocx developed by behavioral psychologist BF skinner that uses positive reinforcement an positive punishment

operant conditioning

Associative learning

animals learns that two things are connected to each other

are cassical and operatnt conditioning types of associative learning

yes

Spatial learning

an animal associates landmakrs with a specific location

Extinction

a learned behavior is forgotten

What is recovery

extinct behaviors are remembered through reassociation

What is nonassociative learning

A type of learning that involves a change in behavior after repeated exposure to a stimulus,

sensitization

a type of non associative learning that occurs when an animal increases a behavioral response when the stimus exhibiting the behavior occurs more than once

Habituation

A typ ofnon associative learning that occurs when an animal learns to decrease a behavioral response to a repetitiive meaningless stimulus

How does habituation increase the fitness of an animal

it allows an animal to ignore irrelevant information and focus on important things

What is spontaneous recovery

In non associative learning,

an animal forgets that information was irrelevant and returns to its original behavior

Observational learning

learning by observing others

Why is observational learning beneficial

it doesnt require reinforcement and decreases the amount of time needed to learn a behavior

Insight learning

The ability to consider informationa and derive a novel solution from that problem

“lightlub moment”

Kinesis

Animals change speed in random directions, but change speed depending on favorability of environments

What does an organism that exhibits kinesis do in unfavorable environments

it speeds up

What does an organism that exhibits kinesis do in favorable environments

It slows down

What is an example of an organism that shows kinesis

a worm

What is taxis

non random movement with a specific direction

Postive taxis

Movement directed towards a stimulus

negative taxis

Movement directed away from a stimulus

phototaxis

directional response to sunlight

Chemotaxis

movement in response to a chemical signal

What is migration

relativley long distance movement of animals from area to another

What drives migration

instinct

how often does migration happen

its is often seasonal

Why do animals exhibit social behaviors

for companionship

food

protection

mating

Cooperation

group of animals work together to accomplisha common goal

What is an example of cooperation

clumping and group hunting

Agonistic behaviors

Threats aggresion and submsion

When do agonistic behaviors occur

When animals compete

Threats

behavior that signifies hostility towatds another animal

What are examples of threats

a dog bearing its teeth or a rattlesnake shaking its tail

What is agression

fighting behavior that is detimental due to mutual injuries

Ritualized fighting

a form of agression

fighting that is riualized to avoid significant injuries

What is an example of ritualized fighting

elks

Subsmission

backing down behavior

What are examples of submissive behavior

averting eyes, laying down, or backing away

Appeasement behavior

subsmission following a threat that avoids aggression

Dominance hierarchy

Pecking order in which alpha males gets the best acess to recources

what is a territory

an area an animal chooses to protect

Territoriality

behavior animals use to protect their territory

Search images

type of feeding behavior that animals to quickly locate abundant and safe food

Altruistic behaviors

behaviors that reduce an indiviudal’s fitness but increases the fitness of the indiviudal’s relatives

Why might altruisitc behaviorsbe beneficlal

they increase fitness of relative with similar genetic makeup

What are examples of altruistic behaviors

Campire batts regurgitate blood to give it to otehrs who did not feed that night

Inlcusive fitness

the sum of an animals direct and indirect fitness

Direct fitness

number of genes an animal can pass onto the next generation on its own

indirect fitness

the number of genes passes onto the next generation by the animal’s relatives

Hamilton’s rule of altruism

r*B>C

r =relatedness

B = benefit to the receipient

C = cost to the altruist

kin selection

refers to the way an individual’s inclusive fitness is increased by indirect fitness

What form of natural selection do altruists benefit the most

kin selection

Reciprocal altruism

Sacrifices an indivudual might make for another animal in anticipation for a later reward

What is an example of reciprocal altruism

sacrifices an individual might make for another animal in anticipation for a later reward, seen in bird mobbing to scare away apredator