Behavioural Ecology - Biology

What is behavior?

The observable response of organisms, internal external stimuli

What does behavioural ecology study??

How behaviour contributes to the differential survival and reproduction of organisms

What does ethology focus on?

Specific genetic and physiological mechanisms of behaviour- approximate cause

What is an example of ethology?

Changes in day length

What do ultimate causes effect?

Effect on reproductive success

What is the most recent focus of behavioural ecology?

Ultimate causes

What is the influence of genetics and learning referred to?

innate or instinctual

Is action patterns fixed, or unfixed?

Fixed

Once action patterns are initiated what will happen?

They will continue until completed

What is an example of action patterns? What does this improve?

A rolling response in geese improves fitness because they increase the survival of young

What is sign stimulus, for geese

For geese, sign stimulus as an egg out of the next

How do hygienic bees remove disease larvae

Using two distinct manoeuvres on capping cells and removing larvae

What is not hygienic and does not do the two distinct manoeuvres to remove disease lavae

Strains

what does "U" represent

uncapping gene

what does "r" represent

larva removal gene

what does "uurr" represent

hygienic

what does "UuRr" represent

not hygienic

what does "uuRr" represent

uncap cells but do not remove larvae

what does "Uurr" represent

remove larvae if cells are uncapped

In 1964 W.C Rothenbuhler showed a genetic basis to what

Honeybee cleaning behaviour

What does learning mean?

Modification of behaviour based on previous experience

What does habituation mean? How does something do this?

Simplest form of learning. They learn to repeated attempts.

What do organisms ignore?

Repeated stimulus

What is a change in response to repeated stimulus without association with positive or negative reinforcement

Nonassociative learning

What is associative learning?

Behaviors, change, or condition to ass association between a stimulus and response

What are the two main types of learning?

classical conditioning and operant conditioning

What is classical conditioning?

And involving your response becomes associated positively or negatively with a stimulus that did not originally elect the response

What is an example of classical conditioning?

Pavlov's dog salivating at a sound of a metronome

What is Pavlov's dogs reaction to the sound?

Hungry dog salivate in response to smell of food, metronome sounds when food is present, dog ate that sound of metronome, whether or not food is present

Do only mammals learn this way

Many insects also learned to flower odours and nectar rewards in this manner

What is operant conditioning?

Animals behaviour reinforced by a consequence - reward or punishment

What is an example of operant conditioning

Skinner box where rat bumps into a lever and gets food

What does the rat learn from operant conditioning?

Rat learns to associate lever with food

What is operant learning also known as

Trial and error learning

What is another example of operant learning

Birds learn to avoid bad tasting butterflies

What is cognitive learning?

Ability to solve problems with conscious thought

What does cognitive learning include?

Perception, analysis, judgment, recollection, and imagining

What are two examples of cognitive learning?

1. chimpanzees stack boxes to reach banana 2. ravens retrieve me by pulling up a string

What is behaviour a often a mix of?

Innate and learn components

What is an example of innate behavior?

Birds are genetically programmed to learn songs, but they will sing the correct song only if the correct songs are heard

what is critical period

Period of development during which animals develop irreversal, species specific patterns of behaviour

What is the process of critical period called

Imprinting

What is an example of imprinting?

Gosling's follow the first moving thing as their mother

What interacts with learning during a immigration?

Innate behaviour

What skill can experience birds do that young, inexperienced birds cannot

Can correct for displacement - a complex navigational skill

What are local movements?

Location of food, water, mates, and nesting sites

What is kinesis?

Movement and response to stimulus, but not directed toward or away from source

What is taxis?

More directed movement

What is positive taxis?

Toward an external stimulus

What is negative taxis

Away from stimulus

What are examples of taxis?

phototaxis, anemotaxis, and rheotaxis

What does local movements involve?

Memory and landmarks

What are two types of movement

Motile or non-Motile

What does motile movement mean?

Physically changing position

What does nonmotile movement mean?

Growing and not changing position

What can be directional (taxes) or non-directional (kinesis)?

Movement

What is kinesis generally

Non-directional movement

What is kinesis relative to?

A stimulus

What is kinesis often related to?

Finding a comfort zone

What is migration?

Long range seasonal movement generally linked to seasonal availability of food/breeding

What does migration usually involve?

Movement away from birth area to feed and return to breed

What is an example of an animal that migrates?

Birds

Around how many birds of North America migrate South America

Nearly half the birds in North America

Why do birds migrate to South America? When do they return to North America?

To escape, cold winters and return and spring to breed

Where do Arctic birds go during migration? How many miles do these birds travel?

Migrate from Arctic to Antarctic a journey up to 25,000 miles round-trip over open ocean

What mammals migrate

Will the beast and caribou

What insects migrate?

Monarch butterflies

Where do monarch butterflies migrate to?

Northward migration involves several generations, suggesting ability to migrate

How many migration mechanisms are there?

Three

What is piloting migration?

Animal moves from one familiar landmark to the next

What is an example of piloting migration?

Gray whales may use coastline features to migrate

What is orientation migration

Ability to follow, compass, bearing and travel in straight line

What does orientation migration not allow?

Adjustment to course

What is navigation migration?

Follow compass bearing, but can also set or just path

How do adult starlings use navigation migration v.s juvenile starlings

Adult starlings can adjust flight path when transported and release but juveniles cannot

How do animals navigate?

Many use navigational reference points

What do species use for navigational reference point?

Position of the sun, the stars in earths magnetic field

How do humming pigeons use navigation?

Humming pigeons have magnetite in their beaks

How do other pigeons use animal navigation?

Integrate internal clock with position of the sun 15° for every hour of their internal clocks were shifted the orientation shifted

Are all migrations well understood

No

What is an example of migration that is not well understood

Green sea turtles migrating to Ascension island to lay their eggs

What does forging behaviour often involve?

Involves decisions about whether to remain at a resource patch or look for a new patch

What is predicted of Optimality theory?

Predicted animals should be behaving away the maximizes benefit of a behaviour minus its cost

What is the purpose of Optimal foraging

Purpose is that an animal seeks to obtain the most energy possible with the least expenditure of energy

What is needed to be gained to have greater reproductive success?

The more energy grain, the greater the reproductive success

What is territory?

Fixed area in which individual group excludes others

How is territory found for animals?

Aggressive behaviour or territory marking

How do animals optimize their territory size?

Animals to optimize territory size based on cost and benefit

What are benefits of territory?

Exclusive access to resources like food, mates and sheltered breeding sites

What is one disadvantage to holding territory?

Costly to defend

How is communication used?

Used to specifically design signals, are displayed to modify the behaviour of others

What are four types of communication?

Chemical communication, auditory communication, visual communication, and talk to communication

What are the three directions of communication?

uni-directional, bi-directional and multi-directional

What is chemical communication often used for

To mark territories are attract mates

What animal is chemical communication most common in

Canines and felines

How do female moths use chemical communication?

Female male produce pheromone to attract males

How does social insects use chemical communication?

scent trails

How do queen bees use chemical communication?

Release fair amounts to suppress reproductive system of workers

Why do birds and insects perch hide to sing?

Because sound travels farther in the air

When is auditory communication best to use

At dawn and dust when the air is less turbulent and sound carries