Animal Behavior and Communication (Tinbergen concepts, signals, and migration)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms related to animal behavior, communication, Tinbergen's questions, and migratory/navigation cues.

Courtship song

A vocal display produced by a male during the third stage of courtship by extending and vibrating one wing; informs the female whether he is of the same species and leads to copulation only if all communication forms succeed.

Communication

The transmission and reception of signals between animals, using visual, chemical, tactile, or auditory channels to influence behavior.

Signal

A stimulus transmitted from one organism to another that is received and interpreted as part of communication.

Sign stimulus

An external cue that triggers a fixed action pattern, such as the red color of an intruder triggering aggression in stickleback males.

Fixed action pattern

A sequence of unlearned, stereotyped behaviors that, once initiated by a sign stimulus, are carried to completion.

Migration

A regular, long-distance movement guided by environmental cues (e.g., sun, stars, circadian clock, magnetic field) to locate resources or breeding grounds.

Circadian rhythm

A daily cycle of rest and activity governed by an internal clock and synchronized with light-dark cycles.

Circannual rhythm

A yearly biological rhythm (e.g., migration, reproduction) influenced by daylight length rather than food intake.

Pheromones

Chemical substances released by animals that affect the behavior or physiology of other individuals at very low concentrations.

Queen pheromone (queen substance)

A pheromone produced by the honeybee queen that attracts workers, inhibits worker ovarian development, and attracts drones.

Alarm substance (alarm pheromone)

A chemical released by injured fish skin that triggers fright responses and a change in behavior in nearby fish.

Waggle dance

The honeybee dance that communicates direction and distance to a nectar source via a straight run with abdominal waggles; the angle relative to the hive's vertical surface indicates direction relative to the sun; distance is indicated by the number of waggles.

Round dance

A shorter bee dance used to advertise a nearby nectar source, with tight circular movements.

Honeybee dance language

The symbolic communication system in which honeybees convey food-location information through the waggle and round dances.

Proximate causation

Tinbergen's concept: the immediate stimuli and physiological mechanisms that produce a behavior.

Ultimate causation

Tinbergen's concept: the evolutionary reasons why a behavior exists and its adaptive value.

Tinbergen's four questions

Four questions to understand behavior: (1) stimulus and mechanisms, (2) developmental influences, (3) survival/reproduction value, (4) evolutionary history.

Three-spined stickleback sign stimulus

Red coloration on an intruder’s underside acts as a sign stimulus triggering aggressive fixed action patterns in males.

Drosophila melanogaster courtship

Male fruit fly courtship involves a stimulus-response chain using visual, chemical (olfactory), tactile cues to confirm species identity.

Four modes of communication

Visual, chemical, tactile, and auditory signals used in animal communication.

Sun compass orientation

Navigation method where animals orient their movement relative to the sun during migration.

Circadian clock

Internal mechanism that maintains a ~24-hour rhythm and can synchronize behavior to day-night cycles.

Magnetoreception

Ability to detect Earth's magnetic field, aiding navigation in migrating animals.

Nocturnal star/navigation (North Star)

Nocturnal navigation in which some animals use the fixed position of the North Star to orient.