animal behaviour

what were Aristotle’s 4 causes (for a house)

1. construction materials

2. builder who builds it

3. the plan guiding the builder

4. the purpose of the house as a dwelling

what were Tinbergen’s 4 ‘why’ question?

1. causation (mechanisms) (e.g. daylight/hormones cause birdsong)

2. ontogeny (development) (e.g. song learning, development of syrinx)

3. function (adaptive advantage) (e.g. defence of territory)

4. phylogeny (evolutionary history) (e.g. how and y song evolved, shared descent)

what are all the approaches to studying animal behaviour?

ethology- form & function

neuroethology- neural control of behaviour

behavioural ecology- behavioural adaptions & selection pressures

Sociology- social behaviour

behavioural genetics- control of behaviour by multiple genes & modifiers of gene expression

psychology- perception, mental representation, learning, etc.

anthropology- humans & human origins

what are some pitfalls of studying behaviour?

anthropomorphism- naïve extrapolation from humans to animals

extrapolation from animals to humans- sexism, racism, militant atheism

what is communication useful for?

signal danger, sex, aggression, identity, status, need, social information

what are the definitions of communication, signals, cues, animal senses?

communication: pass info from sender to a receiver

signals: feature of an animal that has evolved specifically to alter the behaviour of receiver

cues: any feature that can be used by an animal as a guide to future action

animal senses: methods by which animals perceive their environment

what are senses and modes of communication?- highly adapted to ecological conditions

-vision-visual signals

-hearing-acoustic signals

-touch- vibrational signals

-taste, smell- chemical signals

-electrical- electrical signals

-magnetic

tactile signals

how do signals evolve?

probably by ritualisation of existing cues

what are some cues revealing autonomic stimulation?

cues revealing autonomic stimulation- respiration (calls, growls, gill-cover flapping),

urination/ defecation (chemical marking of territories),

thermoregulation (raising hair/ feathers),

pupil dilation (friendliness/ arousal)

yawing (signal aggression in primates, in humans now just physiological)

what are some cues revealing changes in behaviour?

-intention movements (e.g. flight or flight intention movements)

-self protective movements (e.g. scalp retraction in primates)

-displacement behaviour -interrupting behaviour with another apparently irrelevant one (E.g displacement preening in wildfowl mating diplays)

how could seabird courtship displays have evolved?

derived from ritualised take-off & breathing movements

how do ritualised signals differ from cues?

conspicuousness

redundancy

stereotypy- very little variation

alerting components (conspicuous movement/ sound)

how does ritualisation aid communication?

increases cost- ensures honesty

increases efficacy (effective transfer of information)

increases ability of signallers to manipulate receivers- & prevent them from resisting their message

what selection pressure apply to signals?

predators- maximise transmission, minimise eavesdropping (e.g. different colour guppies according to vision of predators) (different birds have different frequencies, shapes of calls )

when signalling danger, what do prey communicate to other prey?

-alert

-flee

-assemble

-attack

when signalling danger, what do prey communicate to predators?

-startle displays

-aposematism- conspicuous warning of unprofitability

-pursuit deterrence e.g. mobbing

how does vervet monkey coding work? (cheney & seyfarth)

different call for each (different alarm signals (shapes and frequency)

-leopard (head for trees)

-snake (stand & search)

raptor (look at the sky)

what are the differences between natural selection and sexual selection?

Natural selection: variation between individuals, variation affects survival, variation is inherited

sexual selection: variation between individuals, variation affects reproductive success, variation is inherited

what is anisogamy

unequal gametes- eggs are large and expensive, sperm small and cheap

so idea that females invest more in growing & caring for each offspring

ardent males compete for choosy females

what are the ways in which ardent males compete for access to females?

-fighting (dangerous so sometimes roar beforehand (or something else))

-ritualised contest

-guard you female(s)

-sperm competition

what % of deer fights are roaring contests, parallel walking and boxing, antler grappling? what % stags get permanent injury in serious fights?

roaring- 100%

parallel walking- 50%

antler-grappling- 25%

6% stags permanent injury

what are some examples of species that do mate guarding?

damselflies, elephant seals

what are some examples of species that do forced matings?

mallard ducks (sometimes to point of drowning)

hemipteran bug (X. maculipennis)- males inject sperm direct into female through body wall and into rival males (imposter sperm migrate to rival males testes, remove rival sperm using barbed penis, plug female genital opening

what is the difference between intra-sexual and inter-sexual selection?

intra-sexual selection- male-male competition

inter-sexual selection- favouring females choosing best males

what are the benefits of choosing good quality mates?

-good resources & parenting ability

-good genes

what are some examples of attractive qualities to females in the wild?

defeat opposition

defend high quality territory

nuptial gifts- feeding (proves ability to find food, gives energy to mate, increases males cost of mating)

what are some genetic benefits?

attractive trait (so will have ‘sexy sons’ =runaway sexual selection)

strategic ‘handicap’ -trait only high quality male can afford to posses (e.g. peacock tail impairs survival)

what is stabilising selection?

favours average traits, reduces variation in population (often mitation rates are higher)

what are some examples of sexual conflict?

infanticide- e.g. male lions slaughter all cubs, new male fathers new cubs

sexual cannibalism-e.g. female mantids eat male

in Kentish plovers- both start off incubating eggs, either can leave

in what species are there ardent females and choosy males- females lay eggs then start new nest, males incubate clutch?

moorhens, phalaropes, jacanas

what species do monogamy, polygamy/polygyny, polyandry, polygynandry, promiscuity?

monogamy- European robin

polygyny- marsh harrier

polyandry- phalarope

polygynandry- Kentish plover

promiscuity- aquatic warbler

how is altruism and spiteful interactions (lose-lose) explained?

indirect benefits

what is the coefficient of relatedness?

-genetic similarity of 2 individuals relative to pop as a whole

-probability that two individuals share a gene that is identical by descent (from same ancestor)

-probability of sharing a rare allele

since offspring and parents have a coefficient 0.5, and between siblings 0.5, what are 2 ways of maximising their genetic contribution to next generation:

-helping to rear their full siblings

-rearing their own offspring

who came up with the idea of inclusive fitness, direct fitness, indirect fitness

Sir Richard of Dawkins

direct= maximise the reproductive success of the individual it is in

indirect= maximise the reproductive success other individuals who share copies of that gene

inclusive fitness= direct fitness + indirect fitness

what is kin selection?

the process by which traits are favoured due to their effects on the fitness of relatives

what is hamilton’s rule?

identifies the conditions under which altruism will spread due to kin selection

r*B-C>0 altruism will be favoured

r=coefficient of relatedness

B=benefit to recipient

C=cost to actor

what are some examples of extreme altruism?

suicide and sterility in social insects

suicide- bee stings are fatal to the worker bee

sterility- workers rarely reproduce themselves but instead help the queen reproduce (also their mother)

in bees, what is the correlation of relatedness between mother and males vs female offspring?

males are haploid- from unfertililsed eggs so 100% mum

females are diploid- fertilised egg so 50% mum, 50% dad

females more related to sister than to mum! only 0.25 to brothers

how is reproductive labour divided in naked mole rates?

-one reproductive female

-1-3 reproductive males

-reproductive suppression of workers

how and why do naked mole rats cooperate?

lots close relations

cooperative brood care, cooperative foraging (sharing food)

in wild turkeys coalitions are formed to court and defend females, how related are the dominant and subordinate male?

via using microsatellite markers r~0.5 so brother-brother or father-son

how did Krakauer estimate benefits and costs of male turkeys forming coalitions?

benefits- compare reproductive success of single and dominant males (additional 6.1 offspring)

cost- compare reproductive success of subordinate and single males (loss of around 0.9 offspring)

what are some indirect or direct benefits to being a cooperator?

indirect- kin selection

direct- by-product benefits (e.g. in hunting improves net food intake), reciprocity (longer term mutualism, usually when repeated interaction), enforcement (cost of defecting are high (punishment))

how does deception benefit the deceptor?

taken care of, e.g. large blue butterfly caterpillars deceiving ants, cuckoos deceiving reed warblers

in what scenario does spite occur

if r is negative- less related than population average, sometimes longer term direct benefit- e.g. fight between males, possible benefit to more close related individual (e.g. parasitoid wasps-larvae develop normal or develop as sterile soldiers that kill larvae of opposite sex, surviving larvae develop inside and hatch)

why do c. floridanum sterile soldiers kill larvae of the opposite sex?

same sex r=1

opposite sex r=0.25

what are the benefits of cooperation and defection (in the prisoners dilemma)

defection pays if other cooperates- 4,1

cooperation pays if other cooperates- 3,3