Ch. 51 (Animal Behavior) Key Terms

Behavioral ecology

The study of the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior

Behavior

An action carried out by the muscles under control of the nervous system

Fixed action pattern

A sequence of unlearned acts directly linked to a simple stimulus

Sign stimulus

An external cue that triggers a behavior

Migration

A regular, long-distance change in location

Signal

Any kind of information sent from one organism to another, or from one place in an organism to another place.

Communication

1) in behavior, a process involving the transmission and reception of signals between organisms.

2) transfer of information from one cell or molecule to another by means of chemical or physical signals.

Pheromones

In animals and fungi, a small molecule released into the environment that functions in communication between members of the same species. In animals, it acts much like a hormone in influencing physiology and behavior.

Innate behavior

Animal behavior that is developmentally fixed and under strong genetic control. Innate behavior is exhibited in virtually the same form by all individuals in a population despite internal and external environmental differences during development and throughout their lifetimes.

Learning

the modification of behavior as a result of specific experiences.

Imprinting

In animal behavior, the formation at a specific stage in life of a long-lasting behavioral response to a specific individual or object.

Sensitive period

A limited phase in an animal’s development when learning of particular behaviors can take place; also called a critical period

Spatial learning

the establishment of a memory that reflects the environment’s spacial structure.

Cognitive map

a neural representation of the abstract spatial relationships between objects in an animal’s surroundings.

Associative learning

the acquired ability to associate one environmental feature (such as a color) with another (such as danger).

Cognition

the process of knowing that may include awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgement.

Problem solving

the cognitive activity of devising a method to proceed from one state to another in the face of real or apparent obstacles.

Social learning

Modification of behavior through the observation of other individuals.

Culture

a system of information transfer through social learning or teaching that influences the behavior of individuals in a population.

Foraging

the seeking and obtaining of food

Optimal foraging model

the basis for analyzing behavior as a compromise between feeding costs and feeding benefits.

Monogamous

referring to a type of relationship in which one male mates with one female.

Polygamous

referring to a type of relationship in which an individual of one sex mates with several of the other.

Mate-choice copying

behavior in which individuals in a population copy the mate choice of others, apparently due to social learning.

Game theory

an approach to evaluating alternative strategies in situations where the outcome of a particular strategy depends on the strategies used by other individuals.

Antidiuretic hormone (ADH)

a peptide hormone, also called vasopressin, that promotes water retention by the kidneys. Produced in the hypothalamus and released from the posterior pituitary, ADH also functions in the brain.

Altruism

selflessness; behavior that reduces an individual’s fitness while increasing the fitness of another individual.

Inclusive fitness

the total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing its own offspring and by providing aid that enables other close relatives to increase production of their offspring.

Coefficient of relatedness

the fraction of genes that, on average, are shared by two individuals.

Hamilton’s rule

the principle that for natural selection to favor an altruistic act, the benefit to the recipient, devalued by the coefficient of relatedness, must exceed the cost of the altruist.

Kin selection

natural selection that favors altruistic behavior by enhancing the reproductive success of relatives.

Reciprocal altruism

altruistic behavior between unrelated individuals, whereby the altruistic individual benefits in the future when the beneficiary reciprocates.