Exam 1 Evol Animal behavior

DMT

• Dead man test (Dr. Ogden Lindsay)

  • “If a dead man can do it—> NOT behavior”

  • “If a dead man can’t do —>  Behavior”

• Ex:

  • spider mating calls

  • venus fly trap

  • NOT: white blood cell chasing bacteria

Behavior

• internally coordinated responses of whole living organism to internal &/or external stimulus

Evolution

• inherited changes over time

  • DNA(genes—>encoded behavior) is passed from parent—>offspring

  • Changes —> mutations in DNA

    • neutral, advantageous, deleterius

  • Time

Natural Selection

• differntial survival + reproduction

• of individuals w/ certain advantageous traits that contribute disproportionately (RS) to the makeup of offspring to the next gen

  • differential survival + reproduction ≠ b/c unpredictable environ

    • limited resources(space, food, mates(females),water)

Species

individuals that have the potential to interbreed & produce live, fertile young

Population

• all indiv of a species living in same area at the time

  • evolution occurs

Fitness

• contribution & indiv mem of pop makes towards next gen. RELATIVE to other indiv in the same pop

Reproductive Sucess

• passing on genes to next gen in a way they(next gen) can pass on the genes —> many gen.

• Ex: manetees

  • paraoxonase 1 —> loss function —> advantageous

  • normal: breakdown organs phosphate (pesticide)

  • disproportionally 

Great Tit

• Authroponphoric

• genetic variations

• personality variations

  • bold= short latency, quick exploratory resp, inc % of death, faster food

  • shy=slow in exploratory resp, dec % of find food, safer

• Lab ext

  • Bold: short latency

  • Shy: Longest latency

Birds

• inc cigarettes & bird(mites) dec

• cellulose bottom of nest to see how many mites fall down

• cigarette butts: smoked vs unsmoked

Marine Isopod

• Lives in spongecoel

• Alpha male =largest

  • orgnamented w/ horns

  • surrounded by harem

  • aggressive

  • highest RS

• Beta male= looks like female

  • enter spongocoel—> alpha doesn’t recognize

  • lower RS than alpha

    • >1 females in spongecoel

• Gamma Male= smallest

  • sneakers

    • Highest RS if spongecoel has lots of female

Predatory Caterpillar

• Oahu(bone collector)

• Caterpillar collects eaten insect limbs

Umwelt

german =environment

Jacob von Vexkull (1864-1944)

Ethology

scientific study of animal behavior & the underlying mechanism of behavior

• bees —> UV patterns of colors in flowers

• ticks —> butyric acid —> sweat of mammals

• pit vipers —> infared light —> heat

• human eye —> 30-60 frames per sec

  • baseball players are genetically able to see faster

Tinbergen 4 ?’s

Proximate Mechanism: (how/what) immediate causes of behavior

1. What is the mechanism that causes behavior?

   • hormones, pheromones, internal cues

2. how does this behavior develop during the lifetime of individual?

   • experiences

3. What is the function of the behavior?

   • WHY is animal preforming behavior?

4. How did behavior evolve?

   • How has NS modified behavior over evolutionary time?

Ultimate Mechanism: (why ?’s)

Funnel- Building Spiders

• 1 species found in 2 diff ecological niches

• Ripariah

  • Arizona (Woodlands near water)

  • Lush vegetation

  • abundant prey

  • Lots of predators

  • Proximate: females not territorial

  • Ultimate: allows other females to build nests near them, b/c of abundant prey

  • Predator Response: very slow, avoids being eaten, plenty of prey

• Desert Grassland

  • New Mexico (dry, hot, active @ night)

  • fewer prey/predators

  • Proximate: females more aggressive & territorial

  • Ultimate: fight b/c lack of prey

  • Predator Response: very fast, scarce prey & few predators

Spider Nesting Behavior

• Riparian

  • not territorial, allows nearby nest

• Desert

  • territorial, does not allow nearby nest

Nesting behavior is encoded genes

Spider Offspring Predator Latency/Response

• Riparian

  • slow b/c lots of prey & predators

• Desert

  • fast b/c few prey

Similar to parents, shown to be a part of genes or innate/inherited

Spider Environ Swap

• Riparian

  • transported to desert, poor survival(starved)

• Desert

  • transported to woods, okay but killed by predators

Tinbergen Characterized Innate Behaviors

• Heritable = genes passed from parent to offspring

• Intrinsic= animals behaved in isolation will preform behavior perfectly

• Stereotypically= preformed the same way every time by indiv in the same species (tiny minor variation)

• Inflexible= not modified by development/experience

• Consummate= fully developed + expressed perfectly the 1st time done

• FAP= fixed action pattern

  • evolutionary adaption to ensure that a particular stimulus elicits the approp response

Greylay Goose

• Use head/beak to roll eggs into nest

• Proximate causation mechanism(sign stimulus) —> start FAP —> innate behavior contin until head under belly

Optimal Trait Value

• Timbergon put strange obj outside of nests

• OTV: trait value that confirms the highest fitness in particular environment

1. put egg at various dist from nest

   • under 2 ft will get obj b/c high fitness to RS

Super Normal Stimulus

abnormally large (artificial) stimulus releases FAP

• Ex: 3-spined stickleback (non-breeding season)

  • males belly turns red right before breeding season

  • b/c sperm comp(wants to be last to flush out rest of sperm/competition

  • Expt: put green light in tank, males don’t attack(can’t detect red color)

    • put obj that looked like males w/ red belly & they attacked

Lorenz Imprinting

• phase-sensitive learning that. is restricted to a small time window during development

• Expt: Took ½ eggs for himself(post-imprinting) & ½ to mom

  • They both feed the babies who imprinted to them

  • Mixed—> put into box—> babies ran to “mothers”

• Expt: relocation of bald ibis over the ALOS by post-imprinting for a safer route

NS

• acts of differential survival of heritable variations

  • males + female = similar traits

SS

• differential sexual success w/ heritable features that contribute to success in obtaining mates

  • males(features) + females(choice) = NOT SAME traits

“Law of Battle”

• intra(within)sexual selection

• intense male-male competition

• traits: ornaments(aggressive, horns, claws, fangs)

• sexual dimorphism: males larger than females

“Taste for the Beautiful”

• inter(b/w)sexual selection

• Females choose males based on innate preferences

• traits: (plumage/colors), calls, dances, nest building

Conflicts B/w NS vs. SS

• starts @ gamate stage

  • Females:

    • species = yolk=nutrient ; 50% body weight egg for bird

    • limited # of gamete

    • finite periods

    • Pre-preganacy: more food, % death w/ predators

    • Post: care for offspring

    • leads to dichotomy

  • Males

    • no yolk, no contribution

    • infinite gamete #

    • few species provide parental care

    • little cost

Fruit Fly

1. Did all males mate?

   • no, there is huge variation in indiv males R.S

     • low males= high R.S.

     • more males = low R.S.

Honest Indicators

• proxy for hidden traits (good sperm, no mutation, good immune system, health)

• traits: beautiful, energetic, dance/song, territory, protection

Direct Benefits

NS favors females who have genetic dispositions to choose mates that can provide them w/ tangible resources that can INC their freaudity

• max potential reproductive output of an indiv over a lifetime

Scorpimfly

• Females only mate w. male if he presents her w/ prey that is x>19mm³

  • Non-breeding system: M+F hunt for all size prey

  • Reason: length of prey & length of copulation

Black Widow Spider

• males eaten by females after mating

  • sexual sacrifice

Good Gene Theory

• extreme ornamentation w/ no gifts

  • indicates genetic quality of male behavior as the breeding value of fitness

• DARWIN: “states that 2^nd sexual characteristics evolved to attract females despite it being detrimental to male survival”

  • Peacock: 1^o= feather colors, 2^o= sex organs

Pronghorn Antelops

• females sample many male territory sites, look for best defense

• Picked Males: larger sons, faster growth rate, more fawn born

Peacock

• Females checking bottom feathers

  • males w/ clean bottoms: escaped predators, “Best male” w/ hidden proxy traits

Fruit Fly

• M: provides nuptial gift(high nutrient content)

• F: licks droplet 

• Gene= FruM=Fruitles M

  • insulin-like peptide-producing cells (IPC)

AJ Bateman

• M: high variance in RS, inherit physical traits from their fathers to pass onto sons

• F: RS is linked to egg production—>(linked to limited coputation) inherit preference —>pass to daughters'

  • 1 M: copulate + fertilize ALL egg in 1 female

Red Jungle Fown

Trait: immune system to parasite infection

• have intestinal parasites —> immune system is fighting

• When Sick: red comb dulls color & size

Ext: Not Infected vs. Infected

• 1. measures red intensity—> control red

• 2. Size of comb —> control size

  • 1/2: PROXY for not getting infected

• 3. F mated w/ infected males

Mosquitofish

• F: looking for male size

Ext: Young males(food restricted 3 weeks) + young males

• unlimited food, adult became same size

• F: went for control (not food restricted)(they dont know why)

Sexy-son Hypothesis

• females chose “sexy” males as mate b/c the male(father) will pass on sexy + attractive traits to his male offsprings (sons) so that the male offspring will be attractive to females of next gen

EX: Sandflies

Ext 1: 10 Virgin F+M & #3M was chosen by all 10 F

• all 10 males mated + have offspring

Ext 2: Offspring of expt 1

• male offspring from original male #3 was chosen by 1F again

Symmetry

• few mutations, nutrition, totally avoided predators

Ex: Barn Swallow

Ext 1: (symmetrical)M1 vs (not symmertical)m2

• F: pick symmetrical M1

Expt 2: (added wing height)M1 w/ M3(symmetrical)

• F: pick symmetrical M3

FEMALE: Looks for symmetrical tail feathers

Runaway Selection

Ronald Fisher

• exaggerated 2^nd sexual charactertics of animals could evolve by means of runway evolutionary process in which as initial small adaptive dimorphism was further developed & heightened w/ ongoing combin of female selective choice & inc male advantage

Ex: Stalk-eyed Fly

• became bolder traits b/c F liked small change —>time—> big feature

Male-mate Choice

Ex:Spiny- footed lizard

• male decision —> red colored tail + large(more eggs, inc fitness) in females

• Juvenile M(white color) + F(red color)

  • Mature M: no white

  • Mated F": became white

Expt 1: White Adult vs Red Subadult

Expt 2: White subadult vs Red Adult

Expt 3: Odor White Adult vs Odor Red Subadult

Expt 4: F(painted red) vs F(painted white)

• Expt 1-3: M prefer bigger lizard b/c inc fecundity than red tail

Bower Birds

1. Why do F want a bower to be made by M?

   • skewed sex ratio(m>f) 

   • M: intense comp

   • F: want choice & protection to observe male

• Simple bower —> may pulp

• Complex bower—> F comes from back and chooses

Great Bower Bird

• build a bower w/ forced perspective

  • small rocks —>big

• Expt: rearranged order (big—>small), Bird freaked out and rearranged it back to small—>big