Animal Behavior ch14-15

Pros of Visual Communication

• allows wary localization of sender

• rapidly transmitted

Cons of Visual communication

• receiver and sender have to be within visual distance

• signal can be blocked by obstructions or darkness

• stops as soon as sender stops

Pros of Audition communication

• travel far distances

• fast & transitory

• avoids visual blockages

What is the respiratory structure that mammals use for auditory communication?

larynx

What is the respiratory structure that birds use for auditory communication?

syrinx

Stridulation

act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts

ultrasound

high frequency sounds that are above human hearing

Infrasound

below range of human hearing

substrate vibration

auditory communication using seismic vibrations

Pros of chemical communication

• may travel in the air

• can last

• takes less energy to produce

• lower complexity

Cons of chemical communication

• slower to transmit

• can be tracked by predators

• harder to locate sender

Aerial Chemoreception

detection of chemical signals in the air.

ex: signal when a female dog is in

heat.

Contact Chemoreception

detection of chemical signals through direct contact, touch.

ex: ants use contact chemoreception to evaluate a strange ant

Odor Mosaics

complex mixture of chemicals that can specify the signaler

ex: common marmoset

Vomeronasal Organs

used to detect pheromones

Flehman response

animals making a facial movement that conveys the chemicals to the receptors

ex: snakes and lizards using their tongues

Aggregation

group of individuals in one location. these pheromones function in defense against predators, mate selection, and overcoming host resistance by mass attack.

Alarm Pheromones

Some species release a volatile substance when attacked by a predator, notifying conspecifics, which can trigger flight or aggression.

Releaser pheromones

Pheromones that cause an alteration in the behavior of the recipient.

• rapid response and is quickly degraded

ex: powerful attractants

Primer pheromones

Pheromones that trigger a change of developmental events (instead of a change in behavior)

• slower onset and longer duration

ex: nursing behavior

Signal pheromones

pheromones cause short-term changes in behavior, such as a neurotransmitter release that activates a response

Territorial pheromones

pheromones mark the boundaries of an organism's territory.

Trail pheromones

pheromones that will set out a trail so conspecifics can find the nest or resources.

ex: ants

Sex pheromones

pheromones indicate the availability of the female for breeding.

information pheromones

pheromones are indicative of an animal's identity or territory.

Direct parental care

includes behaviors that have an immediate physical effect on the offspring and their

ex: birds feeding chicks, reptiles caring for their eggs

indirect parental care

includes behaviors that do not have an immediate physical effect on the offspring

• building nests

• establishing territory

• defending resources

• caring for pregnant female

Intrabrood conflict

b/w members of same litter

• “sibling rivalry”

• obligate vs facultative siblicide

Interbrood conflict

b/w members of current and future offspring

ex: Galapagos Fur seal - seal pups from previous year will kill newest pup if food is scarce

obligate siblicide

sibling almost always ends up being killed

ex: Nazca boobies will push younger chick out of nest

Facultative Siblicide

siblicide may or may not occur, based on environmental condition

• fighting is common

Reproductive Value Model

models tradeoffs b/w reproduction, growth, and survivorship. and organisms reproductive value (RV) is defined as its expected contribution to the population through both current and future reproduction

Cost of Reproduction hypothesis

predicts that higher investment in current reproduction hinders growth and survivorship and reduces future reproduction, while investments in growth will pay off with higher fecundity and reproductive episodes in the future

J. Creighton, N. Heflin, & M. Belk

found that beetles that has allocated too many resources to current reproduction also has the shortest lifespans. they also had the fewest reproductive events and offspring

Case Study: Bluegill

show that males who are guarding eggs will vary their behavior based on exposure to sneaker males.

more sneaker males = less aggressive when protecting eggs

Sex allocation

the way in which parents invest resources between male versus female offspring

• typically restricted to diecious species

Dioecious species

are species where the individuals are either male or female for their entire lifetime

How is sex allocation usually accomplished

1. increased production of young of one gender

2. providing more or better resources to offspring of one gender over the other

Which group of animals shows 81% maternal care and 9% biparental care?

mammals

Which group of animals show 8% maternal care and 81%biparental care?

birds

Which group of animals show 62% maternal care and 38%biparental care?

Crocodilians

Which groups of animals show a very high percentage of No Care?

Chondrichthyes, Teleost, Anurans, and Squamata

operational sex ratio

ratio of potentially mating males to fertilize females to females.

• the males are more abundant and so would be the sex to compete for the limiting resource of females.

potential reproductive rate

maximum number of offspring that each parent can produce per unit time.

• males » females

Brood Parasitism

manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the parasite

• relieves the parasitic parent from the investment of

  rearing young or building nests, enabling them to spend more time foraging, producing offspring, etc.

• reduces the reproductive fitness of the hosts.

Intraspecific brood parasitism

one parent depositing its eggs into the nest/care of a conspecific.

ex: birds

Interspecific brood parasites

involves a parent depositing her eggs into the nest/care of a host of another species. These are obligate brood parasites because they are unable to build a nest of their own

ex: cuckoo catfish

Mating System

a way in which a group is structured in relation to sexual behavior

• monogamy

• promiscuity

• polygamy

  • polygyny

  • polyandry

  • polygynandry

Polygyny

One male has an exclusive relationship with two or more females.

• most common

ex: wood mouse

Polyandry

One female has an exclusive relationship with two or more males

Polygynandry

where two or more males have an exclusive relationship with two or more females

Promiscuity

member of one sex within the social group mates with any member of the opposite sex.

Monogamy

exclusive mating partner for a breeding season ex: love birds

What is the benefit of monogamy to the male?

1. When biparental care is necessary, or very important, to the survival of the offspring then monogamy would be selectively favored.

2. Circumstances that make it difficult for a male to monopolize multiple females will favor monogamy over polygamy.

3. Monogamy can evolve in mate guarding systems because a male can successfully guard only one female.

Social Monogamy

overtly observed living arrangement whereby a male and female share territory and engage in behavior indicative of a social pair, but does not imply any particular sexual fidelity or reproductive pattern.

Sexual Monogamy

exclusive sexual relationship between a female and a male based on observations of sexual interactions.

Costs of male in extra-pair mating

1. cost of finding a receptive female other than his mate

2. cost of his mate possibly mating with another male while he is away

Pro of male in extra-pair mating

1. benefit if increasing his reproductive success

2. decreased chance of inbreeding

Female benefits in extra-pair mating

1. Female may gain additional assistance in rearing her young.

2. extra resources

3. may take more than one bird’s sperm to inseminate all of her eggs

4. may increase the quality of genes

5. decreased change of inbreeding

genetic monogamy

DNA analyses confirming that a female-male pair reproduce exclusively with each other

polygyny threshold hypothesis

proposes that polygynous matings are beneficial to females when the benefits achieved by mating with a high quality male and by gaining access to his resources increase her reproductive fitness over the costs involved.

Female defense polygyny

male herds the females into a cluster.

This allows them to be protected by the male, while the male has continuous access to the females, and prevents other males form mating with them.

ex: fur seals & elephant seals

Resource defense polygyny

male guards a resource that the female needs for reproduction.

access to resource = access to female

ex: African Cichlid

Lek Defense Polygyny

male defends a symbolic territory located at a traditional display site called a lek.

lek

gathering of males, of certain animal species, for the purposes of competitive mating display.

Polyandry

female mates with many males

• reduce effective population size

• easier to ensure reproductive success

ex: field cricket

polygynandry

where two or more males have an exclusive relationship with two or more females

• greater genetic diversity

• less need for competition

• greater protection of young

ex: bonobo chimps

Agonistic Message

communication is conflict communication

affilative display

are made to indicate that a dominant animal accepts the presence of another

Who first translated the meaning of the bee Waggle dance?

Karl von Frisch

Waggle dance

communicate distance and direction of food

round dance

communicate location of food. has to be less than 35 yards away