Behavioral Ecology

Behavioral Ecology

• Behavioral ecology: the study of how behaviors arise due to ecology and evolution
    * Behavior: an animal’s response to a stimulus (internal or external)
      * Nature vs nurture (genetic and environmental factors)
      * Allow for survival and reproduction
        * Subject to natural selection

Understanding Behavior

• Proximate cause: how a behavior occurs or how it is modified
    * What was the stimulus to cause the behavior?
    * How does the “nurture” component affect behavior (ie how do the experiences during growth and development influence the response)?

• Ultimate cause: why a behavior occurs (in context of natural selection)
    * How does the behavior help the animal survive and reproduce?
    * How does the “nature” component affect behavior (ie what is the evolutionary basis of the behavior)?

Types of Behavior

• Behavior can be innate or learned
    * Innate behaviors: developmentally fixed 
      * Hereditary, born behaviors, do not need to learn them
      * Experience during growth has no obvious effect 
    * Learned behaviors: depend on environmental influence
      * Experiences DO affect these behaviors
      * High variation in a population

Innate Behaviors

• Fixed action patterns (FAPs): a sequence of unlearned acts directly linked to a stimulus
    * Actions are unchangeable
    * Carried out to completion
    * Triggered by a sign stimulus (external cue)
      * Example: stickleback fish
• Innate behaviors are inherited
    * Unlearned behavior
      * Environmental indifference - performed the same way by all members of a species
      * Ensures that activities essential to survival are performed correctly without practice
      * Eg. goose
• Migration: a regular, long-distance change in location
    * Triggered by environmental cues
      * Sun’s position
      * Earth’s magnetic field
      * Celestial cues
• Signal: a stimulus generated and transmitted from one animal to another; animal communication
    * Examples: visual, auditory, tactile, electrical, chemical
      * Pheromones: chemicals emitted by members of a species that can affect other members of the same species
      * Stimulus response chains: when a response to a stimulus serves as the next stimulus for a behavior
        * Seen in animal courtships
      * Body movement
        * Example: waggle dance in bees 

Communication and Signals

• Pheromones: chemicals emitted by members of one species that affect other members of the species (eg. Queen bee, fruit fly, fish)
• Visual signals: eg. warning flash of white of a mockingbird's wing
• Tactile (touch): eg. male fruit fly taps female fly
• Auditory signals: screech of blue jay or song of warbler

Directed Movements (Innate Behaviors)

• Directed movements: movements towards or away from a stimulus
    * Kinesis: random movement in response to a stimulus; non directional
    * Taxis: directional movement towards (positive) or away from (negative) a stimulus
      * Phototaxis: movement in response to light
      * Chemotaxis: movement in response to chemical signals
      * Geotaxis: movement in response to gravity

Learned Behaviors

• Learning: the modification of behavior based on specific experiences
• Imprinting: a long-lasting behavioral response to an individual
    * Happens during a sensitive period of development (usually very early in life)
      * Imprinting occurs on the first individual they encounter
        * Example: ducks following their mother
• Spatial learning: establishing memories based upon the spatial structure of the animal’s surroundings
    * Some animals form a cognitive map or use landmarks as environmental cues
      * Example: birds finding their hidden nests
• Associative learning: the ability to associate one environmental feature with another
    * Example: associating monarch butterflies with a foul taste
• Social learning: learning through observations and imitations of the observed behaviors
    * Example: chimps breaking open oil palm nuts