Ch 51 B

• Niko Tinbergen identified questions that should be asked about animal behavior
• Tinbergen's questions


  1. What stimulus elicits the behavior, and what physiological mechanisms mediate the response?

  2. How does the animal's experience during growth and development influence the response?

  3. How does the behavior aid survival and reproduction?
• Behavioral ecology


  The study of the ecological basis for animal behavior
• Proximate causation


  Addresses how a behavior occurs or is modified, including Tinbergen's questions 1 and 2
• Ultimate causation


  Addresses why a behavior occurs in the context of natural selection, and ecology
• Fixed action pattern


  A sequence of unlearned acts directly linked to a simple stimulus
• Fixed action patterns are unchangeable and, once initiated, usually carried to completion
• Sign stimulus


  An external cue that triggers a fixed action pattern
• Tinbergen's observation of male stickleback fish

  • Males will not attack fish lacking red coloration, but they will attack even unrealistic models that have areas of red color
• Migration


  A regular, long-distance change in location
• Cues animals use to orient themselves during migration

  • The sun, using their circadian clock to adjust for changes in its position
  • The North Star
  • Earth's magnetic field
• Circadian rhythm


  A daily cycle of rest and activity
• Behaviors linked to circannual rhythms

  • Migration
  • Reproduction
• Seasonal cues


  Periods of daylight and darkness
• Some behaviors are linked to lunar cycles, which affect tidal movements
• Signal


  A stimulus transmitted from one organism to another
• Communication


  The transmission and reception of signals between animals
• Forms of animal communication

  • Visual
  • Chemical
  • Tactile
  • Auditory
• If all three steps are successful, the female will allow the male to copulate
• Pheromones


  Chemical substances emitted by animals that communicate through odors or tastes
• Pheromones can be effective at very low concentrations
• Innate behavior


  Developmentally fixed and does not vary among individuals
• Cross-fostering study


  Placing the young from one species in the care of adults from another species in a similar environment
• Twin studies


  Comparing the relative influences of genetics and environment on behavior
• Learning


  The modification of behavior based on specific experiences
• Imprinting


  The establishment of a long-lasting behavioral response to a particular individual or object
• Imprinting can only take place during a specific time in development called the sensitive period
• If their first exposure is to a human, young greylag geese will imprint on the human and not recognize their biological mother
• Spatial learning


  The establishment of a memory that reflects the environment's spatial structure
• Cognitive map


  An internal representation of spatial relationships between objects in an animal's surroundings
• Associative learning


  Animals associate one feature of their environment with another
• Classical conditioning


  A type of associative learning in which an arbitrary stimulus is associated with a reward or punishment
• Operant conditioning


  A type of associative learning in which an animal learns to associate one of its behaviors with a reward or punishment
• There is some restriction to the type of associations that can be formed between environmental stimulus and behavior
• Cognition


  A process of knowing that involves awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgment
• Problem solving


  A cognitive activity of devising a strategy to overcome an obstacle
• Social learning


  Learning through the observation of others
• Culture


  A system of information transfer through observation or teaching that influences behavior of individuals in a population
• Culture can alter behavior and influence the fitness of individuals
• Ravens


  • Can obtain food suspended by a string by pulling up the string