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| Why study animal behavior? |
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Definition
| Practical & Application reasons |
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Term
| Practical reasons for studying animal behavior |
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Definition
Animal Welfare (labs)
Agriculture (productivity)
Research
I.E. catching sea turtles and nursing them back to life after they had been caught in fish lines. |
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| Application reasons for studying animal behavior |
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Definition
Lizards clinging to walls; military usage to develop robots that immitate how the lizards climb
CONSERVATION |
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Definition
How Q's
- Genetics
- Developmental Mechanisms
- Physiology |
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Definition
Why Q's
- Evolutionary History
- Function
- Past and Current Usefulness of the behavior |
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Term
| Examples of Proximate Q's |
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Definition
| What stimulus caused the birds to sing? Does it have to do with a seasonal cue from the environment such as longer day length? Does time of day stimulate song? Does sunrise stimulate singing in the morning? What kind of muscles and phys structure allow the animals to produce various sounds? Do hormones initiate singing behavior? how does the animals song control center in the brain change in preparation for song production? |
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Definition
- (What is the function of singing?) Do male birds that sing more establish better territories? Do singing birds attract more mates? Does it increase the animals’ mating success? What are the benefits of singing versus the costs (such as attracting the attention of predators) involved in performing the behavior? Why do the birds sing in the spring?
--evolution- What is the evolutionary history of singing in these animals? Did ancestral songbird populations sing in the spring? Are the songs of closely related species more similar to one another than the songs of distantly related species? Does the behavior vary depending on the type of bird studied? |
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| More Examples of Proximate Q's |
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Definition
| development : Do the birds learn to sing? If so, is the behavior acquired through conditioning and/or observation of others? Do young songbirds exhibit singing? Does the behavior change as the bird matures and reaches sexual maturity? Can we identify any genes that are specifically activated during song learning or song production? |
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Term
| Examples of Proximate Q's |
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Definition
| What stimulus caused the birds to sing? Does it have to do with a seasonal cue from the environment such as longer day length? Does time of day stimulate song? Does sunrise stimulate singing in the morning? What kind of muscles and phys structure allow the animals to produce various sounds? Do hormones initiate singing behavior? how does the animals song control center in the brain change in preparation for song production? |
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Term
| What are the 4 categories of Q's about animal behavior? |
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Definition
1. Causation: What are the mechanisms that cause the behavior?
2. Development: How long does it survive?
3. Function: What is its survival rate?
4. Evolution: Why did it evolve? |
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| How do we use the Sci Method? (steps) |
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Definition
1. Make observations
2. Ask a Q
3. Hypothesis
4. Experiment
5. Results
6. Accept or Reject Hypothesis
7. Alt. Hypothesis |
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Term
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Definition
| Change in the frequency of some types of genes relative to others; this means that individual has a greater genetic representation in the next gene pool (success rate) |
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Definition
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Term
| 3 Conditions of Natural Selection |
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Definition
1. Variation
2. Heredity
3. Differential Reproduction |
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Definition
| Trait that is examined will change; not all the bears put on the same amount of fat reserves |
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Definition
| trait past from parent to offspring in a way that offspring resemble their parents |
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Term
| Differential Reproduction |
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Definition
| individuals with certain versions of the trait (like larger fat reserves) will produce more successfully and have more successful offspring |
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Term
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Definition
1. Mutation = Changes in the Genes
2. Changes during formation of Sperm/Egg
3. Sexual Recombination: those that survive/reproduce the most will have favorable variations for the current conditions |
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Definition
Variation
Survival & Reproduction are NOT random |
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Term
| What is the biological definition of "adaptation?" |
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Definition
| Adaptations are the characteristics that confer higher fitness, traits maintained as a result of natural selection. |
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Term
| What is meant by local adaptation? Example? |
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Definition
Changing in response to the physical environment, and can mean different things for animals in different areas.
Example: Does the behavior of mole rats differ in different areas? Yes, arid vs non-arid climates |
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Term
| How can a non-adaptive trait be maintained in a population? |
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Definition
1. Genes can be linked together (Pleiotropy)
2. Time and Environmental Differences |
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Term
| How do we explain the evolution of dogs from ancestral wolf populations and the multitude of dog breeds? |
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Definition
| The dogs that were naturally tame and took interest in humans found that they were able to get food easier so humans kept them around, so humans only domesticated the dogs they wanted and if 2 dogs had 2 beneficial traits people enjoyed they would then breed those 2 dogs together in order to combine both traits into the offspring |
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Term
| More Examples of Proximate Q's |
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Definition
| development : Do the birds learn to sing? If so, is the behavior acquired through conditioning and/or observation of others? Do young songbirds exhibit singing? Does the behavior change as the bird matures and reaches sexual maturity? Can we identify any genes that are specifically activated during song learning or song production? |
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Term
| What trait determined which foxes were selected to breed? What other traits besides behavior changed over time in the population? |
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Definition
| The foxes were selected based on their levels of aggressive behavior. The experimenters were looking for docility or “tamability”. Although the foxes were selected based only on this behavior, in addition to a change in the levels of aggression, researchers noted other changes such as fur color and markings (piebald coloration). |
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Term
| How did they show that “tameness” had a genetic basis? |
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Definition
| They observed that this trait could be passed on from generation to generation; i.e., that the trait could be selected for and spread through the population over time. They also did a cross-fostering experiment to rule out the effect of a mother’s influence on behavior. Tame pups raised by aggressive mothers were still tame and aggressive pups raised by docile mothers were still aggressive showing that the trait is inherited, not learned from mom. |
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Term
| Compare and contrast selection in the experiment with the conditions of natural selection. |
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Definition
| Both natural selection and the experiment require the condition of variation (in the experiment, there was variation in levels of aggression). In the experiment, an example of “artificial selection”, those individuals who were less aggressive were selected to breed (so there was differential reproduction.) The trait is heritable and can be passed on from generation to generation. So the three conditions of natural selection are observed in the experiment. The difference is that people were the ones doing the selecting in the experiment rather than some conditions of the environment. |
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Term
| How do we explain the evolution of dogs from ancestral wolf populations and the multitude of dog breeds? |
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Definition
| The dogs that were naturally tame and took interest in humans found that they were able to get food easier so humans kept them around, so humans only domesticated the dogs they wanted and if 2 dogs had 2 beneficial traits people enjoyed they would then breed those 2 dogs together in order to combine both traits into the offspring |
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Term
| What is an Evolutionary Stable Strategy? |
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Definition
| . A lizard inherits the mating strategy of “sneaker male” and successfully mates with a female who is located on another male’s territory. However, when the “sneaker” is surrounded by males who mate-guard only one female, he is unsuccessful at his mating attempts. |
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Term
| How do we explain the evolution of dogs from ancestral wolf populations and the multitude of dog breeds? |
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Definition
| The dogs that were naturally tame and took interest in humans found that they were able to get food easier so humans kept them around, so humans only domesticated the dogs they wanted and if 2 dogs had 2 beneficial traits people enjoyed they would then breed those 2 dogs together in order to combine both traits into the offspring |
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Term
| How do you test for Adaptiveness? |
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Definition
| Observing, Comparing, and Experimenting |
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Term
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Definition
| Genes contain instructions for making proteins |
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| What is DNA and what are some functions of proteins? |
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Definition
DNA are contained in chromosomes and most animals have pairs.
- Enzymes to control chemical reactions
- Structures (muscles, fur, claws)
- Hormones
- Sensory Receptors
- Regulators of Genome (determine which genes are expressed) |
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Definition
| Usually more complicated than the single gene, single effect. |
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Definition
| Single phenotypic properties are affected by several genes, very common. |
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Definition
Single genes can have multiples effects.
Ex: the per gene in fruit flies affects both circadian rhythms and courtship song
Ex 2: Siamese cats inherit white coat and cross-eyes |
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Term
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Definition
| Epigenetics explore the interactions of genes and environment to determine what factors cause changes in gene expression. |
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Term
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Definition
Exposure to an enriched environment in rats causes an increase in gene expression in the brain which increases brain growth which increases rats ability to learn.
-Social rank of macaques has been shown to affect gene expression. Lower ranking monkeys showed increased production of stress hormones and decreased functioning of the immune system. |
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Term
| How do we know learning is adaptive? |
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Definition
| Ex: spatial memory; nutrackers cache up to 33000 seeds and memory of where the seeds are is a matter of life or death for the birds. |
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Term
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Definition
| . An animal stops responding to a repeated harmless stimulus. The clamworm Nereis will react to a shadow by ducking into a burrow. This protects the animal from a potential predator. After repeated exposure to a harmless shadow (such as that caused by an overhanging seaweed), the clamworm ceases to respond to the shadow overhead when it learns that the shadow is harmless. |
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Definition
| Animals learn without an immediate reward and this can allow them to be successful in a later situation. Example: mice previously allowed to explore a room were better able to evade a predator than were mice unfamiliar with the room; seed caching and spatial memory can be another example of delayed reward |
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Term
| Rule and Concept Learning |
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Definition
| An animal learns concepts or rules that apply to given objects in the environment. For example, animals, including many birds and primates, learn to select objects based on color or shape. Review the example of Alex, the African Gray parrot, adept at this type of learning. |
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Term
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Definition
| Learning by observation of the behavior of another animal. Includes Imitation Learning. Examples to study: Potato washing in snow monkeys, Stealing milk in birds, tandem running in ants, Diet choice in rats (rats learn what is good to eat by observing and smelling what other rats have eaten |
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Definition
| An unconditioned (“natural”) behavior is paired with a conditioned (learned) stimulus. A stimulus normally elicits a response. If it is consistently paired with a previously neutral stimulus, the animal learns the association and the formerly neutral stimulus will now elicit the response. Animals learn to respond to a signal associated with another stimulus. Dogs normally salivate in response to food. Pavlov trained dogs to associate the sound of a bell with the presentation of food. After training, they salivated in response to the bell. |
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Definition
| A voluntary action is associated with a positive or negative consequence. If a rat in a Skinner box happens to press a lever that results in the delivery of a food item, it will learn to press the lever. If a mouse in a maze receives an electric shock when it turns to the left, it will learn to turn to the right. |
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Term
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Definition
| Reasoning. After some experience, animals are able to process information in a way that allows them to “figure out” how to solve a novel problem. Examples to study: Kohler’s chimps put together two sticks to obtain food that was out of reach, crow uses sequence of tools to obtain food, pigeons and chimps move boxes to reach reward. Chimps and crows modify tools. |
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Definition
| The animal learns several details about the situation (what, when, where?). Study the experiment with jays caching peanuts and mealworms: the birds retrieving cached food items remembered where they were located as well as what food was placed in each location and how long ago the food was stored. In addition, they were aware of others being able to observe their caching. |
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Term
| How do we know learning is adaptive? |
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Definition
| Ex: spatial memory; nutrackers cache up to 33000 seeds and memory of where the seeds are is a matter of life or death for the birds. |
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Term
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Definition
Animals learn cues from an early experience such as the features of their parent or the song of a male bird. There is often a window of time when the animals are young called the critical or sensitive period during which the animal is receptive to learning these cues.
Imprinting directs later behavior such as:
-Following in which the offspring follow after a parent
-Kin discrimination to distinguish relatives from non-relatives
-Mate choice-animals choose to mate with others who possess certain traits |
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Term
| Critical Period of Imprinting |
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Definition
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Definition
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Definition
| An ethogram is a catalogue of behaviors exhibited by an animal used in the study of ethology. |
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Term
| What are some selective pressures (selective agents) that cause change in the proportion of traits shown in populations? |
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Definition
Disease
Food
Predators
Climate
Reproduction
Physical Environment |
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Term
| How do Darwin’s finches exemplify the process of natural selection? Describe Grants’ study on Galapagos finches. |
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Definition
| The larger beak size was a mutation, but then it became a trait when there was a drought and only the birds with the larger beaks survived because they were able to crack the nuts. |
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Term
| What is meant by optimality, cost/benefit analysis? |
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Definition
| Optimality means that the benefits outweigh the costs, traits aren’t perfect but the best they can be under particular circumstances. |
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Term
| What is Artificial selection? (Look at dog breeds and silver fox study) |
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Definition
| When people are responsible with choosing, which individuals get to reproduce. |
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| What occurred in the silver fox experiment? (recall videoclip and HW question 5) |
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Definition
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Definition
| Epigenesist refers interactions between the environment and genes that cause changes in how genes are expressed |
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Term
| What is the effect of social rank and gene expression in monkeys? |
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Definition
| The lower the social rank the more stress hormones are secreted, thus making a lower functioning immune system. So the higher the status the better health. |
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Term
| Describe experiments to demonstrate episodic memory in jays. |
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Definition
| Recalls details (where, what, when) of past experiences. Scrub jays are allowed to bury peanuts and waxworms. The prefer waxworms, but learn that they spoil after 5 days. If the waxworms are recently caught/cached then they automatically return to where they buried the waxworm. If it’s after the 5 days then they would go directly to where they had buried the peanuts. |
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Term
| What are the three types of play? |
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Definition
Object Play
Locomotor Play
Social Play |
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Definition
| familiarity with objects in the environment (later in life can be useful to know what objects will better the animals life) |
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Definition
| learning lay of the land, endurance and coordination, as well as physical training and strength (running around builds strength) |
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Definition
| social skills and bonding, learning about others in a group and who may or may not be the animals friend and imitation. |
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Term
| How is song learning in songbirds an example of epigenetics? |
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Definition
| It is an example of epigenetics because of the environment, if an environment encourages them to learn the song then they will pick it up, but if it doesn’t they will struggle. |
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Term
| A lizard inherits the mating strategy of “sneaker male” and successfully mates with a female who is located on another male’s territory. However, when the “sneaker” is surrounded by males who mate-guard only one female, he is unsuccessful at his mating attempts. This is a description of |
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Definition
| Mixed Evolutionary Stable Strategy |
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Term
| The finches on the Galapagos Islands show a good deal of variation in bill size. As discussed in class, measurements in 1978 showed that the average bill size was larger than in previous years. What was the underlying reason for this change over time in bill size? |
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Definition
| A drought limited the food supply such that only hard nuts were available for eating |
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Term
| Which of the following is NOT a function of Proteins in animals? |
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Definition
| c. Act as the hereditary material passed on from parent to offspring |
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Term
| As discussed in class, what was the effect on behavior when the fosB gene of mice was “knocked-out”? |
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Definition
| the mice failed to show usual maternal care toward their offspring |
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| . What term is used to describe the idea that behaviors are compromises between benefits and costs? |
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Definition
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