Ch.

40 Review
Names the biomes labeled a-f in the climograph.
Ch. 39b Warm-Up
1. What is something that you can Define:
do that you have been able to do  Circadian rhythms
since birth?  Pheromones
2. What is one behavior that you  Learned behaviors
 Imprinting
learned by watching someone
 Associative learning
else?  Classical conditioning
3. List some ways that animals  Operant conditioning
communicate.
Ch. 39b Warm-Up
1. What is the difference between Define:
• Foraging
proximate and ultimate causes of
• Sexual Selection
behavior?
• Monogamous
2. Explain the difference between • Polygamous
kinesis and taxis. • Polygyny
3. What are the 4 common modes • Polyandry
of animal communication? • Altruism
• Inclusive fitness
• Kin selection
Ch. 39b Warm-Up
1. What do you think is the advantage for a species
to be:
 Monogamous?
 Polygamous?
2. Describe an example of when you have
participated in reciprocal altruism.
Chapter 39b
Animal Behavior
You Must Know:
• How behaviors are the result of natural selection
• How innate and learned behaviors increase survival and
reproductive fitness
• How organisms use communication to increase fitness
• The role of altruism and inclusive fitness in kin selection
Introduction

 Ethology: study of animal behavior

 Behavior: what an animal does and how it does it
 Both genetic & environmental factors
 Essential for survival and reproduction
 Subject to natural selection over time
Understanding behavior
 Proximate cause: “how” a behavior occurs or is
modified
 Ultimate cause: “why” a behavior in context of natural
selection

A courting pair of East Asian

red-crowned cranes.
BEHAVIOR: A male stickleback fish attacks other male
sticklebacks that invade its nesting territory.

PROXIMATE CAUSE: The red belly of the intruding male acts as

a sign stimulus that releases aggression in a male stickleback.

ULTIMATE CAUSE: By chasing away other male sticklebacks,

a male decreases the chance that eggs laid in his nesting
territory will be fertilized by another male.
 Innate behaviors: developmentally fixed
and are not learned
Fixed action patterns (FAPs): sequence
of unlearned acts that are unchangeable
and usually carried to completion
• Triggered by sign stimulus
• Ensures that activities essential to
survival are performed correctly
without practice
• Eg. goose & egg
Sign stimuli in
a classic fixed
action pattern
Directed Movements
 Kinesis: simple change in activity or turning rate in response
to a stimulus

Kinesis increases the chance that a sow bug will encounter and stay
in a moist environment.

 Taxis: automatic movement, oriented movement +/- from

stimulus (eg. phototaxis, chemotaxis, geotaxis)

Positive rheotaxis keeps trout facing into the current, the direction
from which most food comes.
Migration
 Regular, long-distance change in location
 Environmental cues: sun, stars, earth’s magnetic
field, landmarks
 Circadian Rhythm: internal biological clock

The circadian clock in the hamster brain signals a

change in coat color according to season by releasing
the hormone melatonin.

The Suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) region is located in

the hypothalamus of the brain. The SCN sends signals
throughout the body in response to dark and light. Plants can have two
internal clocks: one
sensitive to light and
the other sensitive to
temperature
 More on Clock Genes:
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/inheritance/clockgenes/
Signal: stimulus that causes a change in
behavior; basis of animal communication
 Pheromones – chemicals emitted by members of one species that
affect other members of the species (eg. Queen bee, fruit fly, fish,
termites, trees, humans)
 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

Courtship behavior of fruit flies

Honeybee dance language
 Used to inform other bees about distance and direction of
travel to food sources
Learned behaviors: behaviors that are
modified based on specific experiences
 Types of Learning
1. Habituation: loss of responsiveness
to stimuli that convey little or no
information
 Simple form of learning
2. Imprinting: learning + innate
components
 Limited to sensitive period in
life, generally irreversible
 ie. Lorenz’ imprinting in greylag
geese
BEHAVIOR: Young geese follow and imprint on their mother.

PROXIMATE CAUSE: During an early, critical developmental

stage, the young geese observe their mother moving away
from them and calling.

ULTIMATE CAUSE: On average, geese that follow and

imprint on their mother receive more care and learn
necessary skills, and thus have a greater chance of
surviving than those that do not follow their mother.
 • Captive breeding programs for endangered
species must provide proper imprinting
models

Pilot wearing crane suit acts as a surrogate parent to teach young whooping cranes a
migration route
3. Spatial Learning
 Cognitive Map: internal representation of spatial
relationship among objects in an animal’s
surroundings

Birds use spatial maps to relocate

nut caches
Some organisms
move in response to
a recognized object
or environmental
cue, a landmark.
4. Associative Learning: ability to associate one stimulus with
another (eg. monarchs = foul taste)

A. Classical conditioning: arbitrary stimulus associated with

particular outcome (eg. Pavlov’s dogs: salivate with
ringing bell)
B. Operant conditioning: another type of associative learning
 Trial-and-error learning
 Associate its own behavior with reward or punishment
5. Cognition: process of knowing that involves awareness,
reasoning, recollection, judgment
 Problem-solving behavior relies on cognition
6. Social learning: learning by observing others

Vervet monkeys learning

correct use of alarm
calls.
 Examples of learned animal behavior
 Nut-cracking crow (2:16)
 TED Talk: Amazing intelligence of crows (11:34)
 Chimpanzee problem solving (1:02)
 Chimpanzee problem solving by cooperation (2:14)
Foraging: food-obtaining behavior
 Recognize, search for, capturing, and consuming food
 Minimize costs / Maximize benefits
Energy costs and benefits in foraging behavior
 Mating Behavior & Mate Choice
 Sexual selection: seeking and
attracting mates, choosing and
competing for mates

Polygamous
Promiscuous Monogamous Polyandry
(polygynous)

Partners Many One 1 M + many F 1F + many M

Structure Showy Similar Showy male Showy female

Care None Much Male = little Male = none

Sexual selection

 Ornaments correlate in
general with health and
vitality
Agonistic behavior: threats, rituals, and sometimes
combat; settles disputes over resources (mates)
Behaviors can be directed by genes

 Certain behaviors in
prairie voles are under
relatively strong genetic
control
 ADH (vasopressin)
triggers pair-bond
formation and aggression
by male voles
 Differences in oxytocin (a hormone) receptors in 2
species of voles
 Monogamous prairie voles vs. promiscuous montane
voles

High oxytocin levels in Low oxytocin levels in

prairie voles montane voles
Video: Zebra Finch Parents Tell Eggs:
It’s Hot Outside
Altruistic social behavior
 Altruism = selfless behavior
 Reduce individual fitness but increase fitness of others in
population
 i.e. bee societies; naked mole rats

 Inclusive fitness: total effect of producing own offspring (pass

on genes) + helping close relatives
 Kin selection: type of natural selection; altruistic behavior
enhances reproductive success of relatives
What does this mean? Explain.
 Geneticist J.B.S. Haldane: “I won’t lay down my life for one
brother, but I would lay down my life for two brothers or
eight cousins.”
Review Question
Natural selection favors behaviors that increase survival
and reproductive behaviors. For each of the following types
of behaviors, describe an example in nature, and justify
how this behavior is adaptive.
(a) Innate behavior
(b) Learned behavior
(c) Cooperative behavior
(d) Chemical signals