BEHAVIOUR

What is behaviour?
Behaviour can be defined in a number of ways
•The observable response a person makes to
any situation.
•A manner of acting or conducting yourself.
•The way a person behaves towards other
people.
• The actions or reactions of a person or animal
in response to external or internal stimuli.
• The responses or reactions or movements
made by an organism in any situation.
• The co-ordinated response of an organism to
an internal or external stimulus.
Any behaviour must have these components:
i. A receptor
ii. An effector
iii. Co-ordinating system
How do plants respond to unidirectional stim-
uli?
Phototropism: The tendency for parts of
plants to grow towards light (positive pho-
totropism) or away from light (negative
phototropism).
• Stimulus : Light from one side
• Receptor : Receptor cells in the shoot tip
• Coordination : Auxins produced and
move away from light.
• Effector : Cells on dark side of stem grow
fastest
• Response : Shoot grows towards light
Gravitropism : The tendency for parts of
plants to grow towards gravity (positive grav-
itropism) or away from gravity (negative grav-
itropism).
How do simple animals respond to stim-
uli?
Two different types of responses
1.Taxes (Singular taxis) : The animal moves
along a gradient of intensity of a stimulus to-
wards the greatest intensity of the stimulus
and sometimes away from the greatest inten-
sity.
• There is a directional response to a direc-
tional stimulus.
• For example, Euglena swims towards areas
of increased light intensity.
2. Kineses (singular kinesis) : A change in
the intensity of the stimulus brings about a
change in the rate of movement.
• Not a change in the direction of movement.
• For example, woodlice increase their rate of
movement in bright light.
How do woodlice respond to a change in
the intensity of light?
•Woodlice are small land – dwelling crus-
taceans.
•Because of their flattened shape and small
size, they have a relatively large surface –
area – to – volume ratio.
 They tend to lose water quickly
through their body surface.
 They are typically found under logs, stones,
bark and amongst leaf litter.
• When brought into the light, the woodlice
start to move around much more quickly.
 This increased rate of movement is a re-
sponse to the increased intensity of light
(kinesis).
Stimulus : - Light /dark
Receptor :- Detected by ocelli (simple eyes)
Coordinating : - Nerve cells transmit impulses
to/from central nervous system
Effector:- Increased rate of muscle contraction
Response :- Increased movement
 Why we study behaviour?
• Important in its own right
• Contributes to other areas of science
 Human behaviour
 Neuroscience
 Environment & resource management
 Animal welfare
 Science Education
The impact of the study of animal behaviour
on human society
• A basis for interpreting human society
• Understanding possible causes of prob-
lems in society
 Importance of cooperation & reconcilia-
tion.
 Theories of child development and at-
tachment formation
 Basic research on endogenous rhythms in
animals led to research in coping with jet –
lag or shift working.
The impact of the study of animal behaviour
on neuroscience

• Neuroethology : determination of neural

pathways.
• The influence of behaviour and social or-
ganization on physiological and cellular
processes.
• Effect of social environment on immune

system.
The impact of the study of animal behaviour on
environment and resources management

• Changes in sexual and other behaviours

provide clues for environmental damage.
 Research on salmon migration
Honeybee’s foraging behaviour
The impact of the study of animal behaviour on
animal welfare
• Developments in animal welfare require in-
formation about behaviour patterns.
Ethologists ensure reasonable and effec-
tive standards for the care and well – be-
ing of research animals.
The impact of the study of animal behaviour on
science education
• Courses in ethology and behavioural ecol-
ogy often interest students in to wider sci-
entific studies.
 Innate Behaviour
• A behaviour that is present at birth or hatch-
ing.
Types of innate behaviour
Reflex actions
• A single action is performed in response to a
specific stimulus.
Human reflex actions
• 2 main kinds
1. Somatic reflexes – involve our special senses
& produce a response by a muscle
2. Autonomic reflexes – involve sensors in in-
ternal organs and produce responses also in
internal organs.
Structure of the Nervous system
 Physically, the CNS and PNS.

i. CNS: comprising the brain and spinal cord

ii. PNS: comprising the cranial and spinal
nerves
 Functionally, the SNS and ANS.
• SNS – integrates information from the special
senses to produce responses in skeletal muscles
• ANS – integrates information from receptors in
internal organs and produces responses in the
same or other organs or glands.
The ANS further subdivided into:
1. The sensory – transmit impulses into the CNS
2. The sympathetic – CNS to organs (fight/flight)
3. The parasympathetic – rest and repair
 Orientational
• More complex than reflex
• All the reactions that guide an animal to its
correct position and its proper environment.
• Movement towards favourable condition.
Instinctive
• Involve the most complex behaviours.
• Pre – programmed patterns of behaviour.
• There is always a FAP for each key stimulus.
 Characteristics
• Common
• Fully functional the first time they are per-
formed
• Key stimulus
• Innate releasing mechanism
• FAP (can be modified slightly)
• Adaptive
E.g. Feeding behaviour of herring gulls
Aggression in Sticklebacks
Imprinting
• A rapid learning process by which a newborn
or very young animal establishes a behavior
pattern of recognition and attraction to another
animal of its own kind or to a substitute or an
object identified as the parent.
• For newly born/hatched organisms
• ‘time window’
• Attachment formation
– Pre attachment
– Indiscriminate attachment
– True emotional attachment
 What are Biological Clocks?
• Some internal regulatory mechanism that con-
trols various cyclical responses in living
things.
• An example of convergent evolution
• It is found in suprachiasmatic nucleus ( in
mammals).
• Controlled mainly by the release of hormones.
 Circadian rhythms
• pattern of physiological and behavioral pro-
cesses that are timed to a near 24-hour period.
• include sleep-wake cycles, body temperature,
blood pressure, and the release of hormones.
 Features of circadian rhythm
• have a period of roughly 24 h under constant
external conditions
• adapt to light/darkness schemes as provided by
variations in light intensity i.e. the rhythms are
entrainable.
Circannual rhythms
• Rhythms that have a period that is about a year
when undisturbed by environmental signals.
 Learned behaviour
• Develops through trial and error or by in-
sight.
• May be modified by new experiences.
• May vary from individual to individual.
• Rarely fully functional the first time they
are performed.
• May not be adaptive
 Kinds of learned behaviour
Habituation: A decreased response to a
harmless stimulus after repeated exposure to
that stimulus.
• It can occur at different levels in the nervous
system.
 Sensory systems may stop sending sig-
nals.
 The brain perceives the stimulus but de-
cides no longer to pay attention.
Sensitisation: An increase in the response to a
harmless stimulus when that stimulus occurs af-
ter a harmful stimulus.
1. Peripheral sensitization
2. Central sensitization
Classical conditioning: Modification of in-
nate response through an association of
neutral stimuli with biologically significant
stimuli in eliciting the response.
 forms an association between two stim-
uli (US and CS)
 Doesn’t explain how we develop new
behaviours.
• First demonstrated by Russian physiologist
Ivan Pavlov (1927).
E.g. Salivary conditioning of Pavlov's dogs.
 Operant conditioning: Forms an associa-
tion between a behaviour and a conse-
quence.
 Consequences may affect behaviour by
increasing it (reinforcement) or by de-
creasing it (punishment).
• First investigated by Thorndike but later re-
fined & extended by B F Skinner (1938).
• Learners actively participate in the
process.
Shaping: Procedure in which reinforcers
guide behaviour closer towards target be-
haviour through successive approxima-
tions.
Latent Learning : A form of learning that
is not immediately expressed in an overt
response; it occurs without obvious rein-
forcement to be applied later.
 Not apparent as it takes place.
Insight learning: It involves finding solu-
tions to problems that are not based on
actual experience.
• The most advanced type of learned be-
haviour.
• Early animal studies were conducted by
Wolfgang Kohler.
 Examples of behaviour patterns
Courtship behaviour
• behavior that animals perform before mat-
ing.
• allow male and female members of a
species to recognize each other.
• stimulate males and females so they are
ready to mate at the same time.
• prevents attempts at inbreeding between
different species.
• help to strengthen already established pair
bonds.
• involve a few chemical, visual or auditory
stimuli, or it may be a complex series of
acts.
• innate & consists of a pre-programmed set
of FAPs in response to a key stimulus.
• methods of communication that are used
to attract a mate include:
 Pheromones
 Touch
 Courtship songs
In most species
the males are
more colorful &
perform courtship
displays to attract
a mate.
Territorial behaviour
•Territory is any space that an animal de-
fends against intruders of the same species.
•It is found in nearly every species of animal.
•Males are usually the territorial sex.
Defending territory
• Animals often defend territories that con-
tain food, shelter, and potential mates.
• Marking a territory, threats, ritual fighting
and actual fighting.
• Fighting is usually a last resort to protect a
territory.
 only happens in overcrowded condi-
tions where resources are scarce.
 leads to a more balanced and biologi-
cally fit population.
 Why do animals defend their territories?
• Defending territories is an instinctive be-
havior.
• It improves the survival rate of an animal’s
offspring.
Social behaviour
•Interactions among organisms of the same
species.
•include courtship and mating, caring for the
young, claiming territories, protecting each
other, and getting food.
 Why is social behavior important?
Provide advantages that promote survival
of the species.
 formation of stable groups
 improve the effectiveness of reproduc-
tion
 more efficient foraging
 more effective protection
 increased chance of surviving migration
 increase the chance of surviving ex-
treme conditions
 Social behaviour in Bees
Bees exhibit eusociality.
Features of eusociality
• Cooperative care of young
• Overlapping generations
• Reproductive division of labour
• There are three different types or castes of
bees in a nest.
1. The queen – the only truly reproduc-
tively active female (1st caste)
2. Workers – non-reproductively active
females (2nd caste)
3. Drones – reproductively active males
(3rd caste)
 Communication in Bees
• The queen secretes powerful pheromones
that control the behaviour of the workers.
• Foragers perform a ‘wag-dance’ in the
form of a ‘figure of eight’.
• the angle of the dance away from the ver-
tical corresponds with the angle of the
nectar from the Sun.
• the length of the ‘straight-run’ part of the
dance is proportional to the distance from
the nest.
• foraging bees also use sound to inform
other bees about the distance of the
source.
 The duration of sounds is directly corre-
lated with the distance to the nectar
source.
I wish you
all the
best!