Animal Behavior/Ethology and Behavioral Ecology
General Biology BI 04 Summer School Lecture Notes
Definition
Behavior is what an animal does
Patterns of behavior may be simple or complex
Brief History
First ethologists - pre-historic humans, studied behavior for practical purposes
prey behavior for hunting
examples - cave art
domestication - dogs, cats, ox, cattle, reindeer, horses, etc.
Middle Ages
Natural theologians document behavior as part of general biology of organisms
Early 1900s - formal discipline
Due to work of 3 ethologists
K. Lorenz studied waterfowl and other organisms
N. Tinbergen studied gulls and other organisms
K. Von Frisch studied communication in bees
Late 1900s and early 2000 - modern studies of animal behavior
descriptions of behavior
behavioral genetics
neurophysiology of behavior
sensory physiology
development of behavior
sociobiology
behavioral ecology
Causes of behavior
Proximate causation - immediate causes
Explains how behavior works - what stimulates behavior to occur
Study by measuring or describing the stimuli that elicit behavior
Internal - physiological events (hormones, nervous system)
External - environmental stimuli
Ultimate causation - historical explanations
Explains why a behavior evolved
Study by measuring influence on survival or reproduction
Example - bird migration
Proximate causes
External stimuli- changes in daylength
Internal stimuli - hormone levels
Ultimate causes - birds that migrate have a selective advantage over birds that don't/didn't, selected for over time, could be due to long term climate changes, glaciation, disease, taking advantage of food sources, etc.
Components of Behavior
2 Components
Nature/innate: instinct and genes determine behavior
Nurture/learned: experience and learning influence behavior
Two extremes are not mutually exclusive, but work together to influence behavior
Examples of Innate behavior
1) nest building in Lovebirds by Dilger
Fischer's Lovebird - uses long strips of nest materials, carries in beak, one at a time
Peach-faced Lovebird - tucks several short strips in feathers
Hybrids - intermediate lengths of nest materials, clumsy behavior trying to tuck strips into feathers, later will carry strips in bill but will still try and tuck into feathers
2) egg ejection by cuckoos (brood parasites)
3) freezing behavior of nestling birds when exposed to silhouettes (raptors versus waterfowl)
4) Parental feeding - brood parasites take advantage of parents
5) Freezing behavior of nestlings
6) incubation behavior of some birds (Oystercatchers)
7) Drosophila - 2 alleles of the dg2 gene
sitter allele (sedentary behavior)
rover allele (hyperactive, mobile)
Components of Innate Behavior
FAP - fixed action pattern, all or none response
Sign stimulus - causes release of FAP
Examples - colors of stickleback males during mating, oystercatchers and eggs during incubation (super-normal releaser)
Nature of sign stimulus - usually an obvious aspect of the morphology: red mark on beak of Herring Gulls, red belly of Sticklebacks, detection of ultrasounds from bats by prey species of moths
Learned Behavior
Simple learning - habituation, species of prey and the presence of predators
Lehrman's study of gull chick feeding behavior - how an instinct is learned
Learning and development - imprinting and Lorenz's classic experiments with Greylag Goose (critical period for learning) - geese forms social attachments shortly after birth , salmon and home stream, birds and breeding range, nesting materials, etc.
Sexual imprinting - Direct sexual behavior at member of one`s own species - cross-fostering studies, individuals raised by another species, recognizes foster species as its own when sexually mature, will attempt to mate with foster species
Imprinting in conservation biology - minimize/eliminate human presesence while raising California Condors
Song learning in birds
White-crowned sparrows reared under 3 conditions: 1) normal, 2) deafened, 3) in isolation, critical period
Continuos song learning - mimic thrushes, starlings and mynahs, some parrots and Cardueline finches
Classical/Pavlovian conditioning
animals make associations - Pavlov's dog associates bell with food, begins to salivate, can be extinguished and later followed by recovery (unconditioned stimulus - meat, unconditioned response - salivation, conditioned stimulus - bell, conditioned response - salivation)
Operant conditioning
reward/punishment for behavioral response, rats bar press for food
Observational learning - social imitation
Insight Learning
chickadees/tits and opening milk bottles
All examples of tool-using
Egyptian Vulture - uses rocks
Cocos Finch - uses splinters of wood
North American Gulls, Northwestern Crow - smash clams on sandy beaches
Play Behavior
young animals engage in play, precursors for adult behavior (e.g., fighting, sexual behavior, predation - cats, birds, Killer Whales), also stay in good physical condition
Migration
definition - usually defined as regular, seasonal movements from one area to another (wintering area to a breeding area), seasons can be fall/spring in temperate areas and rainy versus dry in tropical areas
Examples
Waterfowl flyways - well documented, due in part to hunting regulated and studied by US Fish and Wildlife Service, State fish and game agencies
Arctic Tern, North Pole to South Pole
some species of Gallinaceous and raptorial birds, altitudinal migration (valley to mountain peaks)
Salmon - return to native streams to breed after several years at sea
Deer and Caribou, African ungulates - mammals engaged overland migrations
Some sharks, whales (northern oceans for calving, southern areas for breeding) and other marine mammals - engaged in long distance oceanic migrations
Navigation and Orientation
Animals use cues in the environment to guide them during migration, must orient and navigate
Orientation - organism is capable of detecting compass direction (N, S, E, W) using cues from the environment
Navigation - organism is capable of detecting its position as well as orientation, (N, S, E, W of something - river. ocean, mountain range)
Example - study of migration in European Startlings
Juveniles - displaced individuals were able to orient only, could not navigate (never corrected for their displacement)
Adults - displaced individuals were able to orient and navigate (adults did correct for their displacement)
Birds can use several cues from their environment for navigation - visual (sun, stars, visual landmarks) and magnetic cues
Emlen's classic study of Indigo Buntings and their use of star constellations during spring and fall migrations
Timing of behavior
circaannual - behavior occurs on a seasonal/annual basis
Examples - hibernation in bears, frogs, toads, salamanders bury themselves in mud during the winter
circadian - behavior occurs on a daily basis
cues
endogenous - hormonal
exogenous - external cues from the environment
Example - bird migration caused by exogenous cues like decreasing/increasing daylight, picked up by eye and visual cortex; endogenous - pineal gland and brain processes daylight information, brain contacts endocrine system, alters timing of secretion of prolactin and corticosterone
Predatory Behavior
Active pursuit - tarantula, scorpions, wasps, bats
Cooperative hunting
Wait and hide - web-building spiders, trap-door spider, many raptorial birds
Fishing by Angler Fish
Other - deception and camouflage
Anti-predatory Behavior
Batesian Mimicry
Mullerian mimicry
Camouflage, disruptive, cryptic coloration
Warning coloration
Maintenance Behavior
autopreening
allopreening
Behavioral Ecology - study of behavior in an ecological context, study ecological variables and relationship to behavior
Optimal foraging behavior - do species forage in an efficient manner that maximizes benefits and minimizes costs
1) Example - Zach's study of Northwestern Crows dropping shellfish to break the hard outer shell and make available the clam for food, experimenter dropped shells from various height to find the optimal height necessary to break shells, observed crows dropping shells and found their average height of 5.23 m was similar to the experimenter's optimal height
2) Example - Sunfish, provide predator with prey of different sizes and different densities, fish respond by foraging optimally (taking the most energetically rich prey under the appropriate conditions)
Social Behavior - any interactions between 2 or more individuals
Anti-predatory behavior - group defense in Musk Ox
Agonistic behavior
ritualized behaviors that substitute for physical contact and fighting - yawn of baboons, dogs and baring their teeth, cats and raising their fur, birds raising their feathers
fighting and physical contact, wolves, coyotes, seals, walruses, etc,
Dominance hierarchies
peck order of turkeys and chickens
wolves and primates - alpha males......
Territoriality
birds and birdsong - breeding, wintering, year-round territories, size of territory related to size of bird (small birds with small territories, large birds with large territories, some exceptions - colonial nesting species - large birds with small territories)
marking territories
birds - birdsong
mammals - urine
carpenter bees - constantly standing guard
Reproductive behavior - Courtship
highly ritualized, species specific behavior
Example - sticklebacks
Reproductive behavior - mating systems
monogamy - one male and one female
polygamy
polygyny - one male and many females
polyandry - one female and many males
promiscuity - anything goes
tied to parental investment, length of family bond, ecological variables and their potential to be controlled
Communication systems
auditory - birds and humans, some insects (crickets)
olfactory - most mammals, moths
visual - bees and dancing, fireflies at night
Altruism - personal sacrifice for the good of the group
alarm call of mammals - Belding's Ground Squirrels
cooperative breeding - African bee-eaters, Scrub Jays
bees and other hymenopterous insects
Mole rats of Asia - similar to hymenopterous insect colonies with Queen and workers, workers protect and feed the Queen, sacrifice reproductive opportunities
Sociobiology - comparative study of animal culture
Study of animal cultures
Cognition - do animals think?
Blackboard at Saint Anselm College
Trademark and Disclaimers
Copyright © 2001 Jay Pitocchelli. All rights reserved. The contents of this page are the intellectual property of Dr. Jay Pitocchelli for distribution to students enrolled in General Biology BI 04 at Saint Anselm College. These pages may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or published in any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without prior written approval of Jay Pitocchelli. Students enrolled in General Biology BI 04 at Saint Anselm College have permission to print this material for their lecture notes.