Development of Behaviour Flashcards
what are the features of the ‘Jim twins’?
adopted at 4wks
reunited at 39yrs old
both:
- 6ft and 180lbs
- had headaches since 18
- did carpentry + mechanical drawing
- 1st sons called James Alan
- vacation in same area in Florida
describe the features of sitters vs rovers in Drosophila
what is this gene called?
what does it encode?
natural single gene polymorphism in wild:
70% rovers
30% sitters
for gene
encodes brain expressed protein
-> differences in foraging behaviour
+ differences in memory
(rovers have better short-term)
describe the features of the burrow-building mice experiment
crossed P. maniculatus (1 entrance) with P.polionotus (2 entrances)
F1 = had P. polionotus behaviour
back-crossed F1 with P. maniculatus
more variation in building escape tunnels in back-cross
describe QTL (quantitive trait locus) mapping in burrow-building mice
those with MP genotypes had longer length entrance tunnels + greater chance of building an escape tunnel
what is a supergene?
a group of neighbouring genes on a chromosome which are inherited together due to close eugenic linage and are functionally related
(package of different alleles and traits that won’t get split up by recombination)
produces stable polymorphism
describe how supergenes are involved in Ruffs
what are the 3 types?
what do 2 inverted copies result in?
3 male mating strategies
- behaviour and plumage are tightly correlated
3 types:
independent = 2 normal copies
faeder = 1 inverted copy
satellite = 1 inverted copy
2 copies = death
define polygenic trait
a trait who’s phenotype is influenced by more than one gene
describe the polygenic tame silver fox experiment
they successfully bred domesticated foxes after only selecting and allowing the tamest foxes to breed in each generation
describe the polygenic development of worker behaviour in honey bees
what is this due to?
at the start of the bees lives
- more internal roles e.g. cleaning cells
by the end of their lives
- more exposed = foraging
due to differences in gene expression in young and old bees that are associated with these behaviours
describe the experiment song learning in birds
if a son is deaf, he has a very different song to his father
if a son has intact hearing, his song is very similar to his father’s
.:. birds learn their song from their father
what is phenotype plasticity?
what is the extreme version called?
the ability of 1 genotype to produce more than 1 phenotype when exposed to different environments
polyphenism
give examples of polyphenism
produces a bimodal distribution
food-induced:
woke and solidier casts in ants
socially induced:
territorial and non-territorial cichlid
predator-induced:
soldier and worker aphids
describe the development of worker behaviour in honey bees when experimentally manipulated
- i.e. showing the impacts of environment
if remove young nurses
-> change developmental switch
-> some old foragers’ gene expression changes to become more like young nurses
= ensures all roles are covered
(also works vice versa when old foragers are removed)
describe the genotype x environment example in tiger snake diets
mainland diet
- eat small frogs
Carnac island diet
- large gull chicks
(have large jaws)
experiment
- juveniles from both locations raised in captivity on different sized mice
conclusion - jaw size is both effect of genotype and environment
(as those from mainland but raised on large chicks had bigger jaws than those from island raised on small mice)
why is nature vs nurture wrong?
Tinbergen’s 4 questions
genes + environment often interactively influence behaviour
