What is ethology?
Study of how animals behave
Ethology serves to answers what 4 questions?
- What stimulus elicits a behavior and what physiological mechanisms mediate a response?
- How does the animals experiences during development influence the response?
- How does the behavior aid survival and reproduction?
- What is the behaviors evolutionary basis?
The study of the ecological and evolutionary basis of behavior is called?
Behavioral Ecology
Proximate cause focuses on what?
immediate causality (how it happens)
Ultimate cause focuses on what?
the bigger picture (why it is evolutionarily beneficial)
Define kinesis
change in activity due to a stimulus
Define taxis
orientation towards or away from a stimulus
Define migration
a long distance change of locations done at regular intervals
Migration is usually stimulated by _________ ______.
seasonal changes
Animals who migrate use what for navigation?
the sun, north star, or the earth magnetic field
What are circadian rhythms?
daily cycles (rest, eating, etc), usually regulated by light and dark
What are circannual rhythms?
yearly cycles usually linked to seasons
Where is cortisol released?
the adrenal gland
List ways animals use signaling
visually, chemical, or auditory
Define innate behaviors
fixed behaviors that all the animals in a population are born with (instinct)
Define fixed action pattern
a sequence of innate behaviors initiated bya stimulus.
Define habituation
a reduction or loss of reaction to a stimuli
Define imprinting
a life long reaction or bond to an object or individual created at a young age
Define spatial learning
able to remember the structures in an environment (using landmarks)
Define cognitive maps
a memorized mental representation (map) of an environment
Define associative learning
the ability to connect two environmental factors as being related (color and taste)
What are the two types of associative learning?
classical and operant learning
Define classical conditioning
a stimulus elicits a response
Desribe Povlov’s dog
ringing a dinner bell before dinner causes the dog to salivate without food being present
Define operant conditioning
an animal connects his behavior with a good or bad response (trial and error)
Define cognition
the ability to think, reason and process information
Define foraging
activities and strategies an animal uses for survival
optimal foraging model
benefits should outweigh costs
What is fight or flight
The decision to fight or run is also measured by risk and reward (benefits should out weight costs)
Define promiscuous
no mating bonds (one night stands)
Define monogamous
strong bond forms one male one female for a long period (relationship goals)
Define polygamous
one sex mates with others (open marriage)
Define polygyny
the males mate with many females (f—boy)
Define polyandry
the females mate with many males (thots)
Define antagonistic behavior
Competition to gain access to a resource
Define game theory
Evaluates the success of strategies used when the strategies depend on other strategies (paper, rock, scissors.)
Give an example of the game theory
Orange aggressive, blue small territory, yellow sneaky
Define altruism
animals reduces their individual fitness to increase the population fitness (one for all)
Define inclusive fitness
total of an individual getting their genes into the next generation through their own offspring or a relatives offspring
Define kin selection
selection favors altruism
Define social learning
an individual learns by copying the behavior of a more experienced individual
Social learning breeds ______.
culture
Social learning passed down what to future generations?
behavior to increase fitness
Define mate choice copying
females choose mates that other females find attractive [):]
