Study of how animals behave
What is ethology?
- What stimulus elicits a behavior and what physiological mechanisms mediate a response?2. How does the animals experiences during development influence the response?3. How does the behavior aid survival and reproduction?4. What is the behaviors evolutionary basis?
Ethology serves to answers what 4 questions?
Behavioral Ecology
The study of the ecological and evolutionary basis of behavior is called?
immediate causality (how it happens)
Proximate cause focuses on what?
the bigger picture (why it is evolutionarily beneficial)
Ultimate cause focuses on what?
change in activity due to a stimulus
Define kinesis
orientation towards or away from a stimulus
Define taxis
a long distance change of locations done at regular intervals
Define migration
daily cycles (rest, eating, etc), usually regulated by light and dark
What are circadian rhythms?
yearly cycles usually linked to seasons
What are circannual rhythms?
the adrenal gland
Where is cortisol released?
visually, chemical, or auditory
List ways animals use signaling
fixed behaviors that all the animals in a population are born with (instinct)
Define innate behaviors
a sequence of innate behaviors initiated bya stimulus.
Define fixed action pattern
a reduction or loss of reaction to a stimuli
Define habituation
a life long reaction or bond to an object or individual created at a young age
Define imprinting
able to remember the structures in an environment (using landmarks)
Define spatial learning
a memorized mental representation (map) of an environment
Define cognitive maps
the ability to connect two environmental factors as being related (color and taste)
Define associative learning
classical and operant learning
What are the two types of associative learning?
a stimulus elicits a response
Define classical conditioning
ringing a dinner bell before dinner causes the dog to salivate without food being present
Desribe Povlov’s dog
an animal connects his behavior with a good or bad response (trial and error)
Define operant conditioning
the ability to think, reason and process information
Define cognition
activities and strategies an animal uses for survival
Define foraging
benefits should outweigh costs
optimal foraging model
The decision to fight or run is also measured by risk and reward (benefits should out weight costs)
What is fight or flight
no mating bonds (one night stands)
Define promiscuous
strong bond forms one male one female for a long period (relationship goals)
Define monogamous
one sex mates with others (open marriage)
Define polygamous
the males mate with many females (f—boy)
Define polygyny
the females mate with many males (thots)
Define polyandry
Competition to gain access to a resource
Define antagonistic behavior
Evaluates the success of strategies used when the strategies depend on other strategies (paper, rock, scissors.)
Define game theory
Orange aggressive, blue small territory, yellow sneaky
Give an example of the game theory
animals reduces their individual fitness to increase the population fitness (one for all)
Define altruism
total of an individual getting their genes into the next generation through their own offspring or a relatives offspring
Define inclusive fitness
selection favors altruism
Define kin selection
an individual learns by copying the behavior of a more experienced individual
Define social learning
culture
Social learning breeds ______.
behavior to increase fitness
Social learning passed down what to future generations?
females choose mates that other females find attractive [):]
Define mate choice copying
