Chapter 1 Flashcards
(17 cards)
Define Behavior, Ecology, Comparative Psychology, Intraspecific, and Interspecific
- Organismal response to stimuli
- Study of relationships to each other and environment
- Study of animal behavior to understand human behavior
- Same species interactions
- Different species interactions
How/Why is Behavioral Ecology an integrative science
It combines many fields together
Composed of ethology (cause of behavior), ecology, comparative psychology, evolutionary biology, physiology, and genetics
GEEEPP
Why should we study behavioral ecology
Hunting, farming, species conservation, curiosity, and to learn about ourselves
Four types of questions posed by Niko Tinbergen
ABCDEF
PROXIMATE
1. Causation (what)
2. Developmental (how it changes)
ULTIMATE
3. Evolution (change)
4. Function (adaptive)
Ultimate vs Proximate questions
Ultimate focuses on the evolutionary cause
Proximate focuses on the immediate cause
What is the difference between innate behaviors and learned behaviors
Innate behaviors are natural and often inherited
Learned behaviors arise from life experience
Define Heritable Traits, Heritability, and Cultural Transmission
Heritable traits are passed from parent to offspring via genes
Heritability is the number of phenotypes observed due to genetic variance (High=genes, Low=environment)
Cultural Transmission is behaviors passed through social learning
Pros and Cons of Innate vs Learned traits
Innate: Cannot learn wrong behavior, no time to learn, could be maladaptive or manipulated
Learned: Good for changing environments, passed via CT, could learn wrong behavior, takes time
Why is the Nature vs Nurture argument out of date
Behaviors are not caused by one or the other but a combination of both
What affects an animals phenotype/behavior
Genetics and environmental factors
Define anthropomorphism
Assigning human attributes to non-human animals
Empirical, Theoretical, and Comparative Ethology
- Gathering data and making conclusions to form testable predictions
- Math models to predict what would happen
- Using model animals to understand other animals/humans
Ethology vs Comparative Psychology
Ethology observes in the wild
Comparative Psychology makes comparisons through experimenting in a lab
Define Innate Behaviors, Reflexes, and Kinesis
- Genetically based behaviors
- Automatic responses to stimuli
- Random movement (slow=comfort)
Differentiate between Phototaxis, Geotaxis, and Chemotaxis
(+) to & (-) away
Light, gravity, chemicals
Compare fixed action patterns and supernormal stimulus
- The same/similar stimulus will always produce the same action
- Exaggerate the stimulus for stronger reaction
Why did ethologists originally focus on innate behaviors
They are normally universal in a species and rarely change
