Exam prep

Question 1

What is animal behavior?

Answer 1

The internally coordinated responses (actions or inactions) of whole living organisms (individuals or groups) to internal and/or external stimuli, excluding responses more easily understood as developmental changes.

Question 2

History of ethology?

Answer 2

Aristotle to Darwin to George Romanes to C L Morgan to Donald Griffin

Question 3

Tinbergens 4 question?

Answer 3

Function (adaptation) - Why is the animal performing the behaviour? In which way does the behaviour increase the animal’s survival or reproduction?
Eg: nurturing of young, migration to warmer (and more food rich) habitats

Evolution (phylogeny) - How did the behaviour evolve? How has natural selection changed the behaviour over evolutionary time?
Eg: include reconstruction of phylogenies of closely related (or extinct) species and determining how the behaviour differs between these species. Comparison between species are needed to answer this question. For instance how flight in birds may have evolved from gliding in dinosaurs.

Causation (mechanism) - What causes the behaviour to be performed? What stimuli elicit the response?
Eg: include pheromones and hormones, such as increasing testosterone (caused by increasing day length) levels causing male display behaviour in many species of birds or moving shadows causing ragworms to withdraw into their burrows or contrast on beaks causing herring gull chick to peck.

Development (ontogeny) - How has the behaviour developed during the life time of the individual? In what ways has it been influenced by experience and learning?
Eg: include how courtship behaviour improves with age in many birds and how predators learn to avoid toxic or dangerous prey with experience.

E.g - Escape behaviour in cockroaches!

Function: Orientating away and escaping clearly enhances survival (reduce risk of getting eaten)

Evolution: Arms race between cricket reaction time and frog tongue strike

Causation: The air moved by the tongue hits the crickets sensitive abdominal hairs and triggers a rapid response of nerves and muscles.

Development: Even young 1st instar crickets show the escape response, i.e. it must be genetically determined, but plasticity in system from damage or loss of hairs.

E.g 2 - Courtship behaviour in the sage grouse!

Function: Attracts females (potentially result in mating, increase of fitness)

Evolution: Exaggeration of and amplification of feather erection (occurs when some birds are excited), sexual selection

Causation: Difficult to give details. Sight and calling of other males. Increase in sex hormones caused by increasing day length.

Development: Occurs in adult males. But young males have a poor outer territory so do not successfully mate (may take years to get to better territory)

Question 4

How do animals use their environment?

Answer 4

The ways in which animals exploit their spatial environment is driven by the distribution of resources and the presence of predators

Predator presence indirectly influences animal distribution as they adjust their distribution in response to their perception of predation risk

Question 5

Parameters of landscape of fear?

Answer 5

Animal knows where to find food, and shelter from predation.

Question 6

What do predators and prey need to know?

Answer 6

save areas with environmental advantages and dangerous areas.

Question 7

Assumption about animal in environment?

Answer 7

Implicit in the concept is that animals already have the ability, or they can learn, to differentiate dangerous versus safe habitats before they are killed

Question 8

Use for quantifying landscape of fear?

Answer 8

Knowing how predator-prey relationships operate at the landscape scale should allow us to better assess the suitability of a landscape for future species re-introductions/translocations.

Question 9

9 ways animal behavior studies could be used to solve conservation problems?

Answer 9

Response to human activities
Response to land-use change
Use of corridors
Avoidance of roads
Reserve design
Response to exploitation
Captive breeding
Reintroduction and restoration
Monitoring

Question 10

Categories for Links between animal behavior and anthropogenically driven environmental change?

Answer 10

descriptions of changes in behavior in response to human activities,
animal behavior research that may have use in captive breeding and reintroduction programs,
and behavioral solutions to the major concerns of conservation practitioners. (Only this ne leads to significant change).

Question 11

Can behavioral ecology contribute to conservation of areas?

Answer 11

Yes.
Habitat Loss and Fragmentation -
Functional landscape connectivity (degree to which landscape impedes or facilitates animal movement) explicitly concerns animal behaviour.
Habitat Degradation - Habitats can be degraded by introduction of noise, light and chemical pollution, disrupting critical behaviours, including those associated with signal transmission and the accurate assessment of predation risk and habitat quality.
Human–Wildlife Conflict and Overexploitation - They are often inter-related and invoke lethal effects. Human–wildlife conflict can be worsened by conservation efforts that alter the abundance, movement, or distribution of wildlife populations.
Disease and Invasive Species - Challenges in controlling disease and invasive species can be linked to the behavioural parameters affecting movement and reproduction. Behavioural traits can also be used to identify individuals most susceptible to disease, more likely to colonise new areas, or otherwise disproportionately important to the dynamics of disease and invasion.
Conservation Breeding and Translocation - By considering behavioural factors, such as social context, breeding success might be greatly improved. Understanding mate choice can have major effects on the productivity of breeding programs.

Question 12

Three factors where animal behavior could aid conservation efforts?

Answer 12

Anthropogenic impacts on animal behavior
Behavior based management
Behavioral indicators

Question 13

In what ways in behavior a conservation issue?

Answer 13

In wild:
Behavioural modification due to:
Rareness
Habitat fragmentation
Community depauperation
Human and invasive species disturbance

In captivity:
Inability to carry out natural behaviours due to lack of knowledge/inappropriate facilities.
Stereotypic behaviours
Imprinting issues
Enclosure planning and enrichment
Demographic imbalance

Question 14

What behavioral characteristics have consequences for Ne (Population size)?

Answer 14

Deviations from monogamy (i.e. polyandry and polygyny) reduce Ne.
Promiscuity can enhance Ne.
Demographically unbalanced mortality (e.g. related to age or gender) can seriously reduce Ne.

Question 15

What can be determined from effective population size?

Answer 15

Effective population size (Ne), which approximates the number of breeding individuals, can be used to determine the rate of loss of genetic heterozygosity from a population.

Question 16

How do we modify animal behavior in the wild?

Answer 16

Inhibition of communication systems by noise or artificial light
Inhibition of movement by barriers - avoidance of roads; species-specific preferences for overpasses versus underpasses
Veterinary cordon fences e.g in Botswana
Attraction to crops and livestock e.g PAC (Problem Animal Control)
Direct interaction
Disruption by hunting or culling
Cautionary tales
Reintroductions
Captive breeding

Question 17

True or false? Behavior is assumed o have evolved to be adaptive?

Answer 17

True.

Question 18

What is needed to stimulate expression of behavior?

Answer 18

Environment still necessary to
stimulate development and/or
expression of behaviour

Question 19

True or false - Genes do not encode behaviors directly?

Answer 19

True.

Question 20

How do you identify a mutant? What do these methods work well with?

Answer 20

Determine phenotype.
Recessive or dominant
Plasticity (i.e. investigate the mutant under a range of environmental conditions
Pleiotropy (i.e. are other traits affected?)
Developmental integration
Does the mutation bestow a new function upon the gene, or eliminate its function?
Are there mutations with similar effects (think Gene Regulatory Networks)?

Mutagenic screens
Mutant hunt
Mutant selection
But also Genome-wide association studies

Works very well with morphological, and relatively non-plastic and discreet, traits

Question 21

What follows mutant identification?

Answer 21

Mutations assigned to genes using complementation tests
Then, Functional analysis (e.g.) Where is the mutation located in the genome and what effect does it have at the molecular level?
The, expand to non-model organisms - reverse genetics and use genomic approaches
Then, Aim to identify the integration of the behaviors and the relevant morphological and physiological traits.

Question 22

Complementation test?

Answer 22

If two separate recessive mutations that result in the same uncoordinated behavior
If they are 1) both present n a trans configuration and 2) the uncoordinated behavior is observed, then they are not complimentary and are alleles of the same gene.
But if the trans configuration results in wild type behavior then they are complimentary and are alleles of different genes.

Question 23

Behavior of CRISPR protein?

Answer 23

1) Cuts genomic DNA resulting in random mutations or targeted mutations.
2) For random mutations there’s attempted DNA repair by cell which results in nonfunctional gene with random mutations.
3) For targeted mutations repair is guided by DNA template and results in gene with targeted mutation.

Question 24

Use of CRISPR protein and its benefits?

Answer 24

Disrupts or introduces targeted mutations in human disease linked genes in mice.
Mice studied to see how each gene and mutation affects disease. - leading to drug cultivation.
Benefits:
Accelerates mouse models of multiple diseases
Enables studies sooner
Allows generation of models that at first were not feasible.

Question 25

Features of phenotyping?

Answer 25

Phenotyping morphological traits is easier than identifying the phenotypes of behavioral mutants (plastic and quantitative traits). However, when the mutant effect is manifested under a range of conditions it can result in the absence of a behaviour altogether.

Question 26

Features of behavior?

Answer 26

Assumed to have evolved, and be adaptive Can be plastic or stereotypical Genes involved in its regulation

Question 27

Can animals delay gratification?

Answer 27

Yes, it is a survival strategy.

Question 28

Features of fear behavior?

Answer 28

Used in situations where mistake can be extremely costly or lethal Fear behavior learned from observing behavior displayed in other animals. Also through epigenetics Phobias are genetically determined

Question 29

Features (not all) of behavioral development from childhood

Answer 29

Behavior developmental abnormalities can be detected through mutations, brain damage or lesions Multiple genes to explain variability in maternal care Mothers capable of neglecting offspring but d not benefit from it - causes drop in offspring dopamine levels. Oxytocin dictates social behavior and is mainly produced in pituitary gland

Question 30

Cycle of oxytocin in maternal bonding?

Answer 30

1. Hormonal changes 2. Pup attachment 3. Raise in Oxytocin 4. Parental behavior 5. Raise in oxytocin 6. Increased parental behavior 7. Increased social stimuli from mother 8. Higher oxytocin levels in both mice.

Question 31

What can parents lacking in the fosB gene mean?

Answer 31

They are not naturally urged to nurture their young

Question 32

Role of serotonin during juvenile animal development?

Answer 32

Serotonin isolated in 1948 by Page and recognized as vasoconstrictor. Chemical name: 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT Produced in pineal gland Its a neurotransmitter Occurs in other species Excess serotonin molecules are taken back up by the presynaptic cell and reprocessed. Raise serotonin through: exercise and healthy eating Antidepressants block re-uptake of serotonin at presynaptic cells (Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitor's). E.g prozac. -Found that: effect of prozac during mouse development leads to anxiety and depression in adult life - therefore use of SSRI medications in pregnant mothers and young children may pose unsuspected risks of emotional disorders later in life. -In early life serotonin acts as a growth factor in the brain, modulating nerve cell growth, differentiation and migration. Interfering with this function can therefore have all sorts of consequences, including effects on behavior in later life.

Question 33

Neurotransmitter?

Answer 33

Chemical messengers within the brain that allow the communication between nerve cells.

Question 34

What does serotonin control in the body?

Answer 34

``` Appetite sleep memory and learning temperature regulation behavior cardiovascular function muscle contraction endocrine regulation mood ```

Question 35

Three terms of social behavior?

Answer 35

Cooperation: a behaviour that provides a benefit to another individual (recipient), and the evolution of which has been dependent on its beneficial effect for the recipient. Kin selection: process by which traits are favoured because of their beneficial effects on the fitness of relatives. Altruism: a behaviour that is costly to the actor and beneficial to the recipient. Cost and benefit are defined on the basis of the lifetime direct fitness consequences of a behaviour.

Question 36

When should social behavior evolve?

Answer 36

- Costs must outweigh the benefits depending on natural history and environment of species - When cohesive behavior (grouping) provides greater net reproductive success than spacing behavior (dispersal). i.e. sociality must be adaptive, raising the inclusive fitness of its participants. - Only where group size/structure is regulated to maximize net reproductive success relative to larger and smaller groups. - When groups start to function as integrated units (teams)

Question 37

What is greenbeard?

Answer 37

a hypothetical gene that causes in carriers both a phenotype that can be recognised by conspecifics (a ‘green beard’) and a cooperative behaviour towards conspecifics who show a green beard.

Question 38

Evolutionary consequences of social behaviour?

Answer 38

Proportion of taxa in social groups is positively correlated with encephalization slope (relative brain size measure that is defined as the ratio between observed to predicted brain mass) in mammals.

Question 39

Physiology of Social behavior?

Answer 39

Internal drivers of sociability - e.g. The non-steroid peptide hormones vasopressin and oxytocin play a role in the association of odour cues with social reward External communication and manipulation - e.g. The organization of eusocial insect societies involves regulation of complex behaviours by hydrocarbon pheromones present on the cuticle.

Question 40

Costs of Social behavior?

Answer 40

Increased individual competition for resources/mates Increased disease risk Interference with reproduction Expensive neurological apparatus for monitoring group dynamics, particularly in mammals (i.e. the sensory demands of sociality). Consensus costs (following group decisions) Skew (only a few dominant individuals mate)

Question 41

Benefits of social behavior?

Answer 41

``` Protection from physical environment Protection from predators Foraging/obtaining food Group defense of resources Finding mates Cooperative breeding Social learning and local culture Division of labour Greater learning opportunities for progeny ```

Question 42

What is social learning?

Answer 42

Learning by observing others performing a task. Groups can be manipulated into following particular foraging behaviors by “seeding “ with trained demonstrator individuals. e.g. meerkats

Question 43

What are local traditions?

Answer 43

The inheritance of an array of behavioral traditions through social learning from others. e.g. blue-headed wrasse use the same mating sites on coral reefs over many generations but, if removed, new fish will use different sites.

Question 44

Models for learning?

Answer 44

``` Imprinting Habituation Sensitisation Conditioning (associate learning) Social learning (observational learning) ```

Question 45

Example of social learning?

Answer 45

Food avoidance in rats, they only eat a bit of their food so they don't die if its poisoned.

Question 46

Define public information?

Answer 46

Any feature that other animals can perceive such as signals, health status, mating condition and size.

Question 47

Example of local tradition?

Answer 47

Humpback whale innovation of slapping the sea surface to refine predation spread over two decades to create a new tradition in others.

Question 48

Co-operative breeding in social groups have 2 forms.

Answer 48

Helper-at-den: Only alpha individuals breed, helpers are usually related, helping raises inclusive fitness Communal Breeding: Subordinates can breed, but reproductive success correlates to position in hierarchy, which is often heritable These alternatives seem to be obligate in some species but vary in others and appear to be correlated to group size.

Question 49

Levels of co-operation in breeding?

Answer 49

Low cost: Indirect provisioning (sharing food) Increased vigilance ``` High cost: Direct provisioning (lactation and regurgitation) Physical defense ```

Question 50

Kin selection?

Answer 50

Process by which traits are favoured because of their beneficial effects on the fitness of relatives.

Question 51

Altruism?

Answer 51

A behavior that is costly to the actor and beneficial to the recipient. Cost and benefit are defined on the basis of the lifetime direct fitness consequences of a behavior. Altruism threatened idea of natural selection.

Question 52

Inclusive fitness?

Answer 52

The total fitness of an animals consists of its direct fitness (own reproduction) as well as the additional reproduction of is its relatives arising from its help.

Question 53

Hamilton's rule?

Answer 53

An altruistic act will spread due to kin selection if: rB > C Where: r = coefficient of relatedness of the actor to the recipient B = benefits to the recipient C = costs to the actor

Question 54

Types of altruism?

Answer 54

Kin selection: Helping a relative increases the individuals inclusive fitness. Mutualism (instant reciprocity): Helping or working together may have immediate benefits. Mopping behaviour in birds or defense behaviour in bisons, true mutualisms. Manipulation: Appears like altruism, but the helper is in fact being manipulated. For instance, in brood parasitism. Reciprocal altruism: An individual help now with the expectation of being helped in return later.

Question 55

Reciprocal altruism?

Answer 55

Mostly occurs between unrelated individuals when there will be repayment of the altruistic act in the future.

Question 56

Game theory?

Answer 56

Method of analyzing the evolution of phenotypes (including types of behaviors) when the fitness of a particular phenotype depends on its frequency in the population. Can reveal ESS’s (evolutionary stable strategies), i.e., behaviours (phenotypes) associated with optimal fitness that cannot be invaded by another strategy.

Question 57

Tit for Tat?

Answer 57

The best strategy when two individuals interact sequentially, i.e., first cooperate and then do what the partner did last.

Question 58

Eusocial species? Features?

Answer 58

Some animals within groups pay the very high cost of lifetime sterility; these animals spend their lives working for others and gain reproductive benefits only if their relatives reproduce. e.g naked mole rat. Many eusocial species are coordinated by pheromones 1. Distinct castes or reproductive division of labour (with or without sterile castes) 2. Living in colonies with overlapping generations 3. Cooperative care of young

Question 59

Eusocial castes of leafcutter ants?

Answer 59

Minims: Tiny ants that take cares of fungus garden and brood Minors: Scouts and solders, patrol terrains Mediae: Generalised foragers, cut and bring back leaves Majors: The large soldier caste

Question 60

Social recognition and is levels?

Answer 60

``` Social recognition is the ability to classify or individually recognize members of a social group. - Cooperation often requires that an animal can identify the targets of its behavior. Levels: Species recognition Gender recognition Social group recognition Individual recognition Kin recognition ```

Question 61

Phenotype matching?

Answer 61

When an animal learns its own phenotype, or the phenotype of animals around it, and then used that information to classify previously unmet individuals.

Question 62

Levels of sociality?

Answer 62

Simplest social groups are often families Expanded by additional generations Kinship groups Larger aggregations, troops, colonies, clans, etc.

Question 63

Potential perspectives of social structures?

Answer 63

Traditional demographics: age and gender (e.g. group composition) Social hierarchies: matriarchal (including eusociality), patriarchal, etc. (e.g. reproductive partitioning) Levels of connectedness: social networks (e.g. information exchange)

Question 64

SNA?

Answer 64

SNA is a mathematical technique for analysing social relationships and the patterns and implications of these relationships.

Question 65

Methods of social climbing?

Answer 65

``` Aggression e.g. female hyenas, male gorillas Coalition e.g. lions Look/sound good e.g. many primates Manipulation e.g. us Sex e.g. bonobos Patience (e.g. inherit territory) ```

Question 66

Features of dominance hierarchies?

Answer 66

Dominance rank relationships are transitive within families and highly asymmetrical within dyads, such that older, larger females consistently dominated smaller, younger females. 

Question 67

Determinants of group size?

Answer 67

Basic group size model. Fitness costs associated with group size and the asterisk indicates the optimal group size If food scarcity increases intragroup competition large groups suffer disproportionately. If food scarcity primarily increases intergroup competition, small groups suffer disproportionately

Question 68

Relationship of socially transmitted behavior in primates?

Answer 68

The enhanced reliance on socially transmitted behavior observed in some primates has coevolved with enlarged brains, complex sociality, and extended lifespans. This coevolution is consistent with the hypothesis that the evolution of large brains, sociality, and long lifespans has promoted reliance on culture, with reliance on culture in turn driving further increases in brain volume, cognitive abilities, and lifespans in some primate lineages.

Question 69

What determines cohesion in social systems?

Answer 69

Ecological circumstances and group interactions determine the dispersal/non-dispersal threshold.

Question 70

Types of parental care? Process oriented types?

Answer 70

Biparental care Uniparental care by the female OR male Cooperative (helpers in addition to parents) No care ``` Depreciative care (decreasing with brood size) Non-depreciative care (independent of brood size) ```

Question 71

Decisions for raising offspring?

Answer 71

When? (sperm storage, gestation period, hatching dynamics, etc.) Where? (nesting, carrying, leading, ignoring, etc.) Alone or with company? (mother only, father only, both parents, social group, territory, etc.) How many and how often? (e.g. semelparity vs. iteroparity, r-selected vs k-selected) Parental care? (oviparity vs viviparity ) Level of dependence? (altricial vs precocial? Both are one day old) Staying or going? (Progeny disperse or remain - cooperative breeding)?

Question 72

Options of animals for when to give birth?

Answer 72

Pre-zygotic - e.g - Sperm storage: Yellow dungflies store sperm from about three males in three separate spermathecae. Post zygotic - e.g - Gestation/incubation period/Hatching dynamics (e.g. bet-hedging)/Post-hatching/parturition/emergence Hatching asynchrony

Question 73

What is bet hedging?

Answer 73

Organisms suffers decreased fitness in their typical conditions in exchange for increased fitness in stressful conditions.

Question 74

Features of nesting?

Answer 74

Nests chose based on. Pros - Protection, liberation of parents and control of natal microclimate (e.g. temperature-dependent sex determination in reptiles Cons- Nest sites may not be ideal locations for maximal foraging success Repeated occupancy increased risk of ectoparasites on young - Nests may need active defense, maintenance, supporting territories, etc. Risk of brood parasites. - Siblicide and infanticide. - Limited resources resulting in intraspecific and interspecific competition.

Question 75

Monogamy?

Answer 75

Each individual mates exclusively with one partner. Life-long (but often not exclusive) Equal post-embryonic investment in progeny

Question 76

Polygamy.

Answer 76

Individuals mate with more than one partner

Question 77

Polygyny?

Answer 77

One male mates with many females.

Question 78

Polyandry?

Answer 78

One female mates with many males..

Question 79

Polygynandry?

Answer 79

Species varies strategy e.g. dunnock.

Question 80

Promiscuity?

Answer 80

multiple mating by both sexes.

Question 81

Components of parental care?

Answer 81

Feeding: Delivering food to progeny guiding progeny to food Protecting: Shelter and defence against biotic and physico-chemical components of environment Teaching: Threats, foods, shelter, geography, social/communication skills, etc.

Question 82

Intra and inter-specific adoptions?

Answer 82

``` Giving parental care to a genetically unrelated animal Results in, Misdirected parental care Kin selection Milk evacuation Doesn't result in, Reciprocity and parenting hypothesis ```

Question 83

Biparental care?

Answer 83

Both parents help to raise offspring. | Common in birds.

Question 84

Uniparental care?

Answer 84

Only one parent raises the offspring. | Often found in mammals (female), fish (sometimes males) and some invertebrates (females).

Question 85

Cooperative care?

Answer 85

Helpers (related or non-related) help parents raise the offspring. Found in birds, mammals (female) and insects.

Question 86

No parental care?

Answer 86

Offspring are left to their own devices | Most often in egg-laying animals – Amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates.

Question 87

Depreciative care?

Answer 87

Care that declines in value as the number in the brood increases. E.g. food is often shared unevenly in brood, for example in great tits.

Question 88

Non-depreciative care?

Answer 88

independent of brood size. E.g. protection from predators, for example in ducks.

Question 89

What care are birds, mammals and fish associated with?

Answer 89

Birds: Bi-parental care (monogamy) Mammals: Uni-parantal care – females (polygyny) Fish: varied (polygamy)

Question 90

Three theories of parental care?

Answer 90

Paternity certainty Order of gamete release Association

Question 91

Paternity certainty theory?

Answer 91

Trivers (1972) suggested that certainty is increased with external fertilisation. Male has increased drive to care for young. Less certain with internal fertilisation & male more likely to desert. Sperm competition Desertion can only be favoured if reproductive success is not compromised. External fertilisation though does not guarantee paternity e.g. stickleback - sneaking male strategy

Question 92

Order of gamete release theory?

Answer 92

Dawkins and Carlisle (1976) suggested with external fertilisation, the female has first opportunity to desert. 36 out of 46 species that have simultaneous gamete release and mono-parental care have care given by male. Also in some families males build foam nests and releases sperm prior to egg deposition.

Question 93

Association theory?

Answer 93

Williams (1975) hypothesises simple association with parental care. With internal fertilisation, the female is closest associated with the young (she often carries the young or has to lay the egg). With external fertilisation, eggs are generally in male territory therefore parental care may be an incidental by-product of territoriality. Indeed male parental care is most common in territorial fish.

Question 94

Constraint of parental care?

Answer 94

Proposed by Lack - Limit to how much parent can look after offspring. Also parents can clash. Parents can expend too much energy on care and die to a predator.

Question 95

Opposing factors to successful parenting?

Answer 95

``` Male x Female: Battle of the Sexes New males: Infanticide and the Bruce Effect Parent-Offspring Provisioning vs rationing Sibling Rivalry Siblicide ```

Question 96

Determining when parental care stops?

Answer 96

Parent and offspring are expected to disagree over how long the period of parental investment should last and over the amount of parental investment that should be given. In general, parent-offspring conflict is expected to increase during the period of parental care, and offspring are expected to employ psychological weapons in order to compete with their parents. Conflict in some species, including the human species, is expected to extend to the adult reproductive role of the offspring

Question 97

Life history traits? And its features?

Answer 97

Concept to describe a species or population’s reproductive strategies. And have implications in terms of fitness and energetics. -Age at first reproduction Number of offspring in a clutch Number of clutches in a lifetime etc. -The life history traits affect species’ decision on how much time, energy and other resources are given to progeny

Question 98

Life history and parental investment in K and R adapted species?

Answer 98

``` K-adapted species: e.g. Wolves, elephants, whales and primates Long life Slower growth Late maturity Fewer large offspring High parental care and protection High investment in individual offspring Adapted to stable environment Later stages of succession Niche specialists Predators Regulated mainly by intrinsic factors High trophic level/climax species ``` ``` R-adapted species: Insects, rodents, parasites and annual plants Short life Rapid growth Early maturity Many small offspring Little parental care or protection Little investment in individual offspring Adapted to unstable environment Pioneers, colonizers Niche generalists Prey Regulated mainly by extrinsic factors Low trophic level/pioneer species ```

Question 99

Territoriality and features?

Answer 99

Territories are spatial regions, defended against conspecifics, for the purpose of using resources and providing mating opportunities Benefit: Exclusive access to resources (food, mates, nesting sites, etc.) Cost: Defence Why have a territory? Breeding, feeding, security, familiarity, etc. e.g. Clutch size correlated to territory quality in magpies Who defends a territory? Males Females Pairs Kinship groups Larger social groups

Question 100

Home range?

Answer 100

That area traversed by an individual in its normal activities of food gathering, mating and caring for young.

Question 101

Territorial animal?

Answer 101

When occupying space involves marking and defending a given area, the animal is said to be territorial. - By scent marking the locations that an animal visits, it conveys to a potential intruder that the area is claimed by another animal. - Once an intruder encounters a foreign scent, it typically retreats from it to avoid an aggressive response by the resident animal. This is the so-called mechanism of conspecific avoidance.

Question 102

Parameters controlling territory?

Answer 102

The average territory size, i.e. the inverse of the population density The time span during which animal scent marks remain active.

Question 103

How do we map territory?

Answer 103

Direct observation Mapping traces e.g. scats Camera traps Radiotelemetry & satellite tracking

Question 104

What territorial information can we map?

Answer 104

Size and shape Spacing Patch quality Resource availability

Question 105

Signs of territory on a map?

Answer 105

Dots: locations collected for this individual during the sampling period. Outermost line: territory boundary. Shaded areas: core areas for this particular individual.

Question 106

What is required to fully understand spatial behavior in animals?

Answer 106

Measure of altitude of territory, so can map animals territory's longitude, latitude and altitude.

Question 107

Costs of sexual reproduction?

Answer 107

Fitness and survival Sexually transmitted diseases Sexual antagonistic conflict/Intersexual conflict Sperm and eggs are both costly to produce Loss of mating (EPC) - EPC = Extra-Pair Copulations Death Reduced life span - Drosophila Coercion in ducks Predation - Most antelope species have very quick copulation

Question 108

Disease related costs of sexual reproduction?

Answer 108

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV, related to HIV) Canine transmissible venereal tumour (always found on the genitalia) Sexually transmitted mites in ladybirds Bacteria Chlamydia as a factor to the decline and long-term viability of affected koala

Question 109

Sexual antagonistic conflict/Intersexual conflict?

Answer 109

- Intralocus sexual conflict –when there are sex-specific optima for a trait that is expressed in both sexes and when the constraint of a shared gene pool prevents males and females from reaching their optima independently - Thus, alleles that reduce fecundity when expressed in females spread in the population because of their benefits in selfish males - Males in their semen give out anti- aphrodisiacs preventing the female from wanting to mate again. - Males will try to increase the amount of energy the female puts into the offspring.

Question 110

Passing of alleles in sexual and asexual reproduction?

Answer 110

Asexual – all alleles are passed to offspring. | Sexual – half alleles passed on.

Question 111

Effect of habitat stability on sex?

Answer 111

Stable habitats favor asexual reproduction | Unstable (unpredictable) habitats favor asexual reproduction

Question 112

Genetic recombination theory?

Answer 112

Beneficial mutations from separate ancestries can be combined. - Beneficial mutations can be separated from harmful mutations. - Unsuccessful genetic traits can easily disappear from an existing population. - Less than one in four offspring will receive the best genetic traits from BOTH parents. - However Natural Selection is very good at eliminating the least successful variations - Remember only a few offspring will survive anyway.

Question 113

True or false? Sexual reproduction provides an evolutionary advantage in parasite rich environments?

Answer 113

True.

Question 114

Muller Ratchet theory?

Answer 114

In small asexual populations without recombination, deleterious mutations will accumulate leading to loss of fitness and extinction. Depends on mutation rate, ability to repair and gene conversion mechanisms

Question 115

Parthenogenesis?

Answer 115

asexual reproduction without any required participation from males, as the development of offspring from unfertilised egg.

Question 116

Increased Rate of Evolution theory?

Answer 116

- Evolution generally favours organisms that evolve quickly (i.e. those that mutate quicker) - However, mutations are more often harmful than not. - But with sexual reproduction, beneficial mutations can be separated from harmful ones so less damage is done (i.e. the most successful survive) while maintaining a high rate of mutation. - With asexual reproduction it takes so long for beneficial mutations to accumulate in the population that if sexual selection had not evolved, life would probably not have evolved past the bacterial stage.

Question 117

Sharing of beneficial mutations theory?

Answer 117

Even bacteria that reproduce by binary fission, will also exchange genetic material (via plasmids and pili - conjugation). Beneficial mutations can be shared. Evolution generally favours any mutation that increases the drive to find sexual partners. This leads to the vast range of behaviors.

Question 118

Define a male and a female?

Answer 118

Male: produces small, motile gametes called sperm. Males produce large numbers of sperms with small investment in each Female: produces small, motile gametes called eggs. Females produce small numbers of eggs with large investment in each.

Question 119

Hermaphroditism?

Answer 119

When an animal has both male and female organs/gametes They tend to swap sperm in order to fertilise each other Many (especially marine) invertebrates.

Question 120

Why two sexes?

Answer 120

- When sex does evolve, two sexes are favoured because that is the easiest way to prevent competition between the organelles of the parents. - An organism's organelles (i.e mitochondria and epigenetic material) are all acquired from its mother. - If some were to be inherited from each parent, the two sets of genetically identical organelles would compete to be passed on to the offspring's offspring. 

Question 121

What does natural selection favour?

Answer 121

Favours production of the rarer sex, so sex ratio is usually balanced at 1:1

Question 122

Polygynandry?

Answer 122

Species varies mating strategy.

Question 123

Natural selection?

Answer 123

Process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Question 124

Sexual selection?

Answer 124

Promotes traits that will increase an organism's mating success.

Question 125

Forms of sexual selection?

Answer 125

Intersexual: member of one sex chooses mate based on particular characteristics (mate choice). Intrasexual: members of one sex compete over partners with the winner performing most of the mating.

Question 126

Monogamy?

Answer 126

``` May range from a breeding season to a life time: - Genetic Monogamy (only reproduces with one partner ever). Social Monogamy (pair bonding) ``` Animal Examples: Black Vulture, White Cheeked Gibbons, Kirk’s Dikdik & Laysan Albatross (in courtship dance to strengthen pair bonds).

Question 127

Resource defense polygyny?

Answer 127

The male defends a territory that centres on a resource needed for breeding success. The quality of the territory determines the size of his harem.

Question 128

Polygyny threshold model?

Answer 128

Female decision about whether to be a secondary female in a good territory or sole female in a poorer territory.

Question 129

Polyandry?

Answer 129

One female mate with multiple males Classical Polyandry - sexes-roles reversal Cooperative Polyandry – 2 or more males are associated with one female

Question 130

Why may classic polyandry have come about?

Answer 130

``` Female bigger and defend males Females carry out infanticide Males may become ‘pregnant’ Unusual situations e.g. energy constraints and clutch losses. ```

Question 131

Cooperative polyandry features?

Answer 131

More stable association, tend to share caring role. Rare. Evolved separately from classical polyandry.

Question 132

Features of reciprocal altruism?

Answer 132

Larger groups, more successful defense, such as Galapagos.

Question 133

Features of kin selection?

Answer 133

Help with carrying twins. Dominant males appears to have more access to female, but males often related.

Question 134

Polygynandry? Features?

Answer 134

A multi-male, multi-female polygamous mating system, e.g. lions and bonobos. - Females are usually more numerous than the males and mating occurs only within the group. - Advantage: greater genetic diversity, less male x male conflict; greater protection for the young.

Question 135

Promiscuity and features?

Answer 135

Promiscuity occurs when males and females in a population mate (randomly) and with multiple partners. Mating promiscuity appears relatively common but genetic analysis generally shows greater asymmetry in male mating success than would be expected in a truly random system. No long-term relationships No fixed rules on which sex cares for young The males can benefit more from promiscuity However, females can choose only high quality males, therefore gaining the best genes for their offspring.

Question 136

Implications for species that do promiscuity?

Answer 136

- White blood cell counts significantly greater in species where females have more mating partners, indicating that the risk of sexually transmitted disease is likely to be a major factor leading to systematic differences in the primate immune system. - Both male and female same-sex genital interactions positively correlated with the degree of promiscuity, suggesting that the same-sex genital interactions in primates may be a neutral by-product of selection for increases in promiscuous sexual activity, and that in certain instances these interactions may be co-opted to facilitate adaptive social functions.

Question 137

Why are females choosy in mates?

Answer 137

Females usually invest more than males (eggs versus sperm) in offspring even in species with no parental care. Therefore, females should in general be the choosy sex (female mate choice) as they invest more in the offspring. Generally, the female is larger than the male and takes longer to mature (except in mammals) and males compete for females.

Question 138

Evolution of elaborate ornaments?

Answer 138

Female selection sometimes results in very large or brightly coloured male adornments (exaggerated male traits), which often reduces the survival chances of the male (conflict with natural selection).

Question 139

Fisher's runaway selection theory?

Answer 139

Sexual selection in females keep enlarging trait. Genes for male trait and female preference co-varies. Initial fitness reasons for female preference (or because of pre-existing sensory preferences), but now no longer any advantages (run-away process).

Question 140

Sex son hypothesis theory?

Answer 140

Females prefer males with elaborate ornaments because these traits will also be favoured by females in the next generation, so sons with these traits will have higher mating success (sexy sons).

Question 141

Handicap principle theory?

Answer 141

Only individuals with very good genes (foraging skills, avoiding predators) can survive long enough to mate with the handicap of an elaborated ornament. Thus it is a reliable signal of good genes that is costly to maintain for the male (only very fit males can afford it).

Question 142

Zuk Hamilton's bright males theory?

Answer 142

Bright colours are costly to produce and thus only healthy individuals (low parasite-load) with good genes have them. Thus, sexual ornamentation allowed male birds to communicate to females that they were free of parasites and diseases.

Question 143

Sexual dimorphism?

Answer 143

Sexual selection is thought to play a major role in the evolution of male-biased sexual dimorphism by acting on traits that improve a male's ability to compete for mates and produce offspring Sexual dimorphism often arises as a response to selection on traits that improve a male's ability to physically compete for access to mates.

Question 144

Honesty and dishonesty in mating system?

Answer 144

Dishonesty: false representation of an animal’s genotype or of resources it holds, and can happen in two ways: Male misrepresenting the quality in mate choice: Males misrepresent whether they already have a mate and are spending time caring for young from that mating: Females mispresenting as mating only with one male: When the female has a made a mate choice, but is somewhat uncertain about her choice or because of unpredictable conditions, the female select mating with other males.

Question 145

Infanticide and paternity confusion?

Answer 145

Infanticide occurs when an adult animal kills a young animal of the same species. Paternity confusion is a strategy to deter infanticide.

Question 146

Forms of intersexual conflict?

Answer 146

- Genetics conflicts - Control of fertilizations - in iteroparous species (i.e. reproducing multiple times) males may benefit from maximizing immediate brood size whereas females may benefit from maximizing number of broods.

Question 147

Mate competition?

Answer 147

In many species, females mate with competitively superior males. Dominance is determined by fighting or ritualized displays. Male-male competition results in males substantially larger than females.

Question 148

Cheating males?

Answer 148

-If you are a small male you do not stand much chance at winning females in competition with larger males. -Some males instead wait until the large male attracts females then sneak in and breed with her e.g. sticklebacks, frogs. -Some males pretend to be a female and breed with the real female e.g. sticklebacks, blue gilled sun fish. Some males hang around the outskirts and hope to be able to ‘grab’ a female if they get the chance e.g. elephant seals.

Question 149

Mate guarding?

Answer 149

Males physically guard the female. Seen for instance in frogs and damselflies.

Question 150

Sperm displacement?

Answer 150

Males scrape out the sperm of competitors with special organs. Seen in damsel and dragonflies.

Question 151

Copulation plugs?

Answer 151

Males physically block the access to the female reproductive tract. Seen for example in some spiders where the male reproductive organ breaks off and seals the female’s tract.

Question 152

Methods for successful mating in sexual conflict?

Answer 152

Testes size Sperm storage Bigger and longer sperm

Question 153

Females are more likely to go to a high ranking male for Extra Pair Copulation (EPC) - What advantages does this have?

Answer 153

Sexy Son Hypothesis - More sons with fitter/ more high profile males Hamilton Zuk hypothesis- Sexual traits are longer/ brighter as they are able to put more into them as they are healthy - Honest indicators of fitness Handicap Principle - Able to survive to reproduce, despite the sexual traits, have not been predated or killed off by disease.

Question 154

When might conspecifics be dangerous?

Answer 154

``` Intraspecific competition e.g. infanticide in lions, siblicide in raptors Intraspecific predation (cannibalism) e.g. Arctic charr ```

Question 155

When might heterospecifics be dangerous?

Answer 155

Interspecific competition e.g. large predators on the African savanna Predators Parasites Pathogens

Question 156

Type of defense strategies?

Answer 156

``` Cryptic behaviour (camouflage) Mimicry and diversion Vigilance and alarm Evasion Predator deterrence and fighting back Pathogen avoidance/deterrence and sickness behaviour ```

Question 157

What is crypsis? Give examples?

Answer 157

``` A strategy that helps to avoid detection, e.g. hiding, camouflage and deception. Hiding Out of sight/smell/hearing Out of reach Deception Mimicry (Batesian & Mullerian) Cryptic behaviour (camouflage) Looking/acting like a non-edible part of the habitat ```

Question 158

Types of camouflage?

Answer 158

Colouring Countershading: gradation of colour from dark dorsal to light ventral side. Background matching: same colour as the usual habitat may change seasonally Brokenness & Disruptive colouration: break up the animals outline in relation to background habitat

Question 159

Countershading?

Answer 159

Method of camouflage in which an animal's coloration is darker on the upper side and lighter on the underside of the body.

Question 160

Disruptive colouration?

Answer 160

form of camouflage in which high-contrast patterns obscure internal features or break up an animal's outline.

Question 161

What is a startle response? And what are its forms?

Answer 161

The sudden production of movement, sound, or another stimulus that distracts a predator. Visual Acoustic

Question 162

What is fight or flight response? And its forms?

Answer 162

- The acute stress response consists of two stages in most vertebrates and invertebrates - The initial, fast-acting stage is the ‘fight-or-flight’ response, which is activated by the nervous system through the release of the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine in vertebrates. This allows animals to act quickly in response to a threat, such as by fighting or fleeing. - The second, slower stage involves the release of additional neuroendocrine factors to mobilize energy reserves for prolonged action. This is associated with metabolic, cellular, osmoregulatory and immune function changes

Question 163

Batesian mimicry? And features?

Answer 163

A behavior in which a benign item (prey) looks like or behaves like a distasteful or poisonous species. Cheating. Harmless species mimics dangerous species and try to fool the predators to avoid them. Only works when harmless species are much less common that dangerous species.

Question 164

Mullerian mimicry? And features?

Answer 164

Müllerian mimicry: A behavior in which noxious animals converge on the same appearance or behavior. Poisonous or distasteful (unpalatable) prey look alike. Evolved to ensure rapid avoidance learning by predators. Bright colours make them conspicuously and easy to remember. Strong signal.

Question 165

Vigilance? Example?

Answer 165

Vigilance is the awareness that an animal has of its surrounding and the potential presence of predators. - Sparrows give chirrup calls when they find food to alert flock members to the food (increased vigilance). The faster the chirrup rate the faster other birds arrive. However, in cases where food cannot be easily shared (or it is limited) the first bird on the scene does not chirrup much. Trade-off between competition and predation risk.

Question 166

Types of evasion?

Answer 166

Escape - Speed and endurance Safety in numbers - Synchronized breeding Confusion - Stotting/Pronking

Question 167

Types of predator deterrence methods?

Answer 167

Physical Resistance Fighting back Armourment Chemical Resistance

Question 168

Describe Predator-prey co-evolution (evolutionary arms race).

Answer 168

Defence strategies evolve through co-evolutionary arms races with predator/parasite strategies Predators evolve a certain hunting technique, which prey then evolve counter-measures for, which then again can cause further evolution in the predator etc... Example: Garter snakes feed on rough-skinned newts, the newts are poisonous -> the snakes evolve resistance to poison -> the newts evolve more potent poison.

Question 169

Red queen hypothesis?

Answer 169

Explains that a species must adapt and evolve not just for reproductive advantage, but also for survival because competing organisms also are evolving

Question 170

Examples of predator adaptations and prey counter-adaptation?

Answer 170

``` -Searching for prey Improved visual acuity Search image Search limited area where prey abundant -Crypsis (background matching, disruptive patterns, countershading) Polymorphism Spacing out ```

Question 171

Methods of pathogen and disease avoidance?

Answer 171

Cleaning mutualisms on coral reefs Auto/allogrooming Hetero-herbivory to minimize intake of plant toxins Behavioral fever

Question 172

Behavioral fever?

Answer 172

The raising of body temperature to a level fatal to pathogens. In reptiles, the fever response is behavioural rather than physiological by directly seeking higher than usual temperatures by selecting warmer zones.

Question 173

What id foraging? What's it for?

Answer 173

``` Maintenance -metabolism (including foraging activity) -growth and development -defense (against physical environment, toxins, predators, parasites, pathogens and competitors) Reproduction -making gametes/progeny -finding/attracting/winning mates -finding breeding/nesting sites -provisioning and protecting progeny ```

Question 174

What causes an animal to forage in the terms of Tinbergen's four questions?

Answer 174

Function: Natural selection should result in a strategy that maximizes net reproductive success (Tinbergen’s function question). -Optimality theory predicts an animal should behave in a way that maximizes benefits of a behaviour minus its costs; an animal seeks to obtain the most energy possible with the least expenditure of energy. The more net energy gained, the greater the reproductive success. Causation (Tinbergens’s causation question) Abundance, distribution, profitability (nutritional benefit minus handling cost). -Nutritional need drives foraging behaviour. Foraging behaviour should optimize the return (marginal value theorem), but constrained by risk assessment and conflicting homeostatic needs. Development (Tinbergens’s development question) Inherited/genetic (e.g. forager gene) and/or learned (e.g. meerkats “teaching” progeny to predate scorpions) foraging strategies. Phylogeny (Tinbergens’s evolution question) Lineage-specific constraints on foraging strategy (e.g. ability to harness gut microflora to digest cellulose).

Question 175

Dietary types of animals?

Answer 175

Herbivores - Consume living plant material Carnivores - Consume living animal material, i.e., predators and parasites Saprophages - Consume non-living material, i.e. scavengers Omnivores - Meat and plant material.

Question 176

Types of herbivory?

Answer 176

Browsers - e.g. kudu, black rhino, howler monkeys Grazers - e.g. zebra, white rhino Frugivores, nectar/pollen feeders and seed predators - e.g. fruit bats, bees, finches, white-faced monkeys Root borers - e.g. subterranean nematodes Filterers - e.g. zooplankton feeding on phytoplankton

Question 177

Ways animals overcome plant defenses?

Answer 177

Physical e.g. thorns Avoidance strategy: strong jaws, muscular tongues, etc. e.g. giraffe Chemical e.g. leaf toxins, latex Avoidance strategy: sequestering toxin (e.g. many insect larvae), selectivity and feeding below tolerance threshold (e.g. howler monkeys), trenching (e.g. squash beetle, Epilachna borealis).

Question 178

Types of carnivory (hunting)?

Answer 178

--Sit and wait predators Deceive - e.g. praying mantis, angler fish Trap - e.g. spiders, sessile filtersActive predators -Ambush -e.g. lions, leopards Pursuit - e.g. cheetah, wolves Search, sense and harvest - e.g. waders, baleen whales -Parasites/hematophages/parasitoids Internal (endoparasites) - e.g. flukes, External (ectoparasites) - e.g. mosquitoes, jewel wasps (Nasonia)

Question 179

Types of foraging?

Answer 179

Active foraging/roaming behavior /Solitary foraging - Tigers Active foraging/roaming behavior/Group foraging (incl. coordinated hunting) - Elephants Active foraging/Central place foraging/solitary foraging - foxes. Active foraging/central place foraging/ group foraging (coordinated hunting) - meerkats Sit-and-wait foraging/passive/solitary foraging - crocodiles Sit-and-wait foraging/passive/group foraging - social spiders Sit-and-wait foraging/luring/solitary foraging - angler fish. Sit-and-wait foraging/luring/group foraging - glow worms.

Question 180

Types of saprophagy/detritivory?

Answer 180

Detritus feeders e.g. millipedes Scavengers e.g. vultures, flesh-burying beetles

Question 181

Optimal foraging theory?

Answer 181

Animals adopt strategies that are most efficient with regard to energy, time , etc., such that fitness (net reproductive success) is maximised.

Question 182

Constraints?

Answer 182

Limit what is optimal, imposed by behavioral, morphological and physiological adaptations.

Question 183

Functional response?

Answer 183

The relationship between the amount of food and the rate at which it is consumed.

Question 184

Numerical response?

Answer 184

The change in reproductive rate with changing prey density, although it can also include effects of immigration.

Question 185

Concept of optimal foraging theory?

Answer 185

Animals will behave in such a way as to maximise their energy uptake. Thus they will spend the optimal amount of time in a patch before moving to the next one.

Question 186

Mechanisms to increase and decrease energy gain in foraging? With examples?

Answer 186

-Mechanisms to increase the energy gain in foraging Example from shore crabs can eat different sized mussels Prefer intermediate mussels with highest rate of energy return Larger mussels yield more energy but take longer to open Smaller mussels are easier to open but yield less energy -Mechanisms to decrease the cost of foraging Search time: time spent looking for a food Search image: use of specific attributes in prey to scan their habitats for those prey Handling time: Once prey have been found

Question 187

What's the marginal value theory? What does it lead to?

Answer 187

-It describes the behaviour of an optimally foraging animal in a system where resources are located in discrete patches separated by areas with no resources An animal feeding at a food patch must decide when to leave the patch in search of another. -Leads to diminishing returns (resource depletion) because: Depletion of resource Evasion by prey Decreasing reward, declining quality of prey Interference by competitors.

Question 188

What factors affect optimal foraging theory?

Answer 188

Not all animals follow OFT all the time. Sometimes it is more important to minimise predation risk than to optimise food intake. Critical point in which the density of food within a given patch is no longer profitable causing the animal to move to other food patches This is often altered by predation risk

Question 189

What does optimal foraging theory assume?

Answer 189

Optimal foraging theory assumes that animals have knowledge of the environment. Animals can acquire knowledge by experience, but also use rule of thumb.

Question 190

What are numerical and functional responses? And what are their types?

Answer 190

Numerical response describes conversion of prey density into predator density Functional response captures relationship between rate of consumption and food density. Type 1: rate of consumption of predator proportional to prey density. Type II: rate of consumption increases rapidly with increased prey density but plateaus at a carrying capacity. Type III: similar to Type II but assumes that rate of prey consumption is slower than type II at low prey density.

Question 191

What is ideal free distribution (IDF)? What does it assume? What can it lead to?

Answer 191

Animals will distribute themselves among resources in such as way that they maximise their own food intake by minimising competition. In other words, competitors should adjust their distribution in relation to habitat quality so that each individual enjoys the same rate of food intake. -Assumes animals can correctly assess resource quality and competition pressure (and assumes equal competitive abilities). -lead to continuous movement of individuals back and forth

Question 192

Difference between carnivorous and insectivorous mustelids?

Answer 192

carnivorous mustelids - Slow cat-like stalk followed by a sudden pounce. More adept at running down, grasping and manipulating prey with accurate delivery of a killing bite. insectivorous mustelids - Irregular walk or trot with frequent stops at potential prey site. Less need for complex foraging behaviour.

Question 193

Steps involved in studying a behavior?

Answer 193

Ask a question (decide on which of Tinbergen’s four questions should form the basis) Preliminary observations and formulate hypothesis Make predictions from hypothesis Identify the variables needed to test hypothesis Choice suitable recording method Collect data Analyse data (with statistical tests) Disseminate findings (journal papers, reports, talks)

Question 194

Example animal behavior study hypothesises?

Answer 194

- Young chimpanzees avoid interaction with larger males during feeding - Macaques select nuts over fruit because of its higher nutritional value.

Question 195

What id anthropomorphism? What can it lead to?

Answer 195

- Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics (or characteristics assumed to belong only to humans) to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts. - We tend to analyse animal behaviour from human motives and reasons. We have to be careful about that: Animals (including pets) do not think, act, or look like humans. - Anthropomorphism can result in wrong and difficult to test hypotheses. Generally always think about alternative (adaptive) hypotheses.

Question 196

What are the observer effects?

Answer 196

- Effects of observer on subjects: Clever Hans, unnatural or change of normal behaviors, effect on predators etc. - Observer drift: Researchers become better at recording or recognizing behaviors over time. Therefore usually best to discard data collected at the start of a project. - Observer fatigue: Very long field sessions should be avoided as fatigue can affect the ability to record behaviors accurately. - Several observers: Projects with several observers need to take care that recording is as consistent as possible across observers.

Question 197

What are the behavior recording methods?

Answer 197

- Ad libitum sampling: Observer records all visible and interesting behaviors. Risk for bias towards most conspicuous behaviors, but can be useful for preliminary observations and for rare events. - Focal sampling: The observer focuses on one individual and records all its behavior during a specified length of time. Good for studies of individuals in groups, but can be difficult in field settings. - Scan sampling: A group of animals is rapidly scanned at regular intervals and the behavior of each animal recorded. Again slightly biased towards conspicuous behaviors - Behavior sampling: The whole group of animals are watched and the occurrence of specific behaviors are recorded. Good for rare behaviors.

Question 198

Rules of animal behavior recording?

Answer 198

- Continuous recording: Constant measuring of the behavior, getting both start and stop times for and frequencies of the observed behaviors. Used with video cameras or computer automated tracking. Very time consuming to analyse. - Time sampling: Behavior sampled periodically. Two types: - Instantaneous sampling: Records whether the behavior is happening or not at specific sample points. Used with scan sampling. - One-zero sampling: Time split up in intervals, at the end of interval observer records if the behavior occurred during the interval.

Question 199

Ethogram?

Answer 199

- An encyclopaedia of all action patterns displayed by an animal and is used to facilitate behavioural observations during ad libitum or focal sampling. - The behaviour is broken down in a sequence of discrete action patterns.

Question 200

What is shown in a kinetic diagram?

Answer 200

Transitions of behaviors can also be shown in a kinematic diagram

Question 201

What are time and energy budgets?

Answer 201

Time budgets: Lists the percentage of time an animal spends on various activities. Energy budgets: Measures the energy that an animal spends on various activities.

Question 202

What is citizen science?

Answer 202

- Citizen science (also called crowd science) is scientific research conducted by amateur or nonprofessional scientists. - Traditionally it was done by crowd sourcing (distribute tedious data analysis etc. to a large group of people), but new citizen projects can also be varied and exciting (new technology such as phone apps can make species identification by lay people more reliable). - North American Breeding Bird Survey data have contributed to over 500 peer-reviewed publications

Question 203

Advantages and criteria for public collected data in YouTube videos and webcams?

Answer 203

-YouTube videos contributed by members of the public have three advantages: YouTube can provide large sample sizes. Increases chances of observation of rare behavior. Engaging with the public has potential for researchers. -Criteria including YouTube videos 1) No obvious post-production manipulation of the images. 2) One main scene with a maximum of up to four shots per clip. 3) Derived from the original source (i.e. uploaded clip filmed by the person who uploaded it). 4) Data points were independent (not same animals in same or different clips). 5) Minimal or no human manipulation of the animal’s behavior.

Question 204

What can webcams be used for in animal behavior?

Answer 204

Webcams can also be used to generate preliminary hypotheses or observe rare behaviors.

Question 205

Orientation?

Answer 205

Movement in a given direction, which is the main requirement for any kind of directional movement.

Question 206

What information's control navigation?

Answer 206

- Idiothetic information (internal to the animal): using cognitive maps that combine neural structure, learning and memory (path integration) - Allothetic information (external to the animal): obtained from environmental stimuli such as odours, magnetic fields, stars, landmark features, etc.

Question 207

Kineses?

Answer 207

changes in speed of movement and turning without orientation to a stimulus, e.g. moth in a pheromone “plume”.

Question 208

Taxes?

Answer 208

changes in direction of movements that are oriented to a stimulus, e.g. positive phototaxis in moths.

Question 209

Territoriality?

Answer 209

Patrolling territory boundaries and agonistic response to neighbours /invaders.

Question 210

Assisted migration?

Answer 210

anthropogenic transport, e.g. translocations of beavers, passive (e.g. fairy shrimp resting eggs moved by wind or vectors or spider ballooning).

Question 211

Animal movements can be assigned to one of three fundamentally different classes based on individual-level behaviors, what are they?

Answer 211

- Non-oriented mechanisms: based on diffusion and kinesis in response to proximate stimuli - Oriented mechanisms: utilizing perceptual cues of distant targets - Memory-based mechanisms: assuming prior knowledge of a target's location

Question 212

What are the population level distributions?

Answer 212

Range residency: Resources with little spatial variability Dispersal: movement leading to gene flow Migration: Resources with predictable seasonal variation in spatial distributions Nomadism: Resource distributions are unpredictable in both space and time

Question 213

Effects of gradients in resource distribution and predictability on population-level movement distributions?

Answer 213

- Finer spatial heterogeneity of resources equals range residency than nomadism and migration. - Higher temporal predictability of resources equals range residency and migration over nomadism.

Question 214

Sedentary?

Answer 214

Sedentary ranges comprise resident strategies such as home ranges or territories, and are characterized by distributions in which an individual over its lifetime occupies a relatively small area compared to the population range.

Question 215

Home range?

Answer 215

That part of an animal’s cognitive map of its environment that it chooses to keep updated.

Question 216

What limits long distance movements in sedentary animals?

Answer 216

Long-distance movements in sedentary animals are usually limited to events of dispersal.

Question 217

Homing?

Answer 217

Homing is movement with the goal of reaching a known resource, such as shelter, which is used as a central place within an animal home range.

Question 218

Dispersal? Types?

Answer 218

Dispersal is the movement that potentially results in gene flow. Natal Dispersal: movement from site of birth to site of reproduction Breeding Dispersal: movement between sequential breeding sites.

Question 219

Is migration dispersal?

Answer 219

No

Question 220

Why is knowing dispersal important?

Answer 220

Understanding local adaptation Establishing barriers to gene flow between taxa Conservation genetics & evolutionary rescue Meta-population dynamics Range expansion and community assembly Determining distribution of many pathogens Major driver of co-evolution between animals and plants.

Question 221

What causes dispersal?

Answer 221

-Variation in the non-social environment Not enough reproductive sites or mates Food shortage (season and/or temperature determined) -Variation in social environment (e.g. Competition avoidance) -Variation in the genetic environment (e.g. Inbreeding avoidance) These are called condition-dependent dispersal

Question 222

Alternative to dispersal?

Answer 222

Cooperative breeding.

Question 223

Ecological determinants of dispersal?

Answer 223

-Many selective pressures govern the evolution of dispersal rates and distributions -Many of these (e.g. patch quality, kin structure) will vary over ecological time -Equally, some determinants of dispersal success will vary among individuals (e.g. competitive ability) Hence, we may expect that dispersal behavior will respond plastically to environmental variation-

Question 224

True or false? Young males are often the main dispersers.

Answer 224

True.

Question 225

Costs of dispersal?

Answer 225

Production and maintenance of specialist dispersal structures or life stages Energetic & time costs of dispersal Risk (e.g. why leave home, by definition a good place to be born?!) Competitive disadvantage against established locals Migration load if combined with local adaptation

Question 226

Migration?

Answer 226

-Between two habitats on a periodic or seasonal basis. In contrast to dispersal, migration is (usually) a more regularly predictable movement. Distances involved may be tiny - or vast. -The non-directional dispersal versus goal-orientated migration

Question 227

Reasons for migration?

Answer 227

Most commonly to avoid seasonal shortages of food and/or water. - Find shelter and/or avoid harsh weather. - Search for a mate. - Give birth, lay eggs or raise young. - To find safe places to moult. - Overcrowding.

Question 228

Latitudinal migration?

Answer 228

Approximate north-south migrations Arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea) - Annual migration from Greenland and Iceland to Weddell Sea (Antarctica). - Circuitous routes result in round journey of 81600 km. - e.g. Whimprel

Question 229

Altitudinal migration?

Answer 229

Snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) - Breeds in upland Scotland. - In winter migrates to lower altitudes - even down to the coast. - Less snow therefore easier to find food

Question 230

Example of migration divide?

Answer 230

White storks (Ciconia ciconia) Two breeds - one in W. Europe that flies down west coast to wintering grounds in Africa. - And one that flies easterly down east side. Called ‘migration divide’. Naïve storks reared in captivity will fly the route according to their breed. Genetically linked.

Question 231

Multigenerational migration with example?

Answer 231

- The complete migration cycle involves more than one generation of the species e.g. Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). - The population east of the Rocky Mountains migrates to Mexico. - The last generation of the summer enters into a non-reproductive diapause and may live seven months or more. During this they fly to the overwintering sites. - It is the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations that return to their northern locations in the US and Canada in the spring.

Question 232

What is nomadism and in what conditions does it usually occur?

Answer 232

- Nomad animals move long distances in an irregular manner, and thus do not fit into the conventional categories of either seasonal migration or range residency. - Nomadism usually occurs in highly variable, resource-limited environments. It can also provide escape from natural disasters, predators, and parasites. - Nomadic movements have unique impacts, such as increasing population sizes, promoting dispersal to novel environments, and stabilizing ecosystems.

Question 233

What key elements affect the onset of migration?

Answer 233

- Physiological changes (normally related to day length) to over-ride normal behaviors - Accumulation of energy reserves.

Question 234

What is communication?

Answer 234

The foundation for mating behavior and social behavior. In fact, any behavior routinely including more than one individual.

Question 235

What is a signal?

Answer 235

A behavioral or morphological trait that have evolved in the signaller to carry specific meaning or information to the receiver in order to modify its behavior.

Question 236

Requirements for effective communication?

Answer 236

- Senders and receivers | - Ritualization: the association of meaning with a signal

Question 237

Aspects of the evolutions of signals?

Answer 237

- Content (strategic design) - Efficacy (tactical design) with which they are being transmitted and picked by the receiver. Signals needs to be fine-tuned to the sensory capabilities of the receiver (also known as receiver psychology).

Question 238

Theory on why signaling evolved?

Answer 238

-Current theory suggests that many signaling systems evolved from pre-existing cues. E.g. Broken leg (cue) vs. pretending to have a broken wing (signal). -Signalling systems represent a basic form for inter- and intraspecific communication. Signals are an evolved means of actively conveying information and influencing the behavior of receivers (intentional). In contrast, cues are passive, non-evolving biological and environmental traits that inherently provide the observer with information (non-intentional).

Question 239

Modes of communication?

Answer 239

Chemical : taste and smell (pheromones) Mechanical signal: Tactile (touching) and vibratory Audible/acoustic: sound Visual: involving pattern, movement, light production. Electrical: e.g. electrical fish

Question 240

Chemical communication?

Answer 240

Mainly pheromones, a chemical signal used in communication. Scent-marking e.g. - ants, termites, and fruitflies

Question 241

Features of tactile communication?

Answer 241

- Effective when animals are close together - They function in both aggressive and affiliative interactions - Providing empathy and comfort in times of tension and conflict - Conflict resolution and maintaining bonds in primates

Question 242

Features of acoustic communication?

Answer 242

- Sound: is a vibration adapted to a wide variety of environmental conditions and behavioural situations. - Range in amplitude, duration, and frequency, which impact distance to recipient and localisation of sender - May be directed signals to a specific individual or group, or undirected advertisements to attract, distract or warn. - e.g. passerines emit pure-tone alarm calls making localization difficult, while also producing complex, broadband mate attraction songs allowing conspecifics to find the sender. - Produced by various organs e. g. echo-location in bats, infrasound in elephants, territorial display in howler monkeys, mate attraction in frogs, etc. - Produced by various organs e. g. echo-location in bats, infrasound in elephants, territorial display in howler monkeys, social interaction in whales, mate attraction in frogs, etc.

Question 243

Sources of and types of visual communication?

Answer 243

Three sources: Pattern Movement Light production Two types: Permanent advertisements: e.g. territorial ownership and defence in red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) Transient advertisements: e.g. head-bobbing and dewlap extension in green anoles (Anolis carolinensis)

Question 244

Use of vibratory signals?

Answer 244

- Generally used during predatory behavior or during mating. - The scorpion, Paruroctonus mesaensis, can interpret vibrations in sand to determine both direction and distance of prey species, while the burrowing cockroach, Arenivaga investigata, uses vibration to detect and avoid the approach of the scorpion (co-evolution). - Spiders use vibratory signals, for hunting and mating. Ctenid spiders can communicate when on different leaves on the same plant during mating.

Question 245

Examples of electrical communication?

Answer 245

- Mormyrid fish produce species-specific electrical pulses, for locating prey and mates (distinguishing conspecifics from heterospecifics). - Foraging sharks detect electrical signals using electroreceptor cells in the head region, to eavesdrop on weak bioelectric fields of prey.

Question 246

Defining feature of language?

Answer 246

One of the defining features of language is syntax, i.e. a set of rules for combining smaller units into larger structures.

Question 247

Language of wolves?

Answer 247

``` Posture submissive posture crouching position dominant tail submissive tail facial expressions whines and whimpers scent rolling scent marking wolf barking lone howl ```

Question 248

Concept of runaway sexual selection?

Answer 248

- When traits in one sex are magnified beyond any reasonable scale as a result of preference of the other sex for very large, loud or bright signal (supernormal stimuli) - Traits can be favoured by runaway sexual selection, in which preference and display reinforce one another due to genetic correlation; or by good genes benefits, in which mate choice is advantageous because extreme displays indicate a well-adapted genotype.

Question 249

Reason for existence of honest and dishonest sigalling?

Answer 249

- Natural selection should favour any signal that enhances an animal’s likelihood of survival and reproduction. Not all signals are honest (e.g. Batesian mimicry, bird with broken wing etc.). - Animals lie to appear larger or fitter, especially in relation to potential mates. However, receivers are also selected for not being deceived. - When both sender and receiver have the same interest in the result - But, what if one animal can exploit another in order to improve its fitness? - Deceit (dishonest) signals have evolved to mislead, mostly during mate choice.

Question 250

Examples of dishonest signalling?

Answer 250

-Fiddler crabs are good examples of dishonest signallers. Male crabs who lose their claw grow a longer, slender and weaker claw. But other males and females assess fighting ability by the males ability to wave the claws fast, which is easier with a lighter claw. -Chemical mimicry in the large blues (Maculinea spp.) Stage 1: Caterpillars synthesize compounds mimicking Myrmica ant odour profiles to gain entry into ant nests. Stage 2: Caterpillars acquire additional molecules in the nest, perhaps through physical contact. -Acoustic mimicry in the large blues (Maculinea spp.) Caterpillars emit sounds similar to those produced by the ant queens and benefit from enhanced care

Question 251

What is game theory? Features?

Answer 251

- Method of analysing the evolution of phenotypes (including types of behaviours) when the fitness of a particular phenotype depends on its frequency in the population. - Game theory can help to reveal ESS’s (evolutionary stable strategies), as those behaviours (phenotypes) associated with optimal fitness that cannot be invaded by another strategy – the best strategy to play in all scenarios. - Game theory can be applied to the evolution of antagonistic or cooperative behaviours (such as reciprocal altruism).

Question 252

How can the tit for tat strategy spread in a population where everybody plays all defect?

Answer 252

- It could evolve if the group mainly consists of relatives. - Or if the population is clustered, so that the tit for tat evolves a few times in a small group where it has a chance of playing against other tit for tat opponents. Small groups are also more likely to consist of relatives.

Question 253

Example of game theory?

Answer 253

- The vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) - Vampire bats are not always successful in finding blood meals, and when hungry they beg for food from other bats in the roost. - Regurgitation happens between close relatives or between individuals who often roost together. - Asymmetry between costs and benefits among donor and receiver helps interaction. - Bats who receive blood will repay the favour on later nights.

Question 254

Features of Interspecific interaction and game theory?

Answer 254

-Fighting pros: Get access to resource, avoid competition. -Fighting cons: expending energy, risk of injury/death. -Two theoretical strategies in intra-specific encounters: The Hawk strategy: Always fight, always wins over dove, 50% chance of winning over another hawk. The Dove strategy: Always retreat if attacked, otherwise use threat display, 50% chance of winning over another dove. -But an adaptation to the strategy would be to play hawk if owner of resource and dove if intruder. This strategy would do well against both hawks and doves.

Question 255

Features of cheaters in game theory?

Answer 255

-Cheaters—genotypes that gain a selective advantage by taking the benefits of the social contributions of others while avoiding the costs of cooperating—are thought to pose a major threat to the evolutionary stability of cooperative societies. -Definition of cheating: ‘a trait that is beneficial to a cheat and costly to a cooperator in terms of inclusive fitness’. -Why animals still cooperate? A failure to cooperate, therefore, does not always represent cheating. Co-operators have evolved mechanisms to punish these behaviours, thereby reducing the fitness of selfish individuals

Question 256

Can animals think?

Answer 256

Yes

Question 257

Learning?

Answer 257

Modification of behaviour due to stored information from previous experience (i.e. memory).

Question 258

When does learning evolve in animals?

Answer 258

Neurological capacity to learn | Environmental unpredictability

Question 259

Process of learning curve?

Answer 259

- Time or number of trials vs. likelihood of performing task correctly. - Retention can be assessed using extinction or forgetting curves.

Question 260

What is suggested abut learning in terms of when its most influential on the animal?

Answer 260

That learning is mostly influenced by the reward context and not by its absolute value.

Question 261

Basic models for learning?

Answer 261

``` Imprinting Habituation Sensitisation Conditioning (associate learning) Social learning (observational learning) ```

Question 262

Imprinting?

Answer 262

Imprinting is the learning of a critical feature in the environment, such as the identity of a parent, at the young age and the retention of this knowledge for later use.

Question 263

Habituation? Examples?

Answer 263

-Habituation is a decrease in response to a repeated stimulus until it is completely ignored. -Habituation is the simplest form of learning! -Wild prairie dogs approached by human observer every day. 1. Concealment distances Rural colonies had higher initial concealment distances, increasing more rapidly with repeated intrusion than in urban colonies. 2. Barking distance and frequency Barking distances did not change consistently with repeated intrusion, but, over time, prairie dogs barked less frequently when performing their avoidance response

Question 264

Sensitisation? Features?

Answer 264

- Sensitisation refers to the increase in responsiveness to a stimulus due to experience with the stimulus - Sensitization is not learning as such (short-lived). It does not relate to a specific stimulus, but is more a physiological response to stress that increase general alertness (all stimuli). - Can vary between seasons and areas

Question 265

Associative learning?

Answer 265

The process by which an association between two stimuli or a behaviour and a stimulus is learned.

Question 266

Classic/pavlovian conditioning?

Answer 266

- Simple association between an otherwise neutral stimulus and a reward (or pain) stimulus, such that the neutral stimulus alone is enough to generate the response. - Animal has no control over its environment

Question 267

Pavlov dog test example?

Answer 267

- Dogs salivate when food is put into their mouth. Pavlov conducted experiments with hungry constrained dogs. - Initially they did not respond to the sound of a bell. But after 5 or 6 pairings with the bell sounding just before the food was presented, dogs salivated in response to the bell alone. - Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - food - Conditioned stimulus (CS) - bell - Unconditioned response (UCR) – salivating in response to food - Conditioned response (CR) – salivating in response to bell

Question 268

Instrument learning and operant conditioning?

Answer 268

-Instrumental learning or operant conditioning is spontaneous associative learning, where the animal learn to operate on an environmental feature to produce a consequence, often a reward. -The animal uses trial and error to build an association between different behaviours. -Thorndike put cats in a box, where the only way to escape was to press a lever. -As soon as the cats formed the association between pressing the lever and opening of the door, they escaped rapidly.

Question 269

Traditional way of studying classical and operant conditioning?

Answer 269

-B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) an American behaviourist, author, inventor, social philosopher and poet. -A Skinner box is a chamber that facilitates the study of classical and operant conditioning as well as the study of sensory capabilities. -It basically trains an animal to respond to a stimulus (light, sound etc.). When the subject correctly performs the behavior, the chamber mechanism gives a reward (or alternatively punishment for an incorrect response).

Question 270

Features of training a behavior?

Answer 270

- Positive reinforcement: reinforcing the behavior - leads to more acquisition. - Negative punishment: to make the behavior less likely in future - leads to less extinction - In the absence of reinforcement, the conditioned response will slowly go to extinction. However, it has not been un-learned as the behavior can quickly be re-learned. - leads to more re-acquisition.

Question 271

Social/observational learning? Example?

Answer 271

Learning by observing others performing a task. - e.g Food avoidance in rats Difficult to poison rats. Many rats only eat small amount of novel food, poison makes them ill, but they do not die. They learn to avoid food by associative learning. However, offspring from the rats that learned to avoid poisoned food will also avoid it. Young rats learn by social learning which food to eat, so if adult rats to do not eat it, neither will the young.

Question 272

Use for social learning?

Answer 272

Social learning is sometimes used in zoos and captive breeding facilitates to bring animals into mating mood.

Question 273

Basic models for learning?

Answer 273

``` Imprinting Habituation Sensitisation Conditioning (associate learning) Social learning (observational learning) ```

Question 274

Features of memory?

Answer 274

- Memory generally starts with a sensory input which is stored. - There are three types of memory: 1. Short-term memory (or working memory): Sensory input that has immediate importance is stored in short-term memory which is available for relatively short periods of time. It is used to navigate through a series of tasks. 2. Long-term memory: When persist for longer term, it forms the long-term memory. - What is the gateway between short and long term memory? Selective attention Selective attention is the ability to focus on the most relevant stimuli while excluding irrelevant information. 3. Long-lasting memory: Stored information stays with the animal in the range of months to entire life. - Memory occurs through use of hippocampus.

Question 275

Order of a memory?

Answer 275

``` Sensory input Immediate importance Short term memory Selective attention Long term memory Periodic reinforcement and memory consolidation Long lasting memory. ```

Question 276

What factors may effect memory?

Answer 276

Developmental stages Retention Gender Context

Question 277

True or false? Hoarding animals have a large hippocampus?

Answer 277

True.

Question 278

Cognition?

Answer 278

The ability to visualize the self in the context of the larger world, to forecast the results of actions and emotional states, to solve complex problems, and to interpret the emotional states of other animals.

Question 279

Parameters of defining animal behavior as cognition?

Answer 279

- Lloyd Morgan’s Canon: In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development. - Anthropomorphism: uncritical attribution of human characteristics to other species.

Question 280

Cognition key terms?

Answer 280

Self-awareness: internally and comparatively. Mental time travel: using past experience to forecast the future, chronesthesia Intelligence: a relative measure of the ability to learn, remember and solve-problems. Insight: the ability to derive novel solutions to problems, involves intuition. Personality: the behaviour tendencies of an individual that make it unique. Emotion: mental states, e.g. joy, sadness, anger & love, may involve empathy and perhaps conscience. Language: abstract representation of ideas.

Question 281

Insight learning?

Answer 281

- Type of learning or problem solving that happens suddenly through understanding the relationships various parts of a problem rather than through trial and error (i.e. reasoning). - Defined by Wolfgang Köhler in the 1920s, while conducting experiments on chimpanzees who had to use tools to obtain food.

Question 282

Concept of people defining animal cognition?

Answer 282

-Daniel Dennett (Tufts University in Massachusetts) believes that “People in the field of animal cognition often gravitate into two camps”: -Romantics: those who are quick to see humanlike traits in animals Killjoys: those who prefer more behaviourist explanations -“I think the truth is almost always in the middle.”

Question 283

Features of mirror and mark test?

Answer 283

- Chimpanzees were made familiar with a mirror (took two days until they showed self-directed behavior in front of the mirror). They were then sedated and painted in the forehead with an odourless dye. - They were then tested for 30 min to see if they spontaneously touched the mark. - The mirror was then re-introduced and their behavior observed. When seeing themselves in the mirror they touched the mark suggesting self-awareness. - The mark test is only useful for animals that are capable of touching themselves! - It is very difficult to rule out that the animal is just reacting to the mirror as to another animal (perhaps it seems a mark on its group member and touches itself to try and feel if it has one too). - Strange that some ‘intelligent’ animals such as monkeys (and gorillas?) fail the test whereas the pigeon apparently passes the test! - However, mirror test definitely finds prove of weak (objective) self-awareness

Question 284

Theory of mind?

Answer 284

The ability to form hypotheses about the thoughts of surrounding animals, for example when to expect threat.

Question 285

Consciousness of self concept? Its features?

Answer 285

-A key characteristics in a cognitive species, so an individual can separate him/herself mentally from the environment and conspecifics by self-recognition. -Evidence for self-consciousness (among others): Mirror tests Gaze-following Empathetic responses: The ability to project or feel the emotions of another animal -For example, in orangutans, the production of the playface is not an automated response to play and is instead produced flexibly depending on the context. The orangutan playface can be assumed that is intentionally produced.

Question 286

Endocrine system functions?

Answer 286

``` Growth & Development Control of metabolic rate Ion regulation Water balance Immune system regulation Heart rate and blood pressure regulation Control of blood glucose Control of reproductive functions ```

Question 287

Function of endocrine and nervous system?

Answer 287

Nervous system = rapid response | Endocrine system = longer term control, mediated through hormones.

Question 288

Organs in endocrine system?

Answer 288

Hypothalamus - brain region controls pituitary gland Pituitary gland - secretes many hormones that may effect other glands Thyroid gland - Affects many things including metabolism Parathyroids - Regulates blood calcium levels Adrenal glands - Triggers fight or flight response Pancreas - Regulates blood sugar levels Ovary - Female sex hormones Testis - Male sex hormones

Question 289

Fight or flight response?

Answer 289

- The acute stress response consists of two stages in most vertebrates and invertebrates: - The initial, fast-acting stage is the ‘fight-or-flight’ response, which is activated by the nervous system through the release of the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine in vertebrates. This allows animals to act quickly in response to a threat, such as by fighting or fleeing. - The second, slower stage involves the release of additional neuroendocrine factors to mobilize energy reserves for prolonged action. This is associated with metabolic, cellular, osmoregulatory and immune function changes

Question 290

Define hormones? What types? Effects?

Answer 290

-Chemical messengers: produced by specific structures (glands) & transported to target cells. Often work as opposing pairs. -Two types: mainly proteins or modified amino acids: bind to receptors on cell membranes to initiate reaction chain ii. steroid hormones (from cholesterol): cross cell membrane and bind to receptors in cytoplasm or nucleus, directly regulating transcription. -Hormones may have short-term effects: releasers: release a response primers: prepare body for a respons

Question 291

Umwelt?

Answer 291

The overall context in which an animal behaves.

Question 292

Transduction?

Answer 292

Transducing energy from the environment into signals within the nervous system.

Question 293

Types of sensory systems?

Answer 293

``` Chemoreception Vision Sound perception Thermal perception Mechanoreception Electroreception Magnetoreception Hearing Smell ```

Question 294

Features of vision?

Answer 294

- Very important and widespread sense in the animal kingdom. Works over relatively long distances in open areas. - Birds of prey probably have the sharpest vision. Eagles can spot rabbits many kilometres away. - Owls have the best night vision. An owl could probably spot a mouse on a football pitch lit by a single candle. - Many insects, such as honey bees, can see in ultraviolet, which allows them to find nectar in flowers more easily. Flies can’t see far, but can see up to 300 images per second and use the optomotor response for flight control.

Question 295

Features of hearing?

Answer 295

- Fairly widespread sense particular in mammals and birds. Can work over very long distances. - Echolocation: Bats can (perhaps) detect 4 micrometer thin silk threads. An echolocating dolphin can detect a 2.5 cm object, such as a big coin, from over 70 metres away. - Elephants can hear at frequencies twenty times lower than us (infrasound). It is believed their low rumble calls can be picked up by other elephants 6 km away. - Whales use a song language to communicate for > 100 km.

Question 296

Features of smell?

Answer 296

- The most important sense in the animal kingdom (although not in birds). Works over long distances. - Male moths can smell female moths up to 10 km away and react to a few molecules. - Sharks can smell a blood drop that is more than a km away. - Dogs have amazing sense of smells, they can smell minute amounts of illegal drugs or money in people’s suitcases. They seem to be even able to detect diseases in humans based on their smell. Bears have even better smells. Rats can be trained to detect land mines.

Question 297

More animal senses?

Answer 297

- Mechanoreception (touch, vibrations etc.). Works over short distances. Pond skaters use ripples from prey to detect it and often also to get information on size. - Magnetoreception: Ability to detect magnetic fields. Works over long distances. Found in bacteria and used for navigation in birds and perhaps fish (no sensory organ found). - Electroreception: Ability to perceive electrical stimuli. Works over short distances. Found in many fish. Weakly electric fish uses it for navigation and prey hunting. - Thermoreception: Short distances in boid snakes or long in fire detecting jewel beetles (up to 50 km)

Question 298

Features of homeostasis?

Answer 298

-The maintenance of a stable internal environment. -Maintaining homeostatic equilibrium: e.g. changes in breathing rate with exercise. -Dealing with variable environments: Involuntary homeostatic adjustments Voluntary behaviour decisions. -Both are coordinated by the nervous system.

Question 299

Features of thermoregulation?

Answer 299

- Conformers – animals that allow their internal environment to be affected by the external conditions (ectotherms / poikilotherms). - Regulators – animals that maintain a steady internal state, largely independent of the external conditions (endotherms / homeotherms).

Question 300

Features of water balance?

Answer 300

``` -Water is lost via: Urine (kidneys). Defecation (rectum). Breathing out (lungs). Sweating (skin). -Main behaviour = Drinking behaviours including seeking water or suitable foods. Osmoregulation ```

Question 301

Features of energy and nutrition?

Answer 301

-Patterns of eating and metabolism. E.g. Salt levels. -Animals detect it by taste and it links to osmoregulation. If level decreases, aldosterone is increased making the kidneys reabsorb more back to blood. E.g. Thiamine-deficient rats choosing between a novel diet and a familiar diet invariably showed a marked preference for the novel diet if it contained thiamine.

Question 302

What is drive theory in homeostasis? What happens when it is not realized?

Answer 302

-Based on the principle that organisms are born with certain psychological needs and that a negative state of tension is created when these needs are not satisfied. When a need is satisfied, drive (motivation) is reduced and the organism returns to a state of homeostasis and relaxation. -If not satisfied, the latter can result in below behaviors: Displacement: irrelevant task Redirection: often aggression to third party Self-direction: e.g. grooming at time of emotional conflict Repetitive/stereotypical behaviors.

Question 303

Zoochosis?

Answer 303

Stereotypic behavior in captive wild animals.

Question 304

Features of biological clocks?

Answer 304

-Many animals exhibit activity rhythms that approximate to 24 hours. -As animals face environmental change, their internal rhythms predicts regular changes. -This helps them prepare and reduces the time for acclimatisation. -Closely linked to other body systems e.g. hormone levels. 24 hour cycles = circadian rhythms. Monthly cycles = circalunar. Yearly cycles = circannual. -Some oscillators, known as circadian oscillators, express periods of approx. 24 hrs and form the circadian biological clock. -Biological clocks run innately (endogenously), but are maintained by the environment.

Question 305

What behaviors are closely affected by environment and body clock rhythms?

Answer 305

``` Tidal activity. Sleeping / activity patterns. Hibernation / Estivation / Diapause. Mass emergence. Seasonal breeding behaviours. Migration. ```

Question 306

Examples of tidal patterns of behavior?

Answer 306

- Shore activity e.g. when to come out and forage e.g. crabs, lug worms. - Movement patterns in tidal zones e.g. limpets. - Reproductive patterns linked to the moon e.g. Palolo worm synchronisation of gamete release, Christmas Island crabs choosing high tide to lay eggs in water.

Question 307

Mass emergence?

Answer 307

-Linked to changing environmental cues and body clocks -Case study: Periodical cicadas - Magicicada (North America) Larvae lives underground, adults emerge in 13 / 17 year intervals in huge numbers to breed and live for 4-6 weeks.

Question 308

Internal sensory mechanisms?

Answer 308

Nervous System | Endocrine System

Question 309

Physiological states?

Answer 309

``` External Environment (temperature, food availability, potential mates, enemies, etc.) Internal Environment (homeostatic state, developmental state, circadian rhythms, reproductive cycle, etc.) ```

Question 310

Physiological drivers and constraints?

Answer 310

Drivers (stimuli, ontogeny, etc.) and Constraints (energy, phylogeny, etc.)

Question 311

Physiological basis of behavior?

Answer 311

Neuroscience Physiology Sensory biology Endocrinology

Question 312

Time scale for modification of behavior?

Answer 312

Between generation - Genes Within generation and Long-term response - Hormones Within generation and rapid response - Neurotransmitters

Question 313

What is modulation and its features?

Answer 313

-Control of a behavior along a range of possible responses -Agents of modulation: Hormones: e.g. prolactin induces parental behavior Neurotransmitters: e.g. GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) induces sleep. -Timing: Short-term: moment-to-moment Longer term: seconds to seasons

Question 314

Vertebrate nervous system?

Answer 314

Nervous system - CNS - Brain and spinal chord - Perepheral NS - sensory pathways - Motor pathways - somatic (voluntary nervous system). - Autonomic (involuntary nervous system) - sympathetic division and parasympathetic division.

Question 315

Two cell types in neuro-ethology?

Answer 315

Neurons: receive and transmit impulses | Glial cells: support cells (insulate and protect neurons)

Question 316

Features of neuron cell?

Answer 316

``` Dendrites Nucleus Cell body Axon Myelin sheath Nodes of ranvier Schwann cell Axon terminal ```

Question 317

The two nervous systems?

Answer 317

- The peripheral nervous system: Contains the pathways to (afferent, from sensory system, sensory pathway) and from the brain (efferent, control muscles, motor pathway). Also contains the autonomic nervous system that controls organs. - Central nervous system: The spinal cord and the brain. The brain contains the medulla oblongata (regulation of organs), cerebellum (muscle coordination) and the cerebrum (higher processes).

Question 318

Three types of neurons?

Answer 318

-Sensory Neurons: carry sensory messages to the CNS -Interneurons: form connections between neurons -Motor Neurons: carry messages from CNS to organs (e.g. muscles) Two groups: - Somatic nervous system: controls voluntary actions through voluntary muscles - Autonomic nervous system: controls involuntary actions carried out by involuntary muscles and organs.

Question 319

Features of motor neuron?

Answer 319

Has its soma in the spinal cord and receives excitation from other neurons and conducts impulses along its axon (from the dendrites to the axon terminals) to a muscle (efferent neurons).

Question 320

Features of sensory neuron?

Answer 320

A sensory neuron is specialized at one end to be highly sensitive to a particular type of stimulation (touch, temperature, odor etc.) (afferent neurons).

Question 321

Two divisions of autonomic nervous system?

Answer 321

- Sympathetic Division: active in times of danger, prompting “fight or flight” response - Parasympathetic Division: active during relaxation (“rest and digest)”

Question 322

Function of neurons? Process of an impulse?

Answer 322

``` -Maintain a membrane potential : electric potential across cell membranes maintained by different charged particles on either side of the membrane. -Resting potential: normal membrane potential is negative inside the cell relative to extracellular fluid due to sodium/potassium pump and negative charge on many cellular organic molecules. -A neuron is stimulated when its membrane potential increases through depolarisation by a neurotransmitter or sensory input, allowing positive ions to enter the neuron. At a threshold of about -55mV, sodium channels open and sodium ions flood the cell causing a spike (action potential). -After firing the sodium channels close and positive ions are pumped out of the cell returning it to resting potential. -Resting Potential is negative -Cell filled with negatively charged proteins (A-). -Maintained by sodium-potassium pump (Na+/K+ ATPase) -Neuron is POLARISED -Ligand-Gated ion channels open in response to sensory stimuli. -Positive ions enter cell. -Threshold is reached. -Voltage Gated ion channels open, neuron becomes - DEPOLARISED -If enough Na+ enters Neuron, Action Potential is reached -Neuron fires an electrical impulse ```

Question 323

Connections between neurons and their target cells?

Answer 323

- Most are chemical synapses, which allow finer control. - When action potential reaches end of axon, neuron releases neurotransmitters by exocytosis into the intercellular space. - Exocytosis is the fusion of secretory vesicles with the plasma. - These bind to receptors on the target cell, opening ion channels and, if threshold is achieved, the target cell may fire. - Neurotransmitters are simple molecules, produced (and recycled) in huge numbers through simple biochemical pathways, acting both as activators and inhibitors.

Question 324

Features of synapsis?

Answer 324

-A gap (SYNAPSE exists between each cell, the PRE-SYNAPTIC and POST-SYNAPTIC cells. -Post-synaptic cell could be a neuron or muscle cell -Chemical neurotransmitters stored in vesicles released -Action potential releases NEUROTRANSMITTER MOLECULES from PRE-SYNAPTIC cell. -Neurotransmitter binds to a receptor on the POST-SYNAPTIC cell -Neurotransmitter binding may stimulate POSTSYNAPTIC cell to reach action potential -An example of a neurotransmitter found at the neuromuscular junction is ACETYLCHOLINE (ACh)

Question 325

How does neural function lead to behavior?

Answer 325

- Reflex loops: doing without thinking, a simple connection from sensory cell to spinal cord and back to muscle. Hard-wired with no decision-making. - Decision-making processes: moderated by neurotransmitters: - Acetylcholine: enables transmission of nerve impulses in PNS (peripheral nervous system) and enhances learning and memory in CNS (central nervous system). - Dopamine, Endorphins, GABA & Serotonin: interact to influence emotional state. - Octopamine: raises activity levels in insects.

Question 326

How is behavior generated?

Answer 326

-Neurotransmitter levels are associated with “personality” and “emotion” - Neurotransmitters: GABA: sleepless/wakefulness Dopamine: pleasure Serotonin: stabilizes our mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness.