Animal Behavior : Ethology

1. Animal Behavior : Ethology Chapter 51 Pgs. 1106-1133

2. Key Things to Remember for Lab #13-Invertebrate Behavior • Be sure to have an introduction/background discussing key characteristics & complete description of your invertebrate • Be sure to have a research question • Clear hypothesis relating the independent and dependent variables • Must have a control: Ex. Organisms in the chamber with nothing else present • Experimental Design & methods: must have any and all revisions you did w/diagram or picture • Minimum of three trials and 20 organisms for each trial • Data table with title, units of measurements, and error • Analysis of data: probably need to determine the overall mean and do a Chi-square analysis

3. Experiment example: • Earthworm reactions toward different substrates: • Cotton and sandpaper • Must do experimental trials (3) with just the chamber and the animals (control) • Three separate experiments can be done: • Empty chamber & Cotton • Empty chamber & Sandpaper • Cotton, empty (plain) chamber, and sandpaper **Minimum of three trials for each experiment must be done.

4. Statistical Tools to Analyze results • Chi-Square: Will tell you how much your data is different from expected (calculated) results. It is Non-Parametric and deals with different catagories. Formula:2 = ∑ (o – e)2 e 2: what we are solving: o: observed value e: expected (calculated value)

5. Accepting or Rejecting your hypothesis? • p<0.05 is accepted as being significant • Accepting the Null (H0) means that there is NO SIGNIFICANT difference between the observed and expected value (p<0.05). Chance alone can explain the differences observed. • Rejecting the Null (H0) means that the observations are significantly different from the expectations. (p>0.05). Evaluate the results.

6. Solving Question #3 Formula:2 = ∑ (o – e)2 e Degrees of FreedomCritical Value 1 3.84 2 5.99 3 7.81 4 9.49 5 11.07

7. Animal Behavior : Ethology Chapter 51 Pgs. 1106-1133

8. Video: Inside the Animal Mind (Pt. I)Text pgs: 1114-1125 I. Name three types of learning mentioned in the video II. Give an example for each of the three learning types that was presented. III. What was the most fascinating type of learning you saw? IV. Give one situation from the video that you were not aware of before watching the video. • Give TEN Key statements (numbered) • Give FIVE questions you have after watching the video.

9. Five Types Learning • Changes in behavior that caused by an experience “a-ha experience” • Five general types of learning: • Imprinting (pg. 1108) • Associative • Operant conditioning (pg. 1117) • Classical conditioning (pg. 1116) • Habituation (pg. 1115) • Insight Learning (pg. 1116) • Cognitive

10. Introductory Questions #3 1) How are proximate causes different from ultimate causes of behavior 2) Name four different types of learning and provide one example of each. 3) Which type of learning is more complex than the others. Why? • How is habituation different from any other type of learning? • How do circadian rhythms effect behavior? • Name three ways in which animals communicate.

11. Defining Behavior-Ethology • Involves how organisms react (respond) and cope to the stimuli from the environment. Everything an animal does. Two types of Explanations: Proximate Causes: -focuses on the “how” a behavior is formed -triggered by environmental stimuli -involves genetic, physiological, & anatomical mechanisms. Ultimate causes: -focuses on “why” a behavior occurs. -evolutionary significance & evolutionary explanations -Long term purpose for the behavior Modifications of behavior occur through learning • There are five different types of Learning

12. Example of Proximate & Ultimate Questions about Behavior • See pg. 1107 – read the example of the red-crowned crane. • What is the Proximate Question? How does day length influence the breeding of the red-crowned cranes? • What is a reasonable hypothesis? Breeding is most productive during the spring and early summer. • What would be an Ultimate Question you could address about this behavior? Why did natural selection favor this behavior and not a different one? • What would be a reasonable hypothesis? Fitness is improved for a particular reason

13. Evolutionary link to Behavior • Animals are expected to behave in ways to maximize their fitness (optimum behavior) • What is the genetic influence? • Ex. Lovebirds a repertoire of song types • Why has natural selection favored multisong behavior? • Poss hypothesis: A repertoire of songs makes older, more experienced males more attractive to females. • Testable predictions: males learn more songs as they get older so: • The repertoire of songs is an indicator of age • Females prefer to mate with males having large repertoire of songs **actual outcome: some songbirds show their correlation while others don’t.

14. Instinct Behavior (pg. 1110) • Controlled by strong genetic influences • Inborn • Animals don’t have to witness the behavior • Unlearned • Triggered by the environment (sign stimulus or a releaser) • Inherited neurological circuitry that directs behavior • Examples: • Kinesis & Taxis-change in activity in response to stimuli • Migration • Signals & Communication (pheromones) • Fixed Action patterns (FAP) observed in the Graylag goose & egg rolling

15. Egg Rolling w/Graylag Goose Ex. of Fixed Action Pattern: action is carried out to completion

16. Tinbergen’s Sand Wasp Experiment Nest finding behavior of wasps responding to the arrangement of the cones rather than the cones themselves: Spatial Learning Pg. 1115

17. Imprinting(pg. 1098) • Early recognition of the same group • Acquired during a limited critical period • Occurs right after birth • Forms from the parent-offspring bond • Small window of time where the offspring react to some animal or object. • Commonly seen with birds • Ex. Konrad Lorenz & duck hatchlings • Human infants: • Grasping -smiling w/parent • cheek & feeding -Babinski reflex

18. Classical Conditioning(pg. 1116) • Associative learning between normal body condition and a new stimulus • Pavlov: (dog salivation with a ringing bell) • Can opener w/dogs and cats

19. Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning

20. Operant Conditioning (pg. 1099) • Instrumental conditioning • Trial & Error **The animal must do something to gain a reward (food) • Use positive & negative reinforcement • Skinner Expts w/Rats (lever & Food)

21. Insight Learning (pg. 1099-1100) • Most complex type of learning (video) • Animal solves a problem • Requires past experiences • Need to make associations with objects and what can be “done” with them **Chimps & the hanging banana

22. Insight & Associative Learning

23. Habituation (pg. 1100) • Animals learn not to respond to a stimulus • The response gets ignored despite the stimulus *Ex. Hydra stops contracting if disturbed too often by water currents

24. Other Social Behaviors • Agnostic: aggressive behavior usually resulting from competition of resources • Dominance heirarchy: “pecking order” • largest male leader in the group • Territorality: protection of its own area • Defending the area from invaders • Altruistic: unselfish behavior that benefits another in the same group at the expense of that individual. • Courtship & Sexual Selection (pg. 1129-1131)

25. Pheromones • Very specific (species) • Triggers hormonal activity • Communicates: danger, attraction to others • In vertebrates pheromones can effect sexual cycles and reproductive behavior, choice in mate. • Known to synchronize menstrual cycles • Used in perfumes and fragrances

26. Introductory Questions #3 1) How are proximate causes different from ultimate causes of behavior 2) Name four different types of learning and provide one example of each. 3) Which type of learning is more complex than the others. Why? • How is habituation different from any other type of learning? • How do circadian rhythms effect behavior? • Name three ways in which animals communicate.

27. Foraging (pg. 1119) • Behavior associated with recognizing, searching, capturing, and consuming food. • Food habits are part of the animals niche • Can be shaped by competition • It is a compromise between benefits and costs (energetically) • Natural selection dictates: minimizing costs & Max. benefits • What are some of the Costs and Benefits of Foraging? • Optimal foraging weighs the benefits and costs . Do animals weight the trade off? See info about the Bluegill fish and Daphnia. (pg. 1122-1123) When the prey density is high what does the blue gill concentrate on? Did they become more or less selective?

28. Effects of the Environment on Foraging Behavior What did Susan Riechert discover about the Agelenopsis aperta spiders in regards to their attack times while inhabiting a riparian forest vs. arid habitats? (pgs 1119-1120)

29. Communication Observed with Bees • Observed by Karl Frisch (1940’s) • Scouts Signal to others that food is nearby and relative location • Round Dance: Simply signals to others that food is nearby (no direction or distance)-used for short distances from the hive and excites the bees to fly in all directions (approx. 50 m) • Waggle Dance: Used for longer distances and performs a figure eight path. This path communicates both the distance and direction using the sun, the hive, and the food source as reference points.

30. Round Dance & Waggle Dance

31. Communication • Necessary for social behavior • Animals can use the following methods: • Auditory • Visual • Tactile • Chemical (pheromones) • Electrical

32. Final Note: • All behavior is based on responding to the environment (external stimuli) and is dependent on receiving/responding using specialized cells called sensory neurons • Next topic: Exploring the senses CH. 49

33. Key Terms & People • Innate vs. Learned Behavior • Proximate vs. Ultimate causes • FAP (fixed action patterns) - graylag goose egg rolling • Tinbergen’s wasp Experiment • Habituation • Imprinting • Positive & Negative reinforcement • Classical conditioning (Pavlov experiment) • Operant conditioning • Insight learning (problem solving w/chimps) • Circadian Rhythms • Migration • Communication & Pheromones • Sexual Selection & Dominance heirarchy • Round dance & Waggle dance (honey bees)

34. Introductory Questions #4 (Ch. 49) • Name five different types of specialized neurons used to receive external stimuli. What is sensed by a nocioreceptor? What is substance P? What substance can be used to block the release of substance P? (See pg. 1048-1049) • What are the five basic senses in humans? Match one of these five with each structure listed below: -olfactory -statoliths -pacinain corpuscle -oval window -rods & cones -taste buds -lateral line system -rhodopsin -saccule & utricle (otoliths) -incus & stapes -sclera, cornea, retina -vitreous humor -tectorial, basilar, tympanic membranes