Parental care is usually done by the female. Why

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Parental care is usually done by the female. Why?
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Male birds feature extravagant traits and bizarre
courtship displays. Why?
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Why do birds sing? Why mainly males?
White-eyed vireo
Willow ptarmigan
Musician wren
Kookaburra
Why the differences?
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Why flies box
Why questions take four forms
Mechanism
What sensory stimuli cause males to box?
Development
Do males box better with age?
Evolution
Did ancestors of walnut flies box?
Function
Does winning benefit a male?
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Mechanism
Sea turtles use Earths magnetic field to
navigate in ocean. Magnetoreception is mechanism.
Includes

• sensory reception
• brain processes
• muscle activity

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Development ( Ontogeny)
Young male white-crowned sparrow must hear song
of adult male in first 2 months of life, Or else
he sings a poor copy of species song at 5
months.
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Development ( Ontogeny)
Includes

• sensitive phases
• learning, imprinting
• social effects

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Evolution
convergent evolution of vertebrate eye and
octopus eye
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Function
Female toads prefer to mate with large
males, because large sons will sire more
offspring.
Includes

• effect of behavior on survival and reproduction
• strategies tradeoffs identified

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Levels of Analysis

• Mechanism
• Development
• Evolution
• Function

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Predator Avoidance Strategies
A. Avoid Consumption
Morphological adaptations for predator avoidance
include spines, armor, stinging hairs. Some
behavior for implementing this morphology is
common.
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Skunk Scorpion Rattlesnake Moth with
froth Vinegaroon (squirts acetic acid when
bothered) Bombardier beetle (squirts boiling
mixture of noxious chemicals)
Chemical defenses are everywhere!
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nudibranchs borrow chemical defenses from
jellyfish prey. incorporate stinging cells
called cnidocytes into their tissues.
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Pipevine swallowtail butterfly
Monarch butterfly
some butterflies sequester toxic chemicals from
host plants while feeding as caterpillars.
(convergent evolution)
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Skunk Lionfish Monarch butterfly Poison arrow frog
Toxicity advertised with warning coloration.
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Blue jay learns to avoid monarch butterfly.
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Mimicry
(mimicry rings of tropical butterflies, including
models mimics)
nasty models
tasty mimics
Warning coloration mimicked by non-toxic species
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moth
moth
Bee mimics visit flowers used by bees.
False eyes evoke startle response
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Mimicry of Bad-Tasting Stuff
caterpillar
Bird dropping mimic!
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False Head Mimics
Predator has 50 chance of grabbing the right
head
Scolopendra, desert centipede
False head has antennae that move!
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Tail Autotomy
lizards have tails made to be breakable. Broken
tail writhes vigorously, distracting predator
Lizard with tail
Grasshoppers and crickets lose legs in same way.
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First, a threat
Hognose snake
Playing Dead
Then, fakes death
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B. Avoid Detection
Snowshoe hare crab
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Pepper moths on background
Moths are cryptic only if they match themselves
against background. They do
(same moths placed against different backgrounds)
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Katydid Seahorse caterpillar
Mimicking plant parts
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Moth Grasshopper Caterpillar Phasmid bug
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Walking sticks
Walking stick insects not only look like twigs
but mimick swaying of a twig in the breeze!
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Predators turn the tables.
floral mimicry by preying mantis
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Group Strategies for Predator Avoidance
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Active group defense
Wasps Musk oxen Soldier aphid Hawk starlings
mobbing behavior
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Group vigilance Vigilance for predators aided by
being in group.
many eyes permits each bird to spend more time
foraging
Foraging birds
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Predator confusion effect Predators have
difficulty choosing a target
Quail being flushed
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Zebra stripes make it more difficult.
Herd of zebra
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Leopard seal
Adelie penguin
Selfish herd effect Prey use each other as
shields. Each attempts to move to center of
group.