Behavior 51 PPU102

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Behavior 51 (PPU102)
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• Many behaviors have a strong genetic component
• Biologists study the ways both genes and the
  environment
• Influence the development of behavioral
  phenotypes
• Behavior that is developmentally fixed
• Is called innate behavior and is under strong
  genetic influence

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Geese egg behavior

• A fixed action pattern (FAP)
• Is a sequence of unlearned, innate behaviors that
  is unchangeable
• Once initiated, is usually carried to completion

Sign stimulus/key stimulus egg rolled
away Some part of the nervous system (innate
releasing mechanism) Initiates the fixed action
pattern (the program), carried out to
completion regardless of circumstances
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• In male stickleback fish, the stimulus for attack
  behavior
• Is the red underside of an intruder

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When presented with unrealistic models -As long
as some red is present, the attack behavior occurs
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• Proximate and ultimate causes for the FAP attack
  behavior in male stickleback fish

ULTIMATE CAUSE By chasing away other male
sticklebacks, a male decreases the chance that
eggs laid in his nesting territory will be
fertilized by another male.
Figure 51.4
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• Imprinting- Learned and genetic components
  generally irreversible
• Sensitive period- a limited time in the animals
  development when certain behaviors can be learned

Proximate and ultimate causations
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Imprinting

• Konrad Lorenz

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• Conservation biologists have taken advantage of
  imprinting
• In programs to save the whooping crane from
  extinction

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Directed Movements

• Many animal movements
• Are under substantial genetic influence
• These types of movements
• Are called directed movements

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• A kinesis
• Is a simple change in activity or turning rate in
  response to a stimulus
• Isopods
• May become more active in certain poor
  environments, less active in preferred ones

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• Taxis
• Is a more or less automatic, oriented movement
  toward or away from a stimulus

• Many stream fish exhibit positive rheotaxis
• Where they automatically swim in an upstream
  direction

Figure 51.7b
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Migration

• Many features of migratory behavior in birds
• Have been found to be genetically programmed

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Animal Signals and Communication

• In behavioral ecology
• A signal is a behavior that causes a change in
  another animals behavior
• Communication
• Is the reception of and response to signals

• Animals communicate using
• Visual, auditory, chemical, tactile, and
  electrical signals
• The type of signal used to transmit information
• Is closely related to an animals lifestyle and
  environment

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Chemical Communication

• Many animals that communicate through odors
• Emit chemical substances called pheromones

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• When a minnow or catfish is injured
• An alarm substance in the fishs skin disperses
  in the water, inducing a fright response among
  fish in the area

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July 2006 (Science)- Scientists have discovered
that the sound frequencies generated by the
beating wings help coordinate a romantic
rendezvous
With bad vision, how do mosquitoes tell guys from
girls? Do females play a role in the courtship
given their smaller and less sensitive antenna?
Ma t i ng Behavior
Researchers tethered males and females separately
and had tiny microphones near each. When the
female was encouraged to fly, the male let loose
a flurry of rapid wing beats, creating a higher
frequency buzz than omitted by the female. Female
then increased her buzz frequency to match the
male, as the male slowed to begin to match hers.
Within a second, the buzzes were in harmony.
In the wild, males will not be able to coordinate
as easily. Females distinguish from other
females by distancing themselves from subtle buzz
changes. When two males or two females were
tethered near each other, their buzzes did not
converge.
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Genetic Influences on Mating and Parental Behavior

• A variety of mammalian behaviors
• Are under relatively strong genetic control

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• Research has revealed the genetic and neural
  basis
• For the mating and parental behavior of male
  prairie voles. Microtus ochrogaster is
  monogamous but M. pennsylvanicus is not

The difference is a receptor for the hormone
vasopressin. Monogamous species has it
promiscuous one does not
When promiscuous ones were given the hormone
receptor through gene therapy, they became
monogamous
The genes that control expression of vasopressin
receptors vary widely in healthy menperhaps
genetic differences could explain what some men
have trouble maintaining relationships?
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Dietary Influence, Cross-fostering studies on
Mate Choice Behavior

• One example of environmental influence on
  behavior
• Is the role of diet in mate selection by
  Drosophila mojavensis physiological basis for
  the observed mate preferences was differences in
  hydrocarbons in the exoskeletons of the flies

• Cross-fostering studies in California mice and
  white-footed mice
• Have uncovered an influence of social environment
  on the aggressive and parental behaviors of these
  mice

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Learning

• Learning is the modification of behavior
• Based on specific experiences
• Learned behaviors
• Range from very simple to very complex

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Habituation

• Habituation
• Is a loss of responsiveness to stimuli that
  convey little or no information

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Spatial Learning

• Spatial learning is the modification of behavior
• Based on experience with the spatial structure of
  the environment

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• In a classic experiment, Niko Tinbergen
• Showed how digger wasps use landmarks to find
  the entrances to their nests
• More complex than taxis or kinesis
• Landmarks had to be stable

After the mother visited the nest and flew away,
Tinbergen moved the pinecones a few feet to one
side of the nest.