Photosynthesis

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Outline

• Nature versus Nurture Genetic Influences
• Nature versus Nurture Environmental Influences
• Learning
• Adaptive Mating Behavior
• Female Choice
• Male Competition
• Dominance Hierarchy
• Territoriality
• Animal Communication
• Sociobiology and Animal Behavior
• Altruism versus Self-Interest

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Genetic Basis

• Behavior - observable and coordinated responses
  to environmental stimuli
• Nature (inherited) versus nurture (environmental)
  questions are still debated
• Genes influence development of neural and
  hormonal mechanisms controlling behavior
• Studies on identical twins separated at birth
• Can be used to determine extent of inherited
  behavior
• Sometimes remarkably similar in preferences,
  taste, personality tests, etc.

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Nest Building Behavior in Lovebirds
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Feeding Behavior in Garter Snakes
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Behavior Undergoes Development

• Some behaviors seem to be stereotyped
• Fixed Action Patterns (FAPs)
• Originally assumed to be elicited by a sign
  stimulus
• Increasingly thought to develop after practice

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The Phenomenon of Learning

• Operant Conditioning
• Gradual strengthening of stimulus-response
  corrections
• Trick-training in birds
• Imprinting
• Imitate behavior observed during sensitive period
• Goslings follow any moving object after birth

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The Phenomenon of Learning

• Song Learning in Birds
• Avian brain is especially sensitive to acoustical
  stimuli during a sensitive period
• Social experience appears to have an even
  stronger influence over development of singing

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Pecking Behavior in Laughing Gulls
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Classical Conditioning
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Behavior Is Adaptive

• Sexual selection - Adaptive changes in females
  and males that lead to differential reproductive
  success

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Raggiana Bird of Paradise
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Female Choice

• Courtship displays help males and females
  recognize each other for successful mating
• Good Genes Hypothesis
• Females benefit from selective choice by securing
  sperm with good genes
• Run-Away Hypothesis
• Females choose mates on the basis of traits that
  make them attractive to females

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Male Competition

• Is access to mating is worth the cost of
  competition among males
• Question is studied by cost-benefit analyses
• Do positive effects (benefits) outweigh negative
  effects (costs)?
• If yes
• The behavior is evolutionarily stable
• The behavior will survive or increase
• If no
• The behavior is evolutionarily UNstable
• The behavior will decrease or disappear

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Dominance Hierarchy

• Males and females have separate dominance
  hierarchies
• Higher-ranking individuals have greater access to
  essential resources
• Baboons form temporary consort pairs with females
• Males may monopolize estrous females
• Or may assist females or form friendship groups
  to secure future matings

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A Male Olive Baboon Displaying Full Threat
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Territoriality

• Territoriality is protecting an area against
  other individuals
• Red Deer Stags (males) compete for groups of
  hinds (females)
• Hinds only mate with one stag
• Harem Master must be large and powerful to fight
  off challengers
• Means less body fat
• May be more likely to starve in bad times, and
  have shorter life expectancy

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Competition Between Male Red Deer
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King Hussein and Family
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Animal Societies

• Society - a cooperative organization that extends
  beyond sexual and parental interests

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The Queen Ant
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Altruism versus Self-Interest

• Altruism
• Behavior that involves a reduction in direct
  fitness
• Loss may be compensated by an increase in
  indirect fitness
• Inclusive fitness includes
• Reproductive fitness of self, and
• Reproductive fitness of relatives
• Genetic relatedness may underlie many/most acts
  of apparent altruism

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Inclusive Fitness
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Communicative Behavior

• Communicative Behavior
• Chemical
• Pheromones designate chemical signals that are
  passed between members of the same species
• Auditory
• Faster than chemical communication
• Can be modified by loudness, pattern, repetition,
  and duration
• Visual
• Used by species active during the day
• Contests between males make use of threat
  postures
• Saves energy by avoiding fighting

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Use of a Pheromone
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A Chimpanzee With a Researcher
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Communicative Behavior

• Tactile
• Occurs when one animal touches another
• Gull chicks peck at the parents beak in order to
  induce the parent to feed them
• Foraging honeybees
• Return to the hive and perform a waggle dance
• Indicates the distance and direction of a food
  source

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Grooming Among Baboons
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Communication Among Bees
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Sociobiology and Animal Behavior

• Sociobiology
• Applies the principles of evolutionary biology to
  the study of behavior in animals
• Assumes individuals derive benefits from living
  in a society that outweigh costs
• Advantages include
• reproductive success
• Predator avoidance
• Assistance in rearing offspring
• Finding food

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Sociobiology and Animal Behavior

• Societal Disadvantages
• Crowding
• Resource allocation
• Spread of disease

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Nest Helpers

• Green Wood-hoopoes
• One breeding pair per flock
• Other sexually mature members may help feed and
  protect fledglings and protect the home territory
• Helper is contributing to survival of its own kin
• Helper is more likely than nonhelper to inherit
  parental territory

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Outline

• Nature versus Nurture Genetic Influences
• Nature versus Nurture Environmental Influences
• Learning
• Adaptive Mating Behavior
• Female Choice
• Male Competition
• Dominance Hierarchy
• Territoriality
• Animal Communication
• Sociobiology and Animal Behavior
• Altruism versus Self-Interest

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