49. Animal Behavior

Animal Behavior

Staying Sharp: a lesson from foraging animals about the explore/exploit trade-off

Animation: Investigating the Survivorship Curve of Oysters

According to Hamilton’s rule,
a. natural selection does not favor altruistic behavior that causes the death of the altruist.
b. natural selection favors altruistic acts when the resulting benefit to the recipient, corrected for relatedness, exceeds the cost to the altruist.
c. natural selection is more likely to favor altruistic behavior that benefits an offspring than altruistic behavior that benefits a sibling.
d. the effects of kin selection are larger than the effects of direct natural selection on individuals.

Foraging

No. Game theory gives behavioral ecologists a way to think about complex evolutionary problems in which relative performance, not absolute performance, is the key to understanding.

Why are some species monogamous and others polygamous?

All of the listed questions could best be answered by applying game theory.

No. Only one of the listed responses is correct.

How can three different phenotypes of aggression levels survive in the same population?

In game theory, relative performance and not absolute performance is key to understanding behavior.

Which of the following questions could best be answered by applying game theory?

Hamilton’s rule states that an altruistic allele could spread in a population if Br > C, where B represents the fitness benefit to the recipient, r is the coefficient of relatedness between altruist and recipient, and C represents the fitness cost to the altruist. If r=0.5 between the altruist and the recipient, what would the ratio of costs to benefits have to be for the altruistic allele to spread?
a. C/B > 0.5
b. C/B > 0
c. C/B < 0.5
d. C/B < 0

Optimal foraging theory- examples of animal behaviour

Short Video: Agonistic Behavior in Wolves

Animation: Techniques for Estimating Population Density and Size

No. The coefficient of relatedness between parent and offspring is 0.5. The total coefficient of relatedness would be 0.5 + 0.5 = 1.0, a total that is not the lowest of the choices.

No. The coefficient of relatedness between siblings is 0.5, and the coefficient of relatedness between first cousins is 0.125. The total coefficient of relatedness would be 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.125 + 0.125 = 1.25, a total that is not the lowest of the choices.

No. The coefficient of relatedness between grandparent and grandchild is 0.25. The total coefficient of relatedness would be 4 &times; 0.25 = 1.0, a total that is not the lowest of the choices.

No. The coefficient of relatedness between siblings is 0.5, and the coefficient of relatedness between an individual and a nephew is 0.25. The total coefficient of relatedness would be 0.5 + (3 &times; 0.25) = 1.25, a total that is not the lowest of the choices.

You will need to calculate the total coefficient of relatedness for each of the choices.

Altruistic behaviors can be understood, in part, by considering the coefficient of relatedness (r) between the individuals involved. Assume that an individual mammal has the option to raise its own offspring, other genetic relatives, or a combination of offspring and other genetic relatives. From a genetic point of view, which of the following represents the least successful option?

Mosquitoes are most active at dawn and dusk.

No. This circadian rhythm occurs on a daily cycle.

Just as the sun sets, bats leave the cave in large swarms.

Fiddler crabs exhibit courtship behavior based on the phase of the moon.

No. This circadian rhythm is based on a lunar cycle.

In the heat of the day, most of the mammals at the zoo rest in the shade.

Every spring robins gather in the park to build nests and reproduce.

The word root annu means "year."

Which of the following is an example of a circannual rhythm?

Altruism is rare and usually not adaptive.

No. Sociobiology helps to understand aspects of altruism.

Behavior is a product of the environment and not the genetic basis of the organism.

No. Sociobiology examines behavior through an evolutionary lens.

Behavior is based on the genetics of the organism and not the product of the environment.

No. Environmental factors can also have an effect.

No. One of the listed responses is correct.

Certain behaviors are the expression of genes that have been favored by evolution.

Sociobiology examines the evolutionary history of behavior.

What is the main premise of sociobiology?

This experimental design demonstrates that maternal care is universal, no matter what offspring are receiving care.

No. Maternal care can vary among species.

This experimental design reveals the source of aggression.

No. This design can be used to investigate a wide variety of traits, not just aggression.

Animals that are cross-fostered will be easier to tame because they will have been exposed to a wide variety of species.

No. Cross-fostering does not induce tameness.

This method can generate animals that behave as if they were a different species: the parental one.

No. Cross-fostered animals rarely take on all attributes of the parental species, and that is not the purpose of the experiment.

This experimental design attempts to distinguish between the effects of genetics and those of the environment.

Recall the cross-fostering of California mice and white-footed mice.

In cross-fostering experiments, offspring of two species are switched early in development and reared by the opposite species. They are then compared with similar offspring reared by their own species. What is the point of this experimental design?

most territories would have young birds helping at the nest

No. Given the conditions posed in this question, such behavior would not maximize a young bird's genetic contribution to future generations.

altruistic behavior would be common in this population

No. Given the conditions posed in this question, such altruistic behavior would not maximize a young bird's genetic contribution to future generations.

most first-year birds would choose to forgo breeding

No. Given the conditions posed in this question, forgoing breeding would not maximize a young bird's genetic contribution to future generations.

No. The only thing that needs to be considered is how the young bird's genetic contribution to future generations is affected.

the behavior of helping at the nest would not evolve in this population

Consider that an individual will behave in such a way as to maximize its genetic contribution to future generations.

Imagine a population of birds in which first-year birds can either find a mate and raise an average of three offspring or stay in their parents' territory and help the parents raise two more offspring than the parents would have been able to raise without any help. Based on the theory of kin selection, we would expect that __________.

No. It does, as for example when a wolf offers food to another, unrelated wolf.

is expected when the species as a whole benefits from it

No. Altruistic behaviors are acts that occur between individuals.

occurs only when closely related individuals benefit from it

No. As well as occurring between closely related individuals, altruistic behavior occurs between unrelated individuals.

is expected when there are plentiful resources to share

No. At least initially, altruistic behavior reduces the fitness of the altruist. When resources are plentiful, sharing is less likely to have a negative impact on fitness of the altruist.

is expected when it increases the long-term inclusive fitness of the altruists

Consider such behavior from the perspective of its potential impact on reproductive success.

Altruistic behavior __________.

No. This is the coefficient of relatedness between, for example, grandparent and grandchild.

less than the coefficient of relatedness between father and son

No. The coefficient of relatedness between brothers is the same as that between father and son.

No. The coefficient of relatedness between two individuals cannot exceed 1.0.

the same as the coefficient of relatedness between mother and daughter

Consider the basics of inheritance.

The coefficient of relatedness between two brothers is __________.

Animal Behavior Review Part 2

Scientists studying scrub jays found that it is common for “helpers” to assist mated pairs of birds in raising their young. The helpers lack territories and mates of their own. Instead, they help the territory owners gather food for their offspring. Propose a hypothesis to explain what advantage there might be for the helpers to engage in this behavior instead of seeking their own territories and mates. How would you test your hypothesis? If your hypothesis is correct, what kind of results would you expect your tests to yield?

Crows break the shells of certain molluscs before eating them by dropping them onto rocks. Hypothesizing that crows drop the molluscs from a height that gives the most food for the least effort (optimal foraging), a researcher dropped shells from different heights and counted the drops it took to break them. 
a. The researcher measured the average drop height for crows and found that it was 5.23 m. Does this support the researcher’s hypothesis? Explain. 
b. Describe an experiment to determine whether dropping molluscs from an optimal height is learned or innate.<img class="fr-dib" src="https://lightcat-files.s3.amazonaws.com/problem_images/22cfde90de2578c7-1677809381066.jpg" style="width: 300px;">

The tendency of individuals to choose mates who are like themselves is called                   .
a. natural selection;
b. sexual selection;
c. assortative mating;
d. the founder effect;
e. random mating

psych 225 lecture mating systems

Animal Migration-Let's Get Moving

Altruism in Animals Explained | Altruistic Animal Behavior | Altruism Examples

Mass strandings of whales occur on beaches near military exercises where sonar is used, raising concerns about the effects of human-generated underwater sounds on animal behavior. Scientists are collecting behavioral data on several species of whales to find out how sonar affects them.

Researchers followed tagged blue whales to observe how they respond to simulated military sonar—using sound levels much lower than those typically used during military exercises. Analyze the sample of data below for one individual blue whale and summarize the behavioral effect of the sound exposure. <img class="fr-dib" src="https://lightcat-files.s3.amazonaws.com/problem_images/bbe9c774d0c62941-1677305957727.jpg" style="width: 300px;">

What do proximate explanations of behavior focus on?
a. how displays and other types of behavior have changed through time, or evolved
b. the “adaptive significance” of a behavior
c. genetic, neurological, and hormonal mechanisms of behavior
d. appropriate experimental methods when studying behavior

Which of the following is not required for a behavioral trait to evolve by natural selection?
a. In each individual, the form of the behavior is determined entirely by genes.
b. The behavior varies among individuals.
c. An individual’s reproductive success depends in part on how the behavior is performed.
d. Some component of the behavior is genetically inherited.

Mass strandings of whales occur on beaches near military exercises where sonar is used, raising concerns about the effects of human-generated underwater sounds on animal behavior. Scientists are collecting behavioral data on several species of whales to find out how sonar affects them.

Predict why the whale foraged at a depth of 100–170 m.
a. The whale learned to forage at this depth from its mother.
b. The whale had an innate instinct to feed at this depth.
c. The whale’s food was most plentiful at this depth.
d. The whale could not dive any deeper than this depth.

No. Visual signals would not work in the dark, especially in a forest.

No. Tactile signals require closer proximity than territorial animals prefer, and trees can be an obstruction.

No. Visual signals cannot be received well in the dark.

No. Tactile signals require close proximity, without interference from other objects. Neither condition works well for terrestrial forest-dwellers.

What senses function better at night than during daylight?

What signals might be best employed by a nocturnal forest animal seeking to identify its territory?

A hamster becomes active at the same time each evening.

No. The stimulus for this relates to time of day.

No. The stimulus for this behavior is hunger.

A robin eats a distasteful bug, spits it out, and never eats a bug that looks like that again.

No. This is associative learning, in which the robin learns to associate a particular type of bug with an unpleasant experience.

A blackback gull returns to the same island breeding grounds each year.

No. This type of movement is attributable to the blackback gull's cognitive map.

A stickleback fish attacks a wood block with a red bottom.

Consider which of these is not modified by experience.

Which of the following is a fixed action pattern?

No. Operant conditioning occurs when an animal learns to associate one of its behaviors with reward or punishment.

No. Social learning is learning through observation of others.

No. A type of associative learning, called classical conditioning, is learning to associate an arbitrary stimulus with reward or punishment.

No. Cognitive maps are used by animals to help with navigation.

The flies learned to associate an arbitrary stimulus with a danger.

When Drosophila were exposed to a particular odor and electric shock at the same time, they started to avoid the odor. This is an example of __________.

Why does altruism seem paradoxical?
a. Sometimes altruistic behavior is actually selfish.
b. Altruism does not actually help others.
c. Alleles that cause an organism to behave altruistically should be selected against since these alleles should lower the organism’s fitness.
d. Animals behave altruistically to help the species, but sometimes their behavior harms the species.

No. Hormones relay chemical signals within an individual; pheromones are involved in communications among individuals.

No. Pheromones are not a behavior, but they can provoke a behavior by another individual.

No. Chemical signals called pheromones are used in communications among members of a species.

Pheromones can be smelled.

Pheromones are examples of __________.

Complete this map, which reviews the genetic and environmental components of animal behavior and their relationship to learning.

"Animal Behavior" | Biology with Educator.com

No. This is learning to associate an arbitrary stimulus with a particular outcome.

No. FAP is a response to an external stimulus that does not involve learning.

No. Problem solving is a form of cognition involving more complex information processing.

No. This type of learning relates to an external stimulus during a critical period.

This is a type of associative learning.

In __________, an animal learns to associate one of its behaviors with reward or punishment.

Fixed Action Patterns, Altruism, and Learning

Migration and Altruism

Is it true that all organisms forage optimally? Why or why not?

Mating and Parental Care

Parental Care | Ecology and Environment | Biology | FuseSchool

J. B. S. Haldane once remarked that he’d be willing to lay down his life to save two brothers or eight cousins. Explain what he meant.

No. Cognitive mapping is used for navigation of an animal's surroundings.

No. This involves learning to associate a particular behavior of one's own with a particular reward or punishment.

No. Associative learning is the ability to associate environmental features.

No. In this type of associative learning, an animal associates a stimulus with a specific outcome.

Remember Lorenz's experiment.

Graylag geese learn to follow their mothers. This is an example of __________.

A male redwing blackbird will chase predatory birds away from his breeding territory during nesting season. Which hypothesis best explains his behavior?
a. He is acting for the good of the species. He may die, but other birds of his species will be saved.
b. He knows this will increase his fitness, so he chases away the predator.
c. He carries a gene that causes fathers to protect their offspring, which increases inclusive fitness.
d. He has imprinted on the offspring in his nest, so he knows that they are his.

Short Video: Duckling Imprinting

Altruism

Primary Science - Animal Communication

Animal Behavior - Communication

Evolutionary biologist Hopi Hoekstra and colleagues have hypothesized that the burrow-digging behavior of mice (and the resulting shape of their underground burrows) is heritable—innate and not learned. Design an experiment to test this hypothesis.

No. Courtship rituals play a role in reproduction; they are meant to attract individuals of the opposite sex.

No. In altruistic behavior, an individual reduces its own fitness while increasing the fitness of another individual.

No. In kin selection, an individual's fitness is reduced, but the fitness of closely related individuals is increased.

No. Mate-choice copying is a mating strategy that is not related to competition.

Consider that such behaviors act to minimize actual physical harm to individuals.

When animals engage in __________, they often perform displays that make them look as large and dangerous as possible.

Inherited and Learned Behaviors

Almost all the behaviors of a housefly are innate. What are some advantages and disadvantages to the fly of innate behaviors compared with behaviors that are mainly learned?

How do animals communicate

Short Video: Blue Footed Boobies Courship Ritual

Reciprocal altruism

No. Although this may be true, a FAP describes the type of behavior and the proximate cause of the behavior, not its ultimate cause.

Pheasants learned to peck, and their offspring inherited this behavior.

No. Inheritance of acquired characteristics does not occur.

Pecking is the result of imprinting during a critical period.

No. Imprinting relates to the proximate, not ultimate, causes of a behavior.

Pheasants that pecked survived and reproduced best.

Ultimate causes explain why behaviors exist.

Pheasants do not feed their chicks. Immediately after hatching, a pheasant chick starts pecking at seeds and insects on the ground. How might a behavioral ecologist explain the ultimate cause of this behavior?

They would not differ in their behavior because the gene encodes physical characteristics.

No. The fru gene controls male courtship behavior.

Unlike the normal male, the male lacking the gene would not exhibit altruistic behavior and therefore would not be subject to kin selection.

No. The fru gene controls male courtship behavior, not altruism.

The male lacking the gene would look and act like a female fruit fly.

No. Though he would not court or mate with females, he also would not mate with males; in addition, his physical appearance will not be different.

The male lacking the gene will attempt to court other males rather than females.

No. Without the fru gene, the male would not exhibit any courtship behaviors.

The male lacking the gene would fail to produce any offspring.

What is the function of the fru gene?

How would you expect the behavior of a male fruit fly lacking the fru gene to differ from that of a normal male?

No. The bee performs a dance that contains information about the food location.

Remember the waggle dance?

Honeybees have a remarkable way of transferring information about the location of a food source to other members of the hive. The worker bees conveying this information use __________ communication to relay this information.

Learned Behaviors

No. Problem solving is an individual activity and does not enhance social interactions.

This is common in primates.

What kind of learning is thought to form the origin of culture?

In Module 35.3, you learned that Norway rat offspring whose mothers don’t interact much with them grow up to be fearful and anxious in new situations. Suggest a possible ultimate cause for this link between maternal behavior and stress response of offspring. (Hint: Under what circumstances might high reactivity to stress be more adaptive than being relaxed?)

Importance of Energy Foraging in Animals

A chorus of frogs fills the air on a spring evening. The frog calls are courtship signals. What are the functions of courtship behaviors? How might a behavioral ecologist explain the proximate cause of this behavior? The ultimate cause?

No. This is not the best choice. Diet is just one example of another category of important factors.

genetic factors and the behavior of the parents

No. This is not the best choice. Parental behavior is just one example of another category of important factors.

No. The two major influences are the genetic and environmental factors.

These same factors influence anatomy and physiology.

Animal behavior is governed by complex interactions between __________.

Propose an evolutionary hypothesis to explain the observation that some bird populations do not migrate if people supply food for them in feeders.

Reproduction and Growth: Animal Behaviors for Reproduction

Mass strandings of whales occur on beaches near military exercises where sonar is used, raising concerns about the effects of human-generated underwater sounds on animal behavior. Scientists are collecting behavioral data on several species of whales to find out how sonar affects them.

The researchers also measured the speed and direction of whale swimming in response to the sound exposure. Whales increase their speed and swim away from the direction of sound. Design a study to test the hypothesis that this behavior leads to beach strandings. Note that you will not receive permission to conduct the study if your actions are likely to cause strandings to occur.

A robin will repeatedly attack any red object near its territory.

No. Foraging behavior does not relate to such a fixed action pattern.

Musk oxen will form a circle to fend off a wolf attack.

No. Foraging behavior does not relate to behavior under threat.

Bats emerge to feed at about the same time each night.

No. Although this does relate to foraging behavior, it is more related to daily rhythms.

A blackbird will warn others in the flock if it senses danger.