Behavioral Ecology

• Behavioral ecology is the study of an animal’s behavior & how it is tied to its evolution, survival, and its reproductive success. – Behavior is everything an animal does and how it does it.

• To study behavior, two basic types of questions are asked.– Proximate questions are often considered "How" questions.

» environmental stimuli, trigger event, genetic, physiological, and anatomical mechanisms

– Ultimate questions are often considered "Why" questions » asks the evolutionary significance of a behavior and how it inferred

fitness

Ethology• Behavioral ecology can be further narrowed to the study of Ethology

(organisms in their natural environments). – An ethologist will attempt to answer the following 4 questions without

influencing the outcome.• What is the mechanistic basis of the behavior (chemical, anatomical, &

physiological)- proximate • How does development of the animal influence behavior - proximate • What is the evolutionary history of the behavior - ultimate • How does the behavior contribute to an animal's fitness - ultimate

Behaviors studied by Ethologists

• FAP (Fixed action Patterns) – a sequence of unearned behaviors that once triggered is

carried to completion • example: Aggression in the male 3-spined stickleback

– action: attacks another male in its breeding area » Proximate cause: red underbelly(trigger) » Ultimate cause: by chasing other males away the male will leave more

offspring thereby having greater reproductive success

Behaviors studied by Ethologists

• Imprinting – a behavior that includes both innate and learned components

that once learned is irreversible • example: ducks following their mother

– action: baby ducks will follow any real or surrogate mother that they imprint during the sensitive period (period of entrainment) » Proximate cause: during a critical period, young ducks see their mother

moving away and calling » Ultimate cause: ducks that don't follow are not cared for and do not learn the

necessary skills for survival

Behaviors studied by Ethologists

• Nature vs Nurture– Genetic components - innate actions (nature)

• types: – Directed movements

» kinesis -a change in activity rate in response to a stimuli (non-directional)

» taxis -movement toward (pos) or away (neg) from a stimulus » Migration- seasonal movement by a species

– Signals(behavior causing change) and communication (signal and response) » chemical - pheromones » Auditory - bird songs, insect sounds from wings

– Mating » Chemicals released during mating may help form a monogamous bond

in species

• Nature vs Nurture– Environmental Components (nurture) - may act to modify the genetic

response • learning -modification of behavior based on specific circumstances • habituation- loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information

– Spatial learning - learning with some degree of spatial variance • Nesting sites, population density, hazards associated with food location, ... • may use land marks to form a cognitive map (use of multiple landmarks to identify

location of food, home, mate)

– associative learning - ability to associate one stimulus with another • may use classical conditioning - repetitive use of consequences / reward to

reinforce an association • Operant conditioning – trial & error learning

– cognition- the ability of an organism to perceive, store, process, and use information learned