Behavioral Biology

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Chapter 52

• Behavioral Biology

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Innate behavior

• Some behaviors are preprogrammed into the
  nervous system
• Triggered by a stimulus - can vary
• Other examples??

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• Proximate causation defines how something works
• Ultimate causation discusses why it works!

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Behavioral genetics

• Take the rats in a maze
• Some learn faster than others to get the cheese
• Genetic superiority??

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• Can also witness differences between identical
  twins!
• Some say nature over nurture, but what about
  twins separated at birth who lead parallel
  lives?
• Creepy??

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Some behavior is learned

• Touch a hot flame, learn to stay away from fire!
• Salivation at the sound of a bellexample of
  _____?
• Trial and error to get a desired result
• Some are simply due to the biology of the animal.
  
• Now have I.D.ed specific genes that may govern
  behavior

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Learning influences behavior

• When we learn, we change our behavior to reflect
  that learning
• Some are not stimulated (habitual) and some
  require an association between a stimulus and a
  response. Ex Pavlov
• Instinctual learning - biologically influenced -
  goes back to evolution
• Burying seeds and remembering where to find them
  larger memory center in the brain of those
  animals who exhibit this behavior

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Parent-Offspring interactions

• Most behavioral biologists recognize that
  behavior is both learned and genetic
• We imprint on our parents to a degree - this may
  influence some decisions later in life
• Other animals may imprint on the first thing they
  see!
• Genetically, animals may be attuned to certain
  songs, sound, or smells that guide them to the
  correct species
• Ex Cuckoos - have pre-programmed songs for their
  species even though they are raised by others

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Migratory Behavior

• Taxis - moving toward or away from a stimulus ex
  moths to light
• Kineses - changing activity in response to an
  increasing stimulus
• Animals who migrate use the stars, sun,
  landmarks, and magnetic fields to navigate Ex
  monarchs, geese, sea turtles
• Others?

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Communication

• Some species have distinct sounds
• Pheremones
• Levels of specificity - to make the individual
  stand out

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• Social animals sometimes have designated
  individuals to carry out specific jobs
• honeybees - guards, drones, queen
• other examples?
• Language among higher animals - primates in
  particular - help convey meaning to others in the
  group

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Evolution shapes behavior

• Behavioral ecology - study of how natural
  selection shapes behavior
• after a baby bird hatches, the parents often
  remove the shell to reduce predators seeing the
  broken shell and eating the offspring - is
  adaptive
• Is all behavior adaptive?
• Not necessarilycan be caused by genetic drift,
  gene flow, or consequences of conscious selection
• Could also be past adaptations that evolved and
  are no longer useful!

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Examples of behaviors

• Foraging - looking for food and weighing the cost
  of finding it with the amount of reward at the
  end
• must be energy efficient to be productive -
  max input per foraging time
• Territorial - defend your ground against
  predators and intrusion!
• Reproductive Strategies - benefit of choosing
  this mate over that one
• Parental investment - each sex makes a different
  contribution to making and rearing offspring
• Vary greatly among species!
• Different mating systems
• Sexual selection for those that are genetically
  desirable

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Evolution of social behavior?

• Altruistic - benfits one while costing the one
  who is helping
• Seen in lions - all cubs nurse from more than
  just the mother
• Reciprocity - you scratch my back and Ill
  scratch yours

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• Social animals are more likely to behave in a way
  to protect their kin if they have a higher number
  of related members in the group
• ie - if a mother has many children in a group,
  she will act to protect them more than if she was
  a aunt to those children

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Haplodiploidy

• Bees have distinct roles within the social group
• members are of differing sizes and abilities
• do not stray from their roles
• males are haploid, females diploid
• eusocial system

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• Vertebrate systems are less organized and are
  less altruistic
• Usually kin selected altruism
• So which is evolutionarily more advanced???
• Still up for debate!