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Behavioural Ecology
Behavioural basics
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Evolution by natural selection | - phenotypic variation in a population (assisted by mutations) - variation must be heritable - survival/reproduction success must be influenced by phenotypes - competition results in wins and losses - successful individuals continue good phenotypes |
ie. Beak evolution | Behavioural evolution = evolution |
Behavioural basics - how does it work? | 1. sense organ 2. neuronal/hormonal response 3. muscle |
Sense organs | Gathers information about the physical, chemical and biological environment - hierarchal complexity |
Nerves | - nervous system transmission/information storage |
Hormones and sexual behaviour | ie. female rats - how estrogen can influence sexual behaviour/aggressive behaviour - high estrogen shows high sexual behaviour - low estrogen shows more aggressive behaviour |
Muscles | - enact a response from a stimulus - allow physical locomotion (predation) |
Behavioural hierarchical complexity Simple behaviour - reflexes | Stereotypical and automatic unit of behaviour Simple stimulus and neural pathway Form is constant, consistent and usually momentary |
More complex behaviour – Fixed action patterns | Innate and stereotypical behaviour/ repertoire More complicated neural control and stimuli More prone to vary in relation to context and habituation ie. moths/bats |
Behavioural hierarchical complexity | Frequency / intensity of fixed action patterns can vary due to internal and external factors = Response to feedback |
Fixed action patterns | Fixed action patterns can link up, each as an interacting stimulus to generate a stereotypical series of even more complex behaviour |
Behaviour is sophisticated and variable but… | Derives from simple fundamental structures: sense-nerve-muscle Systems can be built from simple reflexes to hierarchically complex interacting behaviour |
Asking questions | Tinbergen's 4 questions - causation - development - evolution - function |
Asking questions | causation/physiology causation/genetics development/neuronal evolution/genetic functional adaptiveness |
Proximate questions | descriptions & explanations based on immediate cause and mechanism (stimuli, genetics, hormones, experience) |
Ultimate questions | explanations based on survival/reproduction value or functions in nature |
Examples of ultimate evolutionary questions | What is the adaptive significance of a particular behaviour or trait? What is the fitness value of that behaviour? |