Animal Behavior Final Vocabulary

Front 1

predict which decisions an animals should make in order to maximize its inclusive fitness under a given set of conditions hypothesized to drive the behavior

Back 1

Optimality models

Front 2

strategies” that are available to the animal. The animal performs 1 act out of all the possible actions available to it

Back 2

Decisions

Front 3

the criterion used to compare the value of different decision. (Example: rate of energy intake, or time spent foraging.)

Back 3

Currency

Front 4

limitations on the animals. Can be internal (nutritional needs, ability to see only certain colors) or external (temperature, light levels).

Back 4

Constraints

Front 5

what makes a particular musical sound different from another, even when they have the same pitch or loudness

Back 5

Timbre

Front 6

(ultradian, variable lengths of time) a regular (usually physiological) cycle or oscillation (e.g. or hormone levels) that takes less than a day and sometimes a very short period of time to complete; usually less than 12 hour period

Back 6

Epicycles

Front 7

(12.4 hours) The ebb and flow of tides affects the behavior of some animals occupying the tidal zone. These occur on a daily basis, monthly bases, as well as yearly cycles.

Back 7

Tidal Rhythms

Front 8

(28-day cycles) are related to tidal rhythms, but can affect animals that are not necessarily in the tidal zones

Back 8

Lunar Rhythms

Front 9

24 hour cycles; probably the best known

Back 9

Circadian Rhythms

Front 10

Active during daylight

Back 10

Diurnal

Front 11

Active during night

Back 11

Nocturnal

Front 12

active at dusk and/or dawn

Back 12

Crepuscular

Front 13

(12 months) are behavioral and physiological patterns that are governed by self-sustaining internal pacemakers and that occur within a period of about 1 year (Ex: hibernation, diapause)

Back 13

Circannual rhythms

Front 14

a suppressed metabolic state that falls under umbrella term of torpor or dormancy; widespread & common survival strategy expressed under the threat of a metabolic energy crisis; has seasonal connotation triggering by threat of lowered ambient temperatures, famine, and darkness

Back 14

Hibernation

Front 15

a period of dormancy in insects, some fish; delay in developmental in response to regularly and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions; very specific initiating and inhibiting conditions

Back 15

Diapause

Front 16

a state of regulated metabolic suppression in animals, typically to levels below what are normally essentially the minimum basal metabolic rate; an energy-conserving survival trait that is triggered in response to a wide variety of environmental cues and threats (starvation; thirst; darkness; cold; heat)

Back 16

Torpor

Front 17

a tiny region located in the hypothalamus, situated directly above the optic chiasm. It is responsible for controlling circadian rhythms. The neuronal and hormonal actitives it generates regulates many different body functions in a 24 hour cycle, using around 20,000 neurons; mammals and birds

Back 17

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

Front 18

period where animal starts activity at a particular time; something in an environment triggering activity at a particular time

Back 18

Entrainment

Front 19

animals are not entrained; taken away any kind of environmental stimuli

Back 19

Free-running period

Front 20

states that when animals are kept in constant darkness, their activity rhythm continues at approximately a 24 hour cycle, but drifts slightly

Back 20

Aschoff's Rule

Front 21

the synchronizing of endogenous rhythms with the external stimulus

Back 21

Entrainment

Front 22

cues that provide information to animals about the periodicity of environmental variables

Back 22

Zeitgebers

Front 23

a type of amino acid emerges at night; associated w/ inactivity, and reduces day activities; enhances inactivity; strongly correlated w/ sleep

Back 23

Melatonin

Front 24

term to refer to where an animal hibernates

Back 24

Hibernacula

Front 25

occurs when an animal becomes MORE sensitive to a particular stimulus over time

Back 25

Sensitization

Front 26

occurs when an animal is LESS likely to perform a behavior over time

Back 26

Habituation

Front 27

occurs when a stimulus and response are paired over time

Back 27

Pavlovian (Classical) Conditioning

Front 28

this type of conditioning is characterized by a “critical period” during which the young form a bond with (usually) a parent or parent figure; innate behaviors are released w/ learned stimuli

Back 28

Imprinting

Front 29

this is a pairing that would never occur in nature

Back 29

Natural Disconect

Front 30

encourage to continue to do behavior; increases likelihood of behavior being repeated

Back 30

Reinforcement

Front 31

discourage from repeating or continuing this behavior; decreases likelihood of behavior being repeated

Back 31

Punishment

Front 32

Something is give to animal

Back 32

Positive

Front 33

Something is taken away from animal

Back 33

Negative

Front 34

the breaking of behavior down into multiple steps to shape behavior (ex: train dog to go to the bathroom)

Back 34

Auto-Shaping

Front 35

give animal something bad

Back 35

Type-I punishment

Front 36

Take away something good from animal

Back 36

Type-II punishment

Front 37

transferring information to other members of the group; copying through social learning

Back 37

Cultural transmission

Front 38

a system of information transfer that affects an individual’s phenotype, in the sense that part of the phenotype is acquired from others by teaching or social learning

Back 38

Culture

Front 39

parent to child learning

Back 39

Vertical Transmission

Front 40

individual to peer learning

Back 40

Horizontal transmission

Front 41

unrelated adult to child

Back 41

Oblique transmission

Front 42

a unit of cultural transmission or a unit of imitation

Back 42

Meme

Front 43

the physical form in which a message is coded

Back 43

Signal

Front 44

involving more than 1 sensory system

Back 44

Multi-Modal

Front 45

The scout has found food fairly close to the hive (e.g., 50-75m away). The forager returns with pollen on its body and performs the

Back 45

Round Dance

Front 46

used to communicate the location of food sources over a much greater distance

Back 46

Waggle dance

Front 47

a specific type of vibration produced by rubbing body parts together

Back 47

Stridulation

Front 48

performing altruistic and helping behaviors in order to preserve similar alleles in a gene pool

Back 48

Kin Selection

Front 49

helping behaviors for non-related individuals; if you help me I’ll help you idea

Back 49

Reciprocal altruism

Front 50

Birdsong is a particularly complex behavior resulting from the interactions of genetics, development, learning, hormone level, circadian and circannual cycles and the physical structure of the syrinx

Back 50

Song

Front 51

the song making/vocalization apparatus in birds

Back 51

Syrinx

Front 52

young birds listen to and memorize the song of an adult

Back 52

Auditory learning

Front 53

rehearsal of song memorized during auditory learning

Back 53

Sensory-motor learning

Front 54

Perfected Adult song

Back 54

Crystalized song

Front 55

only harnessing one frequency at a time; that carries on for a period of time

Back 55

Pure tone

Front 56

lots of different frequencies simultaneously

Back 56

White noise

Front 57

a delineated, undefended area in which an animal spends most of its time

Back 57

Home Range

Front 58

a delineated, defended area

Back 58

Territory

Front 59

a gathering of males, of certain animal species, for the purpose of competitive mating display

Back 59

Lek

Front 60

enclosed by a boundary

Back 60

Delineated

Front 61

model to study habitat choice developed to predict how animals will distribute themselves among habitats with varying levels of resource availability; predicts that the equilibrium distribution of individuals into patches should be that distribution at which, if any individual moved to the patch it was not on, it would suffer a reduced payoff. This results in individuals settling into habitats in proportion to the resources available on that patch

Back 61

Ideal Free Distribution Model (IFD)

Front 62

the equilibrium proportion of individuals in H1 and H2 should be reached when R1/N1 = R2/N2 or when the per capita intake rate of individuals in both patches is equal

Back 62

Resource matching rule

Front 63

typical of despot (a ruler or other person who holds absolute power, typically one who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way); tyrannical

Back 63

Despotic

Front 64

threatening an enemy from the side

Back 64

Lateral Presentation

Front 65

learning who your neighbor is and even forming a coalition with (usually) him to keep out intruders

Back 65

Dear Enemy Effect

Front 66

parasitization of an established territory; taking resources out of a territory without establishing ones own territory

Back 66

Sneaker/Satellite Strategy

Front 67

mimic the color pattern of females and drift down when a female has been attracted to the parental male’s territory. They behave like females and produce sperm at the same time as the parental male when the female sheds her eggs

Back 67

Bluegill Sunfish Satellite male

Front 68

older individuals who aggressively defend territories in which females shed their eggs

Back 68

Bluegill Sunfish Parental Males

Front 69

the decision of a territorial animal to allow or not allow satellites in its territory depending on abundance of resources

Back 69

Owner's dilemma

Front 70

the phenomenon in which a territorial animal will allow a satellite in its territory when resources are abundant to aid in defending the territory

Back 70

Conditional cooperation

Front 71

restless behavior in migratory animals that are being prevented from migrating

Back 71

Zugunruhe

Front 72

when an animal gives up ALL potential reproductive opportunities and helps at the nest

Back 72

Extreme altruism

Front 73

one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. The name refers to the wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν (hymen): membrane and πτερόν (pteron): wing. The hind wings are connected to the fore wings by a series of hooks called hamuli.

Back 73

Hymenoptera

Front 74

helping behaviors in a population among unrelated individuals

Back 74

Reciprocal altruism

Front 75

fairly common strategy employed by bird species to have another set of parents raise your young

Back 75

Nest or Brood Parasitism

Front 76

a young bird that has just fledged.

Back 76

Fledglings

Front 77

eggs hatch sequentially over an extended period of time and consequently offspring are different sizes/stages of development

Back 77

Asynchronious hatching