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33 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is behaviour? |
An organism's response to the environement, helping it survive, affected by both your genes and the environement. |
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What are the two groups of behaviours and what do they mean? |
Innate (You're born with it - Genes), Learned (You learn it as you grow up. |
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What is an example of an innate behaviour? |
Reflex actions like sneezing, protecting you from a harmful stimuli. They are automatic and do not need to be thought about. Earthworms show 'negative photoaxis' - meaning they move away from the light. |
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What is habitation and give an example? |
An animal is constantly exposed to a non harmful stimulus will quickly learn NOT to respond to it, so they don't worry about it and can spend more time caring about harmful stimuli. Many babies are naturally scared of loud noises and need to quickly learn what is and isn't dangerous. Sea anemones will stop responding after a while when you poke its sensitive tentacles. |
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What is imprinting and give an example? |
A behaviour that is learned very quickly after birth, but not BEFORE birth, affected by instincts. Baby ducklings will follow the first moving thing they see and will follow them, usually their parents. |
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What are the two types of conditioning, and what group of behaviour is this? |
Classical and Operant, they are both learned. |
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What is classical conditioning and example? |
A type of learning done passively (without trying) to associate a neutral stimulus with an important, innate, one Pavlov's dogs - Pavlov found that if he rang a bell before giving dogs food, after a while he found that the dogs would salivate after just the bell was rung, regardless of if there was food. After a while, this wore off. |
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What is operant conditioning and example? |
Animals associate an action with a reward or punishment - the animal tries to work out what is going on. Skinner boxes - Rats placed in a small cage with two buttons, one which gives a reward. The rats used a system of trial and error to learn which button to press. |
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How do humans use conditioning and examples? |
Training animals - Food treats given to animals as they do good things will incline them to that again. Punishments are also given to incline them to not do that bad thing again. - Training sniffer dogs to retrieve drugs - Training guide dogs to stop at a roadside to wait for a command
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How can operant and classical conditioning be used together and example? |
When a treat cannot be given at that exact time, for example, dolphins cannot have a treat exactly as they do the jump. Therefore, when they are given fish, a whistle is blown too. When the dolphin makes the jump, the whistle is blown, letting it know it will get the fish. |
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Why do animals need to communicate? |
1) It keeps a group together 2) To warn others of danger 3) Communicating mood can stop fights 4) Keeping hunting groups together 5) Babies can communicate needs to parents |
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What are the major forms of communication and examples? |
Sound - Dolphins communicate over long distances using low-frequency sound Chemical (Pheremones) - Dogs use the smell of urine to mark their territory Visual signals - Honey bees dance to show others where they have found food. Courtship between couples |
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What did Tinbergen study and what did he discover? |
Studied innate behaviour in baby herring gulls, who peck at a red spot on their parents beak to get them to give them food. Tinbergen gave baby chicks cardboard beaks with different coloured spots on them and counted the pecks. Tinbergen found they pecked at the red the most, so they must be born with an instinct to. |
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What did Lorenz study and what did he discover? |
Studied imprinting in geese. He had two groups of geese, one which was brought up bythe mother, the other in an incubator. Those in the first group saw their mother move first, so followed her, whilst the others saw Lorenz first so followed him. The chicks form an attachment to the first thing they see - imprinting |
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What did Fossey and Goodall (although not together) study and what did they discover? |
Goodall - Chimapnzees in Tanzania Fossey - Gorillas is Africa They both found that the apes were social animals, they looked for food together, protected each other from attacks, groomed each other and all had a rank to stop fights. All of this strengthend bonds and kept them all alive longer |
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How would you investigate animal behaviour? |
Using a choice chamber. Each chamber has a different environment and (usually) insects are popped in the middle before given time to run around and usually stay in that closest to their natural habitat, allowing you to see the ideal conditions, say humidity, light intensity etc. |
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What is an example of investigating animal behaviour you could do? |
Place woodlice in a choice chamber with 4 choices - Dark and Damp; Dark and Dry; Light and Damp; Light and dry; and see which they move into the most (dark and damp) |
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How do animals get a mate, with examples? Why do they need to attract one? |
Many animals live in isolation so need to attract a mate in the mating season. 1) Often using a call to attract a mate 2) Some insects secrete pheromones to attract a partner, often over miles 3) Males often fight for a mate, without physically fighting (that would be bad) to display strength and get a mate 4) Courstship comes up a lot, posturing, dancing and showing off. They are species specific so the female mates with the correct species. The better the display, the higher the male fertility, and more likely to get a mate |
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Why is it important that the female usually selects the partner? |
The female puts more effort into child rearing, so she needs to make sure that she's mating with the correct species, otherwise they'd be infertile babies and a waste of energy. She also needs to choose a healthy male to ensure they have the best genes so that the next generation will have a better chance of survival. The Males job is simply to mate with as many females as possible |
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What are the types of mating groups? |
One mate per mating season One mate for life One male has a harem of females (a group)
The male doesn't bring up the child so only needs to mate as much as possible. |
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How and why do animals look after their young and examples? |
It increases their young's chance of survival rate. Protection - Parents will protect their babies from predators, often by making nests. The weaver bird strands of leaves and twigs into a ball to protect the young Food - Babies cannot get their own food, so their parent's often do it for them Skills - Parents teach their young essential skills to survive that aren't innate. Oystercatchers teach their young how to open mussels to get food. Babies often imitate their parents |
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How does looking after young increase survival chance? |
1) Parental care increases the proportion that survive - about 25% in birds comapred to about 0.001% in Cod 2) Looking after young is less risky for the mother than being pregnant, so those animals can have shorter pregnancies and be less at risk 3) It is important to ALL animals to pass on their genes, and if the parent has to dies saving 4 babies, that's worth it. |
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What are the three main functions of a plant releasing chemicals? |
1) Attract Pollinators - Plants smell nice to attract pollinators looking for nectar 2) Attracting Insect predators - Plants release chemicals that attract insects that eat other insects eating the plant, removing pests for the plant 3) Warning other plants - When eaten they release chemicals making the plant harder to digest when detected on another leaf. This also works for other plants too. |
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What is co-evolution + examples? |
When two organisms evolve in response to each other. 1) Plants and pollinators - Some plants have nectar only some insects can reach, making them likely to return to that plant to get nectar, which means the plant is more likely to be pollinated. 2) Plants and predators - If a plant produces toxic chemicals, only some insects can eat it, so the plant gets eaten less often and the insect has a source of food no-one else can get at. |
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What are fossils useful for? |
By looking at various homonid (human like) fossils, we can see how the humans have evolved. |
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What is 'Ardi' and what are they like? |
- 4.4 Million year old fossil of Ardipithicus Ramidus - Her feet suggested she climbed trees - Short legs and long arms, chimp like - Similar brain size to a chimpanzee - She walked upright like a human and didn't use her hands. |
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What is 'Lucy' and what are they like? |
- 3.2 million year old fossil of Australopithecus afarensis - More human than Ardi - Arched feet suggested she walked a lot - Arm and leg sizes were halfway between chimp and human - Slightly larger, but still small brain - Leg structure suggests she walked very upright |
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What is 'Turkana Boy' and what are they like? |
- 1.6 million year old Homo erectus - Short arms and long legs - More human like - Similar brain size to humans - Even better adapted to walking upright. |
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(Other than fossils) How can you tell that brain size increased? |
Over time, the stone tools found near the skeletons used grew more and more complex, which would have meant that brain size increased. |
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How can you date a stone tool? |
1) Studying the rock layers - The deeper the tool is found, the older it is 2) Dating fossils found nearby 3) Carbon dating any material found nearby - Wooden handles, soil etc |
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How does mitochondrial DNA provide evidence for Human Evolution? |
1) Mitochondria have specific DNA in them inherited only from the mother. 2) Everyone has very similar mtDNA, which shows we all descended from one woman - Mitochondrial Eve 3) mtDNA mutates fast and by analysing the mutations, can tell she was African and lived 200,000 years ago. 4) This shows that Homo Sapiens must have evolved in Africa and then spread across the world 5) mtDNA is more useful than normal DNA because it is less likely to degrade and there is a lot more of it in a normal cell |
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How did migration change Human behaviour? |
As humans migrated out of Africa, they encountered new environments and they needed to change their behaviour to survive. Asian Coasts - Settlers changed their diet to shellfish and sea food so had to develop tools to get shellfish out of shells Australia - People in rainforests started to eat fruit in trees and invented new tools to get at it. Europe - They created hunting in groups to hunt bigger animals. Colder climate meant they built more settlements. Humans used animal skins and fur to protect themselves |
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How did an Ice Age change Human Behaviour? |
1) They built more shelters or lived in caves 2) The used fire for heating 3) Hunting for animals increased - And an increase in tools 4) Language developed so they could work in larger groups |
