Bio Chapter 52: Animal Behavior

Front 1

Behavior

Back 1

What an animal does, how it does it, and how it responds to stimuli in its environment.

Front 2

Behavioral Ecology

Back 2

The study of behavior in natural environments from an evolutionary perspective. Used to be considered Ethology.

Front 3

Proximate cause

Back 3

Immediate causes such as the genetic, developmental, and physiological process that permit an animal to carry out a particular behavior.

Front 4

Ultimate Causes

Back 4

Causes that address the "why" of a behavior. For example: the goose will roll its eggs back towards the nest with its beak, because it's the safest and most efficient way to return the eggs.

Front 5

Cost-Benefit analysis

Back 5

An analysis of how a behavior may help an animal obtain food, water, protect itself or reproduce in comparison to the cost of energy it takes to perform said behavior

Front 6

Direct fitness

Back 6

An individual's reproductive success, measured by the number of viable offspring the individual produces.

Front 7

Innate behavior

Back 7

*Instinct.

Front 8

Learned behavior

Back 8

Behavior that has been modified in response to environmental experience.

Front 9

Motor Programs

Back 9

Programs that we think of as automatic, depending on a coordinated sequence of muscle actions.

Front 10

Behavioral Pattern

Back 10

An action that is activated by a simple sensory stimulus, regardless of sensory feedback. In other words, an action that an animal does without much thought.

Front 11

Sign Stimulus

Back 11

A simple signal that triggers a behavioral response.

Front 12

Learning

Back 12

A persistent change in behavior that result from experiences.

Front 13

Warning coloration/aposematic coloration

Back 13

Coloration that warns predators of the dangers of choosing the colored individual as quary.

Front 14

Habituation

Back 14

Learning where the animal learns to ignore a repeated, irrelevant stimulus.

Front 15

Imprinting

Back 15

A type of social learning based on earlier experiences.

Front 16

Classical conditioning

Back 16

An association between some normal body function and a new stimulus.

Front 17

Extinction(in terms of behavioral patterns)

Back 17

When a learned response is completely forgotten or habitualized.

Front 18

Operant conditioning

Back 18

An animal must fo something to gain a reward or avoid punishment.

Front 19

Biological Rythems

Back 19

A biochemical, physiological or behavioral response that animals make to the periodic changes in an environment.

Front 20

Circadian Rhythms

Back 20

24 hour cycles of activity.

Front 21

Diurnal Animals

Back 21

Active during the day

Front 22

Nocturnal animals

Back 22

Active during the night

Front 23

Crepuscular animals

Back 23

Active during dawn, dusk or both times

Front 24

Biological clocks

Back 24

Internal timers that organize biological rhythms.

Front 25

Suprachiasmatic nucleus(SCN)

Back 25

Where the master clock is located in mammals.

Front 26

Pineal gland

Back 26

An endocrine gland located in the brain that secretes melatonin, which promotes sleep in humans.

Front 27

Compass sense

Back 27

An internal sense of direction

Front 28

Navagation

Back 28

Requires both compass sense and map sense to provide cues to change direction to reach a specific destination.

Front 29

Map sense

Back 29

An awareness of location

Front 30

Foraging

Back 30

Feeding behavior that involves locating and selecting food as well as gathering and capturing it.

Front 31

Social behavior

Back 31

The interaction of two or more animals, usually of the same species.

Front 32

Calls

Back 32

Short, simple auditory stimuli that most animals use to communicate.

Front 33

Pheromones

Back 33

Chemical signals secreted to communicate with animals other than oneself.

Front 34

Vomeronasal organ

Back 34

Signals the amygdala and hypothalamus and regulate emotional responses and certain endocrine processes

Front 35

Signal transduction

Back 35

Neural pathways that involve G proteins.

Front 36

Dominance hierarchy

Back 36

Ranking of social statuses in which higher ranked individuals have more social standing that lower ranked.

Front 37

Sexual selection

Back 37

A type of natural selection for successful mating, with those more fit outclassing those that are less fit.

Front 38

Intrasexual selection

Back 38

Where individuals of the same sex actively compete for mates.

Front 39

Intersexual selection

Back 39

Females select mates based on some physical trait or resource.

Front 40

Lek

Back 40

Where insects, birds and bats display themselves and compete for females.

Front 41

Courtship rituals

Back 41

Ensure that a males are indeed male and a member of the same species as a female.

Front 42

Polygyny

Back 42

A mating system in which males fertilize the eggs of many females during the season.

Front 43

Polyandry

Back 43

One female mates with several males.

Front 44

Mate guarding

Back 44

When a male guards a female so that she does not copulate with another male

Front 45

Monogamy

Back 45

Males mate with only one female during the mating season. Uncommon.

Front 46

Pair bond

Back 46

When parents cooperate for mating and rearing the young.

Front 47

Parental investment

Back 47

The contribution each parent makes in production and rearing of offspring.

Front 48

Altruistic behavior

Back 48

When one individual seems to behave in a way that benefits others rather than itself, with no potential payoff.

Front 49

Inclusive fitness

Back 49

The sum of direct fitness and indirect fitness.

Front 50

Kin selection

Back 50

A form of natural selection that increases inclusive fitness through the breeding success of close relatives. Like bees supporting their queen.

Front 51

Reciprocal Altruism

Back 51

You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

Front 52

Culture

Back 52

A behavior common to a population.

Front 53

Social learning

Back 53

Observing others and imitating them, or teaching.

Front 54

Sociobiology

Back 54

The evolution of social behavior through natural selection.