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Ch. 43: Behavioral Ecology
Behavior = any action that can be observed and described
Result of nature (genes that control neural and hormonal actions) and nurture (the environment)
INNATE BEHAVIORS = behavior patterns that animals are born with
1) Fixed Action Patterns (FAP) = a behavioral response that once triggered must be
carried to completion
 Triggered by a sign stimulus = a particular environmental trigger
 Ex. Stickelback fish respond aggressively to the presence of other red bellies
(even if they are fake)
LEARNING = a durable change in behavior brought about by experience
1) Habituation = learning to ignore a stimulus
 Ex. Deer grazing near the highway learn to ignore the sound of vehicles
2) Imprinting = behavior that is learned during a specific developmental time-frame (called
the Critical Period)
 Ex. Ducklings follow the first moving object they see after birth (Konrad Lorenz)
 Ex. Birds learn how to perform species-specific mating signals
3) Associative Learning = a change in behavior that involves an association between two
events
 Classical Conditioning = the connection of two different stimuli (at the same
time) to each other
o Ex. Pavlov’s dogs: rang a bell when presenting dogs with food
 If bell was rung later, dog would salivate in anticipation of food
 Operant Conditioning = a stimulus is associated with a particular response
o Ex. Giving a pet a reward when training them to do a new trick
o Ex. Skinner’s rats: trained to push a lever to get a treat
4) Migration = long-distance travel from one location to another
 Ex. Sea turtles return to the same Florida beach every year to lay egg
 Requires orientation = ability to travel in a particular direction
o Often use the sun or stars to help them
o Some can navigate = change direction in response to environmental cues
5) Cognitive Learning = learning through observation, imitation, and insight
 Insight learning = when an animal suddenly solves a problem without any prior
experience with the situation
o Ex. Chimps will stack boxes to reach bananas in the lab
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION = an action by a sender that may influence the behavior of a
receiver
1) Chemical Communication
 Effective both day and night
 Includes pheromones
o Used for attracting mates, marking territories, and control behavior of
others
2) Auditory Communication
 Faster and more effective than chemical communication
 Includes calls and songs
 Pattern, duration, repetition, and loudness of verbal signal all matter
 May be used to attract mates, establish territory, be an alarm, etc.
o Ex. Dolphins, birds, chimps, prairie dogs, humans, etc.
3) Visual Communication
 Only useful in the daytime
 Used for territorial displays, courtship, defense, etc.
o Ex. Male baboons display threatening behavior to establish his dominance
and keep the peace in the troop
4) Tactile Communication = when one animal touches another
 Ex. Baby gull chicks peck at their parents to induce the parent to feed them
 Honeybee Foraging
o Waggle Dance used to indicate the distance and direction of food source
 Does a Figure 8, and between loops it buzzes noisily and shakes its
entire body in “waggles”
 Outside the hive, the angle of the straight run is the same as the
direction of the food. Inside the hive, the angle is the same as the
angle of the food source with the Sun.
BEHAVIORS THAT INCREASE FITNESS
1) Territoriality = when an animal defends its territory
 Territory = the portion of the range that is defended for an animal’s exclusive use
and where competing members of the same species are not welcome
o Ex. Gibbons have a territory that takes 3-4 days to cross, but defend the
whole thing by loud singing
 Comes with a cost-benefit analysis
2) Foraging for Food
 Optimal Foraging Model = it is adaptive for foraging behavior to be as
energetically efficient as possible
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Foraging results in more energy for the animal (and makes them more likely to
reproduce), but puts the animal at risk (and less likely to reproduce)
 Animals often have to make trade-offs when foraging
Reproductive Strategies and Fitness
 Polygamous = when a single male mates with multiple females
o Due to gestation and lactation periods, females invest more time energy in
their offspring than males
o Grouping together to help each other forage for food is beneficial for
females
o Males defend the group from other males
 Polyandrous = a single female mates with several males
o Often occurs when child requires help from a male parent or when the
environment does not have enough resources to support lots of offspring at
one time
 Monogamous = when one male mates with only one female  form a pair bond
o Both male and female help with rearing of the young
o Rare in primates
Sexual Selection
 Most often is female choice, leading to male competition
o Due to fact that female lays few eggs compared to males numerous sperm
o Males must, therefore, increase their fitness by mating with as many
females as possible or defending their access to a female  Competition
Societies and Fitness
 Societies = groups in which members of a species are organized in a cooperative
manner, extending beyond sexual and parental behavior
o Provides members with a greater reproductive success than if alone
 Ex. Impalla groups are more likely to hear a predator approach
 Disputes may arise (a disadvantage)
o Dominance Hierarchies = ordering a society from strongest to weakest,
and partitioning resources accordingly
 Ex. Chickens and “pecking order”
 Also increases likelihood to catch infections or parasites (another disadvantage)
Altruism versus Self-Interest
 Altruism = behavior that may decrease the reproductive success of one individual
so that another’s reproductive success increases
o Ex. Ant societies may have only one queen bee and her mate reproduce,
while the “workers” collect food and the “soldiers” protect them
 Kin Selection = when a member of a family puts himself at risk to save his
relatives
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o Some portion of his genes will still be passed on by his kin, even if he is
killed
Inclusive Fitness = the personal reproductive success as well as the reproductive
success of its relatives
o Ex. Meerkats have a few “lookouts” while the others forage  calling out
to warn family draws the attention of a predator
Reciprocal Altruism = when both members take turn helping each other be
reproductively successful
o Cheaters are recognized and not reciprocated in the future
 Ex. Vampire bats share their blood meal when returning to roost.
If not, they are cut out of future blood-sharings by others