Download Organism Behavior

Warm-Up (3/7)
Scientists conducted an experiment in which several bushes at the end
of a forest were cut down and divided into three sections: the sunny side
of the plant, the middle of the plant, and the dark side of the plant. They
processed the samples to determine the levels of auxin, a protein that
promotes cell growth. Their findings are listed below.
Name
Date
Period
Sunny Middle Dark
Average
Auxin
Concentration
(mg/mL)
6.02
24.34
Explain how exposure to the sun leads to diminished levels of auxin.
49.44
2E.3a: Individuals can act on information and communicate it to others.
2E.3a.1: Innate behaviors are behaviors that are inherited.
2E.3a.2: Learning occurs through interactions with the environment and other
organisms.
2E.3b: Responses to information and communication of information are vital to natural
selection.
2E.3b.1: In phototropism in plants, changes in the light source lead to differential growth,
resulting in maximum exposure of leaves to light for photosynthesis.
2E.3b.2: In photoperiodism in plants, change in the length of night regulate flowering
and preparation for winter.
2E.3b.3: Behaviors in animals are triggered by environmental cues and are vital to
reproduction, natural selection, and survival.
Illustrative example: Migration
2E.3b.4: Cooperative behavior within or between populations contributes to the survival of
populations.
Illustrative example: Biology of pollination
3E.1a: Organisms exchange information with each other in response to internal changes and
external cues, which can change behavior.
Illustrative example: predator warnings
3E.1c: Responses to information and communication of information are vital to natural
selection and evolution.
3E.1c.1: Natural selection favors innate and learned behaviors that increase survival
and reproductive fitness.
Illustrative example: Avoidance behavior to electric fences, poisons or traps
3E.1c.2: Cooperative behavior tends to increase the fitness of the individual and the
survival of the population.
Illustrative example: Herd, flock, and schooling behavior in animals
Organism Behavior
Organisms behave in response to stimuli.
Innate behavior
happens instinctively.
In plants
phototropism
photoperiodism
Organism Behavior
Organisms behave in response to stimuli.
Innate behavior
happens instinctively.
In animals
North
South
winter is coming
Organism Behavior
Organisms behave in response to stimuli.
Learned behavior happens
through interaction with the
environment.
Animals learn to avoid harmful things.
Organism Behavior
Organisms behave in response to stimuli.
Learned behavior happens
through interaction with the
environment.
Cooperative behavior is
favored by natural selection.
Animals signal to
each other when
predators are
spotted.
Organism Behavior
Organisms behave in response to stimuli.
Learned behavior happens
through interaction with the
environment.
Cooperative behavior is
favored by natural selection.
Cows herd to better avoid predators.
Organism Behavior
Organisms behave in response to stimuli.
Learned behavior happens
through interaction with the
environment.
Cooperative behavior is
favored by natural selection.
Fish school to better avoid predators
and to better find mates.
Critical Thinking Question #1
The yucca plant flowers once per year
for two weeks during the month of
March. Yucca moths, an insect, breed
during the first two weeks of March
every year and lay their eggs inside
flowers of yucca plants.
Explain how innate timing of internal
stimuli in the yucca moth has evolved
based on the photoperiodism of the
yucca plant.
Critical Thinking Question #2
The bluestripe snapper, L. kasmira, is a type of fish
that exhibits schooling behavior once per year
during its mating season in early spring, likely
because this behavior facilitates finding of a mate
for sexual reproduction. L. kasmira individuals
have been found to engage in mating and
courtship behavior in a laboratory environment
when exposed to estrogen-like hormones which
the fish are capable of producing.
Explain how detection of the changing season (for
example, detection of longer days or warmer
temperatures) can lead to schooling behavior in an
L. kasmira population.
Closure
On the piece of white paper from the
back, answer the following question:
Describe TWO examples of
how organisms exchange
information in response to
internal changes or
environmental cues.
Name
Date
Period
Scale
1 – 10