Animal Behavior I & II:
Worksheet: 3.1
Supplemental Instruction
Iowa State University / Leader: / Hannah
Course: / AECL 365
Instructor: / Dr. Waldman
Date: / 10-29-15

1.) __Behavior__ is the action or reaction of individuals in response to a stimulus (internal or external).

2.) There are 2 causes/factors used to explain behavior. Name and describe these.

  • Proximate mechanisms within the individual that operate to make the behavior possible
  • E.g. genetic, developmental, physiological
  • Ultimate evolutionary causes: why the animal has evolved those mechanisms in the first place
  • Selective advantage

3.) __Ethology__ is the study of animal behavior.

4.) What is innate behavior?

  • A developmentally fixed behavior
  • Instinctive (not based on previous experience)
  • E.g. baby bird begging for food when parent arrives
  1. Define a fixed action pattern.
  • = A sequence of behavioral acts that is unchangeable and usually carried out to completion once initiated
  • e.g. goose—even when take away the egg or replace it with a golf ball, still carry out the behavior

5.) Conditioning is associating one stimulus with another. Name and define the 2 types.

  • Classical conditioning associating arbitrary stimulus with reward or punishment
  • E.g. Pavlov’s dogs (associate bell ringing with food salivating)
  • Operant conditioning trial and error learning
  • E.g. Rat pressing lever for food

6.) Describe the Hawk-Dove game. Establish the roles of the hawk and the dove and state some ESS (Evolutionary Stable Strategy) results.

  • Hawk: escalate encounter until opponent retreats or until injury
  • Dove: display, then retreat if opponent escalates
  • Dove is not an ESS because a hawk can always invade (their payoffs will always be larger)
  • Hawk can be ESS if their payoff is larger than 0 or larger than the costs of injury
  • If payoff is smaller than costs, a mixed strategy of V/D (victory/payoff) ratio is an ESS

7.) __Intraspecific__ behavior involves social interactions, which are interactions between 2 or more individuals of the same species.

8.) Briefly define the following types of social interactions:

  1. Reproduction (Courtship & Parental care)
  • Courtship: complex, ritualized behavior; congregations common for mate-selection
  • Parental care: social interaction between parent & offspring
  • Altruism behavior that reduces the fitness of the individual performing the behavior but increases the fitness of other individuals
  1. Who is this usually directed towards?
  • Family members (close relatives)
  1. What is inclusive fitness?
  • Inclusive fitness = direct fitness (your own offspring) + indirect fitness (your relative’s offspring)
  • Agonistic contests involving both threatening and submissive behavior determines which competitor gains access to resource; convey info about contenders; evolved to minimize expenditure of energy & reduce injury
  1. Dominance contests may result in this; oldest individual is usually dominant until overpowered by younger rival; saves energy for top and bottom individuals by reducing the incidence of intense conflicts
  1. Territoriality individuals defend an area to exclude other members of species (for feeding, mating, rearing young, etc.)

9.) __Interspecific__ behavior involves the interactions between 2 or more individuals of different species.

  1. What are the 4 types of these behaviors discussed in lecture?
  • Competition
  • Symbiosis (Commensalism, Mutualism, Parasitism)
  • Predation
  • Human Interactions

10.) What is niche partitioning? What purpose does it serve?

  • Habitat partitioning natural selection acts on species to specialize on resources (e.g. warblers in different parts of the tree)
  • Temporal partitioning natural selection acts on species to shift activity time (e.g. nocturnal vs. diurnal)

11.) Define the Theory of Limiting Similarity.

  • Describes how similar competing species can be and still coexist (i.e. how much their niches can overlap)
  • E.g. Darwin’s finches in Galápagos
  • Coexisting species do not overlap in beak size (diet/seed size)

12.) What is Competitive Exclusion? When does it occur?

  • = Local species extinction as a result of competition
  • Occurs when species cannot evolve in their characteristics to reduce competition (i.e. when species become too similar)

13.) Describe the 3 types of symbioses and give an example of each.

  • Commensalism (+/0)
  • One member of the association benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed
  • E.g. gopher tortoise and other burrowers (turtle creates burrow that other species use)
  • Mutualism (+/+)
  • Both members of the association benefit
  • E.g. cleaner fishes (cleaner fish get food, parasites removed from other animal)
  • Parasitism (+/-)
  • Parasite benefits, host loses
  • E.g. lampreys and fish

14.) __Predation___ is the most extreme condition of one species benefiting and the other losing (+/-).

  1. However, some __keystone___ __predators/species___ are necessary to regulate ecological communities. When they are removed, the entire ecosystem collapses.
  • They reduce the density of competing species = alleviates competition and allows for coexistence

15.) What are some types of human interactions?

  • Habitat alteration (fragmentation, destruction)
  • Invasive species introductions (competitors, predators, parasites)
  • Harvesting to extinction (overexploitation)
  • Global warming effects