AP Biology Notes Ch.

49 Behavioral Ecology
49.1 Behaviors Heritable Basis Stimulus: a piece of information about the external/internal environment that a specific type of sensory receptor detects Gene products build and operate sensory receptors, nerves, and brain, also affect behavioral responses to stimuli Animals are programmed before they are born, with reactions to stimuli in the environment Some hormones are behavior-guiding gene products, like oxytocin in mammals that affects aggression and territoriality and pair bonding Instinctive behavior: performing of a behavior without having first learned it through actual experience in environment Sign stimuli: one or two simple, defined cues that trigger a response Fixed action pattern: stereotyped motor program of coordinated muscle activity that runs to completion independently of feedback from environment (baby snakes are compelled to strike at natural prey animals)

49.2 Learned Behavior Learned behavior: individual draws from past experiences and varies its response to stimuli Learned behavior arises as environment directly/ indirectly influences gene expression (sensory input and good/bad nutrition levels lead to alterations) Imprinting: time-dependant form of learning triggered by exposure to a sign stimulus, usually during sensitive period when animal is young

49.3 The Adaptive Value of Behavior Reproductive success: an individual reproduces, and at least some offspring survive Adaptive behavior: form of behavior that helps perpetuate individuals genes, frequency in a population is maintained or increases over time Social behavior: behavior expressed in context of interactions among individuals of same species Selfish behavior: behavior that improves individuals chance to reproduce or protect its own offspring regardless of impact on population Altruism: self-sacrificing behavior, individual behaves in a way that helps others in population but reduces own chance of producing offspring

49.4 Communication Signals Communication signals: unambiguous cues sent and received among individuals of a species, involving instinctive and learned forms of behavior (chemical, acoustical, and visual cues are most common) Composite signal: signals that contain information that is encoded in two or more cues Signals evolve/persist in a population when they promote reproductive success of both sender and receiver Communication display: a pattern of behavior that is a social signal

49.5 Mates, Offspring, and Reproductive Success Sexual selection: competition among members of one sex for access to mates, choosiness in selecting a mate Females usually require quality of a mate more than quantity, while a males success is based on how many eggs he can fertilize Lek: communal display ground for mating Females choose mates based on many factors, but they usually coincide with males ability to provide for female If females fight for males, they usually help parent in some way About 5 percent of mammals have males that help with parenting

49.6 Costs and Benefits of Social Groups Benefits include early warning systems, group counterattack, or other more effective defenses Weak individuals benefit from combined numbers and defenses Selfish heard: simple society that benefits their reproductive self-interest Many predators such as wolves and lions cooperate socially in the hunt for prey The success rate per predator in a social hunting group however, falls as more animals join in and must share, therefore the hunt alone does not explain benefits of this social predatory nature Many social groups share resources unequally among subordinate individuals Costs of social groups include: competition for share of resources, large groups attract more predators, parasites, and mating competition

49.7 Why Sacrifice Yourself? Social insects like honeybees stay together for generations with divisions of labor and sterile majorities that care for fertile minorities Vertebrates are not know for sterility and extreme self-sacrifice like insects, an exception is the naked mole-rat

Both types of eusocial animals have specialized jobs such as food gathering, digging, protection, and mating Inclusive fitness: genes associated with altruism can be favored by selection if they lead to behavior that will increase number of offspring produced by altruists closest relatives

49.8 A Look at Primate Social Behavior Chimps use simple tools like fishing sticks, tools in other groups of chimps are slightly different, young chimps learn by imitating adults Male chimps stay in same group and for strong social bonds, while females interact little with each other Female status is related to how she gets along with males Male chimps hunt cooperatively and attack neighboring groups Males exhibit infanticidal behavior, that may put selection pressure on females for promiscuity

49.9 An Evolutionary View of Human Social Behavior It is possible that hormones such as oxytocin that are stimulated by orgasm, massage, etc, could be perceived as love Some pheromones produce by men are only received by females and vice versa