Summary
summary of lecutures in the course "Behavioural Biology" (Migration and dispersal)
- Course
- Institution
summary of all the lectures with exception of the last lecture "human-animal interactions"
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
indylopers
Content preview
Behavioural biology notes7 sin practical is not online → prepare at home the day before the practical
Lecture 1
Chapter 1 - the science of animal behaviour
What is an animal - not that easy
● Multicellular eukaryotic → all cells have a nucleus
○ Not always true, mammalian red bloods cells do not
● Dependent on organic materials
● Breathe, move, nervous system, sensory system
● Have a blastula ! → = hollow sphere of cells during embryonic
environment
Behaviour
● Is internally coordinated, externally visible that respond to changing internal or
external conditions = according to the book
○ internal= information processing
○ External = observable and measurable (to measure is difficult)
● According to professor: behaviour is anything an animal does
other explanations of behaviour
- Ultimate expression of the complexity of an animal
- Integrates physiological and morphological parameters in interaction with the
environment
- Individual behaviours dictate phenomena at higher levels (groups/ populations)
- Quantifiable: behavioural biologist quantify behaviour → motor
patterns
Quantification of behaviour is the most important according to behavioural biologists.
The way you measure behaviour is also important
● Ectogram = formal description of an animal’s behaviour
○ Terms given to behaviour with description which is easily understandable
● Be aware of how you formate things (like stereotypy= no obvious
purpose, but that is not per se true → be critical)
Niko Tinbergen -philosophy of behaviour
● Proximate (how)
○ Development
○ Mechanism
, ● Ultimate (why)
○ Function
○ Evolution
● He defined how behavioural biologist should approach behaviour
Proximate and ultimate is the most important of this chapter
Understand the 7 sins (paper by Millinski) → questions on exam
Chapter 2 - methods for studying animal behaviour
Answering a research question:
Question → hypothesis → testable predictions → quantification behaviour →
statistics → report
- H0: A=B
- H1: A is not B
● Observational method
○ causality is unclear
○ Used to test hypotheses and describe behavioural patterns
● Experimental method
○ direction of causality is clear
○ manipulate animals but think about ethics:
■ Refinement → keep the level of discomfort as low as
possible,
■ replacement→if there is a different model is available (like cill
cultures) do the experiment with that,
■ reduction→the lowest number of animals to get significant data
● Comparative method
○ Mainly for ultimate explanations understand evolution of behaviours
comparing closely related species, ancestral or derived traits
, ○ traits - in the understanding of evolution (relatedness), looking at
integration, physiology ect.
● Modelling
○ Yields testable predictions
○ meta-analysis
You can study animals anywhere you can see behaviour
● The best to study under (semi)natural conditions
● There are always pros and cons
● Standardisation vs real life
● Domesticated species vs wild caught species
“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”
Evolution= change in he (alleles) inherited characteristics of biological populations over
successive generations
3 things you need for evolution to happen:
● Heredity (DNA/RNA, genes)
● Variability (mutations, recombination, gene flow)
● Selection (natural/sexual selections, drift)
Heredity
Individual has a genotype (genetic make-up) and phenotype (selections works on
phenotype, geno- and phenotype interacts on each other and environment is also very
important)
, Maternal and transgenerational effect (non-genetic inheritance)
● No cross- but transgenerational
● Like histone modification or DNA methylation
primoridial cells → are passed on in generation =
epigenetics phenomena
● Individual: genotype x environment
○ gene-environment interaction shape phenotype
○ Phenotype is under selection
Is a treat heritable?
Two things you can do to investigate
● Parent-offspring regression
○ To see if offspring behaviour resembles their
parents → regression line shows correlation
● Selection experiment
○ Artificial selection of individuals for a specific
trait →see if this trait stays over generations
Variability
● Random mutation = new alleles
○ E.g. replication errors, exogenous substances
● Recombination = new allele combination
○ meiosis
● Gene flow = new alleles from different populations (“species”)
● Non-genetic inheritance (parental effects) = phenotypic variation (learning)
● Absence of selection pressures
→ may lead to interesting patterns
Frequency dependent selections: the fitness of a trait depends on its
frequency relative to other phenotypes → two ways (important to know)
● Positive: the fitness increases (drives out other phenotypes as its fitness
increases when it becomes more common)
● Negative: fitness decreases when it becomes more common – maintains
variation
○ Example of fishes → left and right jawed fish, if you are in
majority you do worse
■ The norm is not always 50% can shift a bit
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller indylopers. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $5.89. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
72042 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now