Behavior

Objectives

• • Understand the evolutionary importance of animal behavior.

  • Distinguish between proximate and ultimate causation and give examples of each.

  • Understand the integration of genetics and neurology with ethology.

  • Differentiate among instincts, non-associative learned and associative learned behaviors.

  • Understand the evolutionary limitations of learning, classical, and operant conditioning.

  • Define imprinting and sensitive phase to explain how behaviors develop.

  • Understand the complications associated with the determination of cognitive behaviors in animals.

  • Explain how information is communicated among group members of non-human and humans. Give some examples to illustrate.

  • Define migration and explain why and how migration patterns change over time.

  • Discuss the concept of the stimulus/response chain as it relates to courtship behaviors. Explain why these behaviors are species specific. Give examples.

  • Understand the genetic basis for behavior among eusocial insect societies.

  • Define behavioral ecology. Understand its association with adaptive significance and fitness.

  • Compare foraging behaviors of generalists and specialists and understand how the optimal foraging theory explains foraging efficiency.

  • Explain the need for territoriality in animals and the economic risks associated with such behavior.

  • Understand the associations between parental investment and mate choice and how these interactions affect the evolution of mating systems.

  • Explain how sexual selection and secondary sexual characteristics affect reproductive competition.

  • Explain how inclusive fitness is related kin selection and under what circumstances it can lead to altruistic behavior.

  • Explain the benefits of engaging in reciprocal altruism

  • Define sociobiology. Cite advantages and disadvantages of living in social groups.

  • Compare the complexity of vertebrate societies with that of eusocial insects. Understand the value of such activities as cooperative breeding and alarm calling in vertebrate societies.