Summary of chapter 52 from Campbell's Biology — a global approach of the 12th edition.
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52. Behavioural ecology
52.1 DISCRETE SENSORY INPUTS CAN STIMULATE BOTH SIMPLE AND COMPLEX
BEHAVIOURS
A behaviour is an action carried out by muscles under control of the nervous system. It is an
essential part of acquiring nutrients and finding a partner for sexual reproduction. Also contributing
to homeostasis, so in short all of animal physiology contributes to behaviour and it in turn influences
all of physiology.
Many behaviours involved in recognition and communication rely on specialized body structures or
form. The process of natural selection shapes behaviours and influences the evolution of animal
anatomy.
Understanding any behaviour requires answering four essential questions:
1. What stimulus triggers the behaviour and how do the various body systems bring it about?
2. How does the animal’s experience during growth and development influence the response
to the stimulus?
3. How does behaviour aid survival and reproduction?
4. What is the behaviour’s evolutionary history?
The first two questions ask about proximate causation (= how a behaviour occurs or is modified)
while the last two are about ultimate causation (= why a behaviour occurs in the context of natural
selection)
--> ethology = the study of animal behaviour observed in a natural environment
The concept of ultimate causation is central to behavioural ecology (= the study of ecological and
evolutionary basis for animal behaviour)
Fixed action patterns
Territorial responses are examples of fixed action patterns (= a sequence of unlearned acts directly
linked to a simple stimulus). They are essentially unchangeable and once initiated carried out to
completion. The trigger for the behaviour is an external cue called a sign stimulus.
Migration
Environmental stimuli not only trigger behaviours but also provide cues that animals use to carry out
those behaviours. Birds use environmental cues to guide migration (= a regular long-distance change
in location).
Another essential element to migration is using the circadian clock, an internal mechanism that has a
24-hour periodicity.
Behavioural rhythms
Although the circadian clock plays a small role in navigation by some migrating species it has a major
role in the daily activities of all animals. The clock is normally synchronized with the light and dark
cycles of the environment but can maintain rhythmic activity even under constant environmental
conditions --> think hibernation.
Behavioural rhythms linked to the yearly cycle are called circannual rhythms.
Animal signals and communication
A stimulus transmitted from one organism to another is called a signal. The transmission and
, Lenore van Vliet - 2988631
reception of signals between animals constitute communication, which often has a role in the
proximate causation of behaviour.
Modes of animal communication can be:
- visual
- chemical
- tactile
- auditory
The information content of animal communication varies considerably
In some cases a stimulus-response chain is constituted, in which the response to each stimulus is
itself a stimulus for the next behaviour.
Pheromones
Animals that communicate through odors or taste emit chemical substances called pheromones.
Pheromones are especially common among mammals and insects and often relate to reproductive
behaviour in some way.
--> pheromones are not limited to short distance signalling so they can also serve as long
distance alarm signals.
52.2 LEARNING ESTABLISHES SPECIFIC LINKES BETWEEN E XPERIENCE AND BEHAVIOUR
Some behaviours such as a fixed pattern, a courtship stimulus-response chain or pheromone
signalling are performed by all individuals in the same way each time. Behaviour that is
developmentally fixed in this way is known as innate behaviour.
Experience and behaviour
One informative approach to answer whether or not experiences during growth will influence the
development to respond to stimuli is researched in a cross-fostering study in which the young of one
species are placed in the care of the adults from another species in the same or a similar
environment.
The extent to which the offspring’s behaviour changes in such a situation provides a measure of how
the social and physical environment influences behaviour.
The influence of experience on behaviour can be passed on to progeny --> experience during
development can modify physiology in a way that alters parental behaviour and thus extending the
influence of the environment to a subsequent generation.
Learning
One powerful way that animal’s environment can influence its behaviour is through learning (= the
modification of behaviour as a result of specific experiences). The capacity for learning depends on
nervous system organization established during development following the instructions encoded in
the genome.
Learning itself involves the formation of memories by specific changes in neuronal connectivity.
Therefore the essential challenge for research into learning is not to decide between nature ad
nurture but rather to explore the contributions of both nature and nurture in shaping learning and
behaviour.
The ability of offspring to recognize and be recognized by a parent is essential for survival. In the
young this learning often takes the form of imprinting (= the establishment of a long-lasting
behavioural response to a particular individual or object). Imprinting can only take place during a
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