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ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND ECOLOGY (TYPES OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR (Fixed Action…
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND ECOLOGY
TYPES OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
Fixed Action Pattern
: Pre programmed behavior triggered by stimulus.
Example
:
Stickleback fish
fights back when it sees the color red ( triggered by the color red).
Imprinting
: not learned behavior, but it happens during the critical part of ones life.
Example
:
Goslings
that are raised by the cat and are attached to it, thinking the cat is their biological mother.
Associative Learning
: associate to stimulus with effect ( classical conditioning).
Example
:
Pavlov's experiment
with his
dog
that salivates to food at the sound of the bell.
Trial & Error
: trying our different strategies to get results and settling for the best option ( Operant Conditioning).
Example
:
Crow
and vending machine ( crow uses coins to put into vending machine to get food).
Habituation
: getting used( habituated ) to something, same stimuli over and over again where eventually you ignore it.
Example
: living next to a
train track
.
Observational Learning
: watching another organism and mimicking its behavior.
Example:
Octopus
learning to open jar after observing another octopus in another tank opening a jar.
Innate
: Behavior that is present from the first day onward, one does not have to be taught ( since birth).
Example
:
Sea turtle
babies head to the sea as soon as they are born.
Insight
: (usually seen in more complex animals) problem solving skills. ( knowledge and wisdom)
Example
:
Chimpanzee
in a room with a banana on the top most shelf (provided with a stool) will eventually find a way to get to the banana.
Animal Behavior ( Ethology)
is the interaction ( internal ad external ) of an animal with its surroundings.
The different forms of learning and problem solving also include:
Imprinting
Cognition
Spatial learning
Associative learning
Social learning
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These behaviors have been tested with a technique known as Cross- fostering ( young ones of a particular species are separated and placed under the care of adults from another species)
Motivations for animal behavior
There are four main factors that drive an animals behavior , and they are to:
get food
avoid a predator
find a mate.
raise young-ones.
Foraging
: activities of animal involving food ( capturing, eating, citing ,etc.)
Optimal Foraging Model
: Natural Selection should favor a foraging behavior that minimize the cost of foraging and maximizes the benefits.
Ecology:
scientific study of the interactions( coexisting) of organisms among themselves and with the environment. There are 6 major hierarchical fields of ecology.
Population Ecology
: The interaction of
one species
with its environment ( each other and surroundings). This analyzes factors that affect population size the reasons why it changes over time.
Community Ecology
The interaction( such as predation, competition) of
multiple species
( populations) in a specific area.
Ecosystem Ecology
: Interactions between
multiple communities , species, and environmental factors
( energy flow and chemical cycling).
Landscape Ecology
: Interactions between
multiple ecosystems
( controls factors such as exchanges of energy, materials, and organisms across multiple ecosystems).
Global Ecology
: The interactions of all the above ecosystems on a
global scale
meaning it includes everything.
Organismal Ecology
: one
single organism
and its interactions ( physiological, behavioral, and evolutionary aspects) with its environment( surroundings).
Factors that influence the different environments across the planet include:
Coriolis effect
: This is caused by the rise and fall of air currents resulting in the turning patterns of the earth which causes circular patters.
Example
- when two air currents hit ( or bump) a storm arises.
Rain-shadow effect
: When a mountain or a barrier as such causes prevailing winds from a nearby water-body to have less precipitation then the other side gets lesser and dry winds causing that land to be like desserts.
Example
- Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains.
3.
Tilt of earth
: The exact tilt of the earth is 23.5 degrees off perpendicular to the sun. If the tilt of the earth is closer to the sun( not equator anymore, and the north is warmer and south is cooler) 23.5 degrees north latitude then it is called Winter Solstice ( approximately December 21) . And when the earth is tilted towards the sun the north gets cooler and the south gets warmer and is called Summer Solstice- June 21 ( approximately). When the earth is tilted perpendicular to the sun the March and September Equinox occurs.
weather
: changes from day to day.
Climate
: Consistent conditions and is for a long term.
Example
- The climate of Texas is hot summers.
Macro climate & Micro climate
: Macro climate is the huge changes such as water bodies, changing angle of sun, etc., that affect climate. Micro climate is the small scale changes by the abiotic factors ( small areas) in the climate.
Temperature
: a way to measure heat.
7.
Precipitation
: a substance that is precipitated( given out) from a solution.
Example
- rain, snow, etc.
Wind
: The natural movement or air-currents and air flow caused by air pressure and rotation of the earth. Winds always go from high to low and the prevailing winds flow toward the equator.
Doldrums
: areas that flow right along the equator ( no wind- usually where ships get stuck).
Trade winds
: When the earth is rotating ( counter clock wise - from birds eye view) east , it feels like the winds are blowing westward.
Westerlies & Easterlies
: Westerlies are trade winds and they blow east because they come from the west, and the Easterlies are the winds that blow towards the equator from the poles.
Ecotone
: area where biomes overlap.
amount of sunlight
Latitudes:
The distance measured with imaginary lines that go east and west around the earth ( Equator- 0 degrees, Tropic of Cancer, Capricorn - 23.26 degrees, etc)
Longitudes
: the lines that go up and down through the poles ,and the latitudes and longitudes help determine the locations on the earth. ( Example- Greenwich -180 degrees)
Dry air comes down and warms up hte surface making the moisture gt sucked up around 30 degrees North and South of the equator ( because of the air currents) , and then somewhere around the 30 degrees the air starts to come back down in a circular pattern of air flow causing a rise and fall in air flow on the earth. When the air goes up it cools down temperature and as a result affects the solubility of gases. When the air is cold-it golds less water , and when water rises the air becomes warm causing rainfall ( tropical rain forests).
Mating Behavior and Mate choice
Mating systems in sexual dimporphism, parental care and mate choice are influenced by:
1.
monogamous
( one male and one female for quite a while),
example-
Western Gulls
.
Polygamous
( one individual of one sex mating with several different of the other: (
polygyny
- one male, multiple females (
example
- Elk) , and
polyandry
- one female and multiple males, (
example
- red-necked phalaropes)).
3.
parental care
( mostly for external fertilization) involves the parents active participation in nurturing their young ones till they are ready to take care of them selves and also help continue their species.
Example
- Male Jaw fish
Mate choice
of females plays a central role in the behavior and anatomy of males through inter-sexual selection. The choice can also be influenced by imprinting(
example
- Zebra Finch Chicks).
Mate Choice copying
a behavior in which individuals in a population copy the mate choice of others.
Example
- Guppies ( females).
Game theory
: in an evolutionary perspective, the fitness of a particular behavioral phenotype is influenced by other behavioral phenotypes in the popluation.
Genetic Analysis and Inclusive fitness
Within the underlying hierarchy, multiple genes influence specific behaviors.
Research shows that variation in a single gene can show differences in complex behaviors both in mating and parental care.
Genetic studies have revealed the existence of some pretty good regulatory genes that control complex behaviors .
Evolutionary traits pop up when behavioral variations within a species correlates with variation in environmental conditions.
According to research migration of animals is a behavioral trait that is driven by search ( and availability )of food.
Altruism:
behavior that reduces an animals individual fitness but increases the fitness of other individuals in the population. This can be explained further by he concept of inclusive fitness.
Inclusive Fitness
: The total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing its won off springs and by providing aid that enables close relatives to produce of springs.
The Coefficient of relatedness
and
Hamilton's rule
are a way to measure the strength of the selective forces favoring altruism against the potential cost of the selfless behavior.
Kin selection
promotes reproductive success of relative and favors altruism.
Population Density and Dispersion
The
density
of a population is the number of individuals per unit area or volume. Example- the number of Escherichia coli per millimeter in a test tube.
Dispersion
: the pattern of spacing among individuals within the boundaries of the population.
Population
: a groups of individuals of a single species living in the same general area.
Demographics:
the study of population change and different characteristics over time. The basic factors that affect population growth include births, deaths, immigration and emigration.
Terrestrial Biomes
include the following
Tropical Forest
: Occur in equatorial and sub equatorial regions with highly seasonal rain forests and dry forests with a 6-7 month dry season.
Temperature is high
all year round with little seasonal variation ( 25-29 degrees Celsius).
Vegetation
: Canopy ( trees grow above here as competition for light is intense) , shrubs, herbs, broad leaf evergreen trees ( dominant tropical rain forests), trees that drop their leaves in dry season appear in dry forests, epiphytes ( Bromeliads, orchids ) are seen in mostly on tropical rain forests, and dry forests also have succulents,and thorny shrubs.
Animals
: So many species that are yet to be discovered, and other species include spiders, insects, arthropods. The animal diversity is the highest here, and also includes reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.
Human Impact
: Densely populated and growing agricultural fields is destroying the tropical forests.
Desert:
Occur in bands near 30 degrees north and south of the latitudes in the interior of continents.
Example
- Gobi desert of North Central Asia.
Air temperature is variable seasonally and daily .
Hot deserts
( 50 degrees Celsius) ,and
Cold Deserts
( -30 degrees) are present.
Vegetation
: Succulents ( Cacti, euphorbs, deeply rooted shrubs, herbs that grow during the infrequent moist periods. Adaptations of these plants include water storage, reduced leaf surface area, and tolerance to heat. The leaves, and stems are modified to spines, etc to chemical defense in leaves to protect against grazing animals. C4 or CAM photosynthesis ( adaptation to arid conditions- Crassulacean acid metabolism ).
Animals
: Snakes, Lizards, Scorpions, ants, Beetles, Migratory and resident birds, seed-eating rodents. Species are nocturnal , and water conservation is a common adaptation.
Human Impact
: Sparsely populated , and urbanization and irrigation for agriculture have reduced natural biodiversity of some deserts.
Savannah
: Occurs in Equatorial and Sub equatorial regions( mostly dry season, with seasonal rainfall).
Summers
warm all year round ( 24-29 degrees Celsius).
Vegetation
: Trees are thorny, have small leaves, and are all adaptations to dry climate. Fires are common, and hence the plants are fire adapted and also tolerant to seasonal droughts. Grasses and forbs cover most of the ground area.
Animals
: Large plant eating animals ( Wildebeests, Zebras, Lions, Hyenas. Insects are the dominant herbivores, and during droughts large animals migrate to the Savannah with food and scattered watering holes.
4.
Human Impact
: Evidence of early human population is seen. Forest fire set by humans helps maintain the biome though over firing can cause burning out of the saplings and seedlings. Cattle ranching and over hunting caused a decline in the large mammal population.
Chaparral
: Seen mostly in coastal regions on continents.
Example
- Fynbos in South Africa.
Summers
( dry) reach 30-30 degrees Celsius,
Winters( rainy), Fall and Spring
have a temperature of 10-12 degrees Celsius.
Vegetation
: Shrubs, small trees, grasses and herbs are dominant. High plant diversity in a small geographic area. Adaptation to drought include evergreen trees ( leaves), Adaptation to fires are also present ( some shrubs produce seed that will grow only after fire, and some have food reserved in roots that will re sprout and also use nutrients from the fire.
Animals: Browsers ( deer, goats), small mammals, amphibians, birds, insects, and other reptiles.
Human Impact:
Densely populated and is taken over by agriculture and urbanization, in fact, one of the reason for fires is humans.
Temperate Grasslands
: Veldts( South Africa), Puszta ( Hungary), Prairies ( Central North America) , etc, are example of the treeless grasslands.
1.
Summers
are dry( 30 degrees Celsius hot), and Winters are cold (-10 degrees Celsius).
Vegetation:
Grasses ( dominant) forbs, these grasses can adapt to survive periodic droughts, and fire. Grazing by large animals help prevent establishment of woody shrubs and trees.
Animals
: Bison, Wild horses, Burrowing animals ( prairie dogs).
Human Impact
: hot bed for agriculture ( especially grains) , most of these lands have been converted to farmlands, and some regions ave been turned into deserts by cattle and other grazers.
Northern Coniferous Forest
( Taiga): Covers areas of North America and Eurasia has coniferous forests, droughts are common, some regions have rain forests, and is the largest terrestrial biome on earth.
1.
Summers
usually hot and can be 20 degrees Celsius, and
Winters
are cold and can be -50 degrees Celsius.
Vegetation
: Coniferous forests ( dominant), pine, spruce, fir, hemlock ( some depend on fire to regenerate) , Mostly shrubs, and herb layered forests.
Animals
: Migratory birds, moose, brown bear, Siberian tigers, insects ( that feed on the vegetation).
Human Impact
: Not very densely populated, but the coniferous forest are slowly disappearing by logging.
Temperate Broad-leaf Forest
: Found in mid latitudes 9 Northern Hemisphere - Chile, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand).
Summers
( 35 degrees Celsius) include rain and
winters
( 0 degrees Celsius) snow.
Vegetation
: Canopy, under-story trees, a shrub layer, herb layer, epiphytes, deciduous trees- leaves fall before winter ( dominant), In Australia ( Eucalyptus trees are dominant).
Animals
: Many mammals hibernate in winter, birds migrate to warmer climates, insects are also present.
Human Impact:
Densely populated on all continents, and due to deforestation, agricultural purposes, etc the deciduous forests in North America have been cleared out.
Tundra
: Covers the Arctic region ( poles) which is 20% of the earths land. There is a high range of winds and low temperature which keeps the climate constant and the area has similar plant communities ( Alpine Tundra) on very high mountain tops at all latitudes including the tropics ( Mexico).
1.
Winters
are -30 degrees Celsius, and
summers
are 10 degrees Celsius.
Vegetation
is mostly herbaceous ( mosses, grasses, forbs, dwarf shrubs, trees, and lichens). Permafrost ( permanently frozen layer of soil restricts the growth of plant root.
Animals
: Large grazing Musk Oxen, Caribou, Reindeer, Bears, Wolves, Foxes, Birds ( migrate to tundra regions for nesting during summer).
Human Impact
: Thinly populated , but has become a cite for mineral and oil extraction.
Aquatic Biomes
include the following
Lakes:
Standing water bodies ( from ponds to lakes). stratification is due to decrease in light with increase in depth, seasonal thermocline as seen seasonally.
Salinity of oxygen and nutrients vary largely.
Oligotrophic Lakes
include nutrient poor and generally oxygen rich , and decomposable organic matter is low in sediments. The
Eutrophic lakes
consist of nutrient rich and depleted oxygen in the deepest zone in summer ( and if covered with ice in winter), also has a high rate of decomposition causing periodic oxygen depletion.
Oligotrophic lakes have a high chance of becoming Eutrophic lakes because of runoff sediments and nutrients.
Photosynthetic producers include rooted and floating aquatic plants that live in the littoral zone the shallow well lit waters close to shore, farther from he shore where water is too deep to support rooted aquatic plants the limnetic zone has a variety of phyto-plankton and cyanobacteria.
Heterotrophs
include zoo- plankton, invertebrates, fish.
Human Impact
: Runoffs, and waste disposal can lead to nutrient buildup and can cause algal blooms, oxygen depletion and death of aquatic creatures.
Wetlands:
Water bodies that are inundated st all times and can flood at times too. They support plants that are adapted to water-saturated soil.
Oxygen content is
low
because of organic production and decomposition by plants and microbes. They have a high capacity to dissolve nutrients and chemical pollutants.
Shallow basins, periodically flooded banks, and also freshwater and marine biomes are observed here.
Photosynthetic producers include floating pond lilies, emergent cattails, many sedges,bald cypress, black spruce, woody plants dominate swamps, and sphagnum mosses dominate bogs.
Heterotrophs include invertebrates, birds, herbivores, crustaceans, aquatic insect larvae, muskrats, dragonflies, otters, frogs, alligators, and herons.
Human Impact: Draining and flooding have destroyed 90 % of wetlands.
Streams and Rivers
: Streams and rivers are characterized by the volume of their flow, Head water
streams
are cold, clear, turbulent and swift ,
rivers
are warmer and turbid ( sediment).
Streams are generally very rich in oxygen and also rivers except for ares where organize enrichment taken place ( from forested streams).
Rocky bottom ( streams) , silty form sediment deposit( river bottoms).
Phyto-plankton and rooted aquatic plants are the producers here.
4.
Heterotrophs
include fish, invertebrates.
Human Impact
: Municipal , agricultural, industrial pollution, damming, and floods effect the zones harshly.
Estuaries:
Transition between river and sea. During rising tide the sea water flows up to the river and comes back down during falling tide. High density sea water occupies the bottom of the channel and mixes little with the lower density river water at the surface.
Nutrients from the river make estuaries like wetlands the most productive biomes, and
salinity also varies
from sea water to sea water.
Network of tidal channels, islands, natural levees and mudflats are all made from
water and sediments
.
Salt-marsh grasses, algae, and phyto-plankton are the major photosynthetic producers.
Heterotrophs
include worms, oysters, crabs, fish, waterfowl, marine mammals.
Human Impact
: Filling, dredging, and pollution from upstream have disrupted estuaries worldwide.
Inter-tidal Zones:
periodically submerged, and exposed by the tides twice a day. Upper and lower inter-tidal zones have changes that limit the distributions of many organisms to particular strata.
Oxygen and nutrient levels are generally
high
and are renewed with turnovers. The substrate are
rocky or sandy
based on the anatomy of the organisms present there.
Algae and sea grass
help in photosynthesis.
4.
Heterotrophs
include worms, clams, predatory crustaceans, sponges, sea anemones, echinoderms, and small fish. Based on the inter-tidal zone ( muddy, sandy, etc) the organisms are present in the area.
5.
Human Impact
: Oil pollution, construction of rock walls, and barriers to reduce soil erosion from waves and storms effected the zone horribly.
Oceanic Pelagic Zone:
Consists of a vast realm of open blue water constantly mixed with water currents, and the photic zone extends to a greater depth than in coastal marine waters.
Oxygen
levels are generally high to support life, but
nutrient
concentrations are lowers in coastal waters. Turnover between fall and spring renews nutrients in the photic zones of temperate and high latitude ocean areas.
70 % of the earths surface is covered by this biome.
Dominant photosynthetic organisms are
phyto-plankton
and
photosynthetic bacteria
( becasue of the large areas cover globally , they are the highest producers of photosynthesis).
Heterotrophs include Zoo-plankton ( protists, worms, copepods, shrimp-like krill, jellies, invertebrates, fish, squids, sea turtles, and marine animals.
5.
Human Impact
: Over fishing and waste dumping have depleted oceans severely.
Coral Reefs
: Major formations result from the calcium carbonate skeletons of corals ( mostly in photic zone of the sub tropical marine environments with high water clarity, near islands, along edge of some continents. Temperature sensitive ( below 18-20 degrees Celsius and above 30 degrees Celsius).
Oxygen and nutrient
levels are quite high because of the rich diversity of life that it supports.
Requires a solid substrate for attachment and begins as a
fringing reef
and grows to be an offshore
barrier reef
then becomes a
coral allot
s the older island submerges.
Photosynthesis is done by the
red and green algae
growing on the reef.
The heterotrophs consist of a diversity in cnidarians, fish , invertebrates.
Human Impact
: Collection of coral skeletons, reef fishing, global warming and mangrove aquaculture have reduced or effected the general norm of the coral reeves.
Marine Benthic Zone
: The floor of the water body. Except for the shallow near coastal areas the Marine benthic zone receives no sunlight , water pressure increases with decrease in temperature ( with depth).
Oxygen
is usually sufficiently present to sustain life ( other than in organic enrichment areas).
Soft sediments
cover most of the region, as well as
rocky substrate
on reefs, submarine mountains, and new oceanic crusts.
Phototrophs
consist of Algae and seaweed ( usually in shallow benthic zones.
Deep sea hydro-thermal vents
are present in the mid oceanic ridges ( food producers here are
chemo autotrophs - Hydrogen sulfide
is oxidized to gain energy.
Heterotrophs
include: invertebrates, fishes, ( neritic communities),
Photic
zone organisms thrive on the phototrophs, and the
aphotic
zone organisms thrive on the organic matter raining from above. Giant tube worms, echinoderms, and arthropods are also present.
Humans Impact
: Dumping of oxygen waste and over fishing have effected these benthic regions.
Models of Population Growth
Exponential growth
: The rate of growth as population increases ( more people then more babies)
Linear growth
: Adding to he population and growth rate.
carrying capacity
: maximum population size the environment can support.
Logistic growth
levels off as the population size approaches the carrying capacity.
semelparous
(organism reproduce once and die)
Iteroparous
( organism reproduces offsprings repeatedly)
K- selection:
- density dispersion population
r- selection
: density independent selection.
Factors that affect the population growth
There are 6 factors that affect population growth and they are the density dependent regulation mechanisms.
Competition fro resources- unless you find or replace the resources ( food, land, jobs, housing, etc) there will be more fierce competition.
Diseases- contagious have adverse effects.
Predation- population increase and predators also increase.
Territoriality- build the wall, separate personal space required.
Intrinsic factors- aggressive interaction within species.
Toxic wastes- pollution
Human Population growth
rapidly started to increase during the 1900's until the discovery of antibiotics ( Penicillin)
Ecological foot print
: all the resources we use that is land, mines, petroleum, etc. It is growing.
Population explosion is casing huge effects that need to be addressed by coming up with more effective strategies to sustain all the people. Or go back to the industrial way of living ( farms, grow own food) , many people might not be able to make it in the future.
Human popluation is reaching a billion ore every 12 years.
Carbon Cycle
: The oragnism eats the carbon based food ( plant or animal) --> breathing out--> goes to the air ( also burning fossil fuel- increases carbon dioxide) --> is picked up by plants---> is converted to oxygen through photosynthesis---> is used to make sugars---> then the an organism eats the plant---> the cycle continues.
Global Warming
: Cow burps ( methane)
Deforestation:
really effecting the climate change , but is only one of the many factors contributing to the drastic climate change
Coal and resource mining ( natural gas), are another concern for climate change.
Abiotic
: non living factors.
Biotic
: Living things.
Biomes
: Major earths life zones characterized by vegetation type ( precipitation, light, temperature, etc) in terrestrial biomes and aquatic biomes.
Example
- Desert vs. Rain forest
Canopy
: heights from the ground can also cause major changes in biomes, in such situations. Example- CostaRica- up in the tree there is a whole different community ecology ( animals, plants, vegetation, etc) that never touched the ground,and down under the canopy it is completely different from the one is the air.
Climograph
: a plot of the annual mean temperature and precipitation in a particular region ( shows distribution of major terrestrial biomes).
Disturbance
: calamities such as a storm, fire, or human indulgence that changes a community removing organisms from it and altering resource availability.