Behavior 2019 DSF &acidic
Behavior 2019 DSF &acidic
Behavior 2019 DSF &acidic
Innate behavior suits species that have short lifespans – they don’t have
Behavior
time to learn behaviours
Suits species with no parental care/solitary lifestyles as they can’t learn
Is the outwardly expressed course of action produced in an organism in behaviours from other members of the species
response to stimulus from a given situation. It does not make enormous demands from the higher centers of the
nervous system hence it places economy on nerve pathways.
It modifies the relationship between the organism and its environment.
CATEGORIES OF INNATE BEHAVIOUR
Adaptive significance of behavior 1. Reflex:
This is an involuntary stereotyped response of part of an organism to a
To perpetuate the organism in terms of survival and reproduction. given stimulus.
It is a simple, automatic response of a body to a stimulus that involves no
Ethology: is the scientific study of animal behavior, particularly when that
conscious control e.g. Pull hand away from hot surface, baby feeding,
behaviour occurs in the context of an animal’s natural environment.
horse tail swatting at flies.
They are determined by the inheritance of specific patterns of neurons
TYPES OF BEHAVIOR
forming cranial and spinal reflexes.
1. Innate / instinctive behaviour: natural, inborn patterns of behaviour e.g.
suckling in newborns. Neurons are concerned with flexion or stretch.
2. Learned behaviour: behaviour acquired through experience / practice. Flexion responses code for withdraw whilst stretch responses code for
balance and posture.
INNATE BEHAVIOR There may be an overlap of innate and learned behavior when the brain
Natural, inborn behaviour that is genetically programmed hence inherited. modifies reflexes according to circumstances. These are called
It includes; orientation (kinesis and taxism), simple reflexes and instincts conditioned reflexes e. g. blinking the eye in response to sudden
Characteristics of innate behavior. movement.
It is inherited not acquired
It is similar among members of a species though slight differences occur 2. Orientation behaviors
between males and females. These are coordinated movements (walking, flying, swimming, etc.) that occur in
response to an external stimulus. These behaviors have adaptive value for survival
It is sequential, the completion of one activity results in start of another.
by helping the insect locate (or avoid) the source of a stimulus.
It is unintelligent, the individual does not know the purpose of the
behavior
a. Kinesis:
Note:
This is a non-directional orientation behavior where the rate of movement is
1. Since innate behavior is encoded in DNA, it is subject to genetic change
directly proportional to the intensity of a stimulus.
through mutation, recombination, and natural selection.
Example: Woodlice move around rapidly and randomly when exposed to light
2. Just like physical traits, innate behaviors are phylogenetic adaptations that have
until they find better conditions then they stop moving or move slowly.
an evolutionary history.
b. Taxis:
Advantages of innate behaviour
This is a directional movement of a whole organism in response to an external
Innate responses are generally rapid – organisms can react quickly to directional stimulus. If the movement is towards the stimulus, it is positive, if it
their environments (predators etc.) e.g. the earth worm quickly / rapidly is away from the stimulus it is negative. Some orientations involve maintain a
withdraws into its burrow, away from the danger.
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Behavior in Animals Advanced Level Biology Notes By ROGERS Male 0774129440 & Dongo Shema Fredrick 0782642338
dorsal light reaction in which the dorsal side is usually uppermost e.g. in fish such awakening. These stimuli determine the animal’s state of responsiveness. e.g.
as Plaice. being hungry
Example: Terminating stimulus
Fly maggots move away from light sources (negative photo taxis) Is an internal or external stimulus that terminates a behavioral response. For
Direction of stimulus is detected by moving the head which bears the major example; a visual stimulus of a completed nest will terminate nest building. The
sensory organs. This enables symmetrically placed receptors on the head to detect internal satiety of a full stomach will terminate feeding. Also internal satiety
stimulus. It is called klinotaxic response. accompanying ejaculation terminates mating.
Describe an experiment to demonstrate orientation behavior in animals. Continuity of behavior is upon the presence of such stimulus.
Classification of responses in case of interruption of the fixed action pattern
DISPLACEMENT ACTIVITY
INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOR (Fixed Action An irrelevant activity produced by an excess of one or more conflicting drives in
an organism.
Patterns) Displacement activities occur when an animal experiences high motivation for two
or more conflicting behaviors, the resulting displacement activity is usually
This is a collection of complex, inborn, stereotyped behavior patterns of unrelated/ irrelevant/ out of context to the competing motivations
immediate survival value to the animal, produced in response to sudden changes in Examples
the environment. Birds may peck at grass when uncertain whether to attack or flee from an
They are unique to a species and hence are called species characteristic opponent.
behavior. A human may scratch his or her head when they do not know which of
Its more common in insects and in vertebrates two options to choose.
It’s a neuronal economy measure; providing organisms with already A bird may pick up nesting material from the ground and throw it away
made set of behavioral responses. on being disturbed from the nest.
The already made responses undergo natural selection and confer Sticklebacks suddenly dig in the vertical position during a boundary
survival significance. clash.
The animal performs such behavior without a period of learning. Walking up and down when stressed.
VACUUM ACTIVITY
Types of stimuli This is a type of displacement activity in which an animal with motivation to
perform a behavior but deprived of its appropriate releaser performs in the wrong
situation performed without apparent need or stimuli.
Releasers/ sign stimulus
Examples
These are simple stimuli or sequence of stimuli produced by a member of a
Even if there are no insects, a bird snaps at imaginary insects in the air,
species which evokes a behavioral response in another member of the same
no reason to do so but just exercising instinctive action pattern.
species. These stimuli elicit particular responses when the animal encounters them
Domestic squirrel raised in a metal cage will go through the entire
e.g. sight of food
sequence of nut-burying activities as if it were in the bush.
Motivational stimulus Birds deprived of a mate will display to an inanimate object such as a
Provide the goal or drive to prepare the organism for activity. For example, a bucket
depleted food reserve in the body during hibernation prepares the body for
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Behavior in Animals Advanced Level Biology Notes By ROGERS Male 0774129440 & Dongo Shema Fredrick 0782642338
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Behavior in Animals Advanced Level Biology Notes By ROGERS Male 0774129440 & Dongo Shema Fredrick 0782642338
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Behavior in Animals Advanced Level Biology Notes By ROGERS Male 0774129440 & Dongo Shema Fredrick 0782642338
The ability to form a dominance hierarchy is innate, but the position each animal
assumes may be learned.
The term pecking order comes from a dominance hierarchy that is formed by
chickens. The top-ranking chicken can peck any other chicken. The chicken
lowest in the hierarchy is pecked at by all the other chickens in the group.
Features of dominance hierarchies
individuals carry out specific roles in the society
there are pecking orders; there is a chain of command in the colony
Position in the hierarchy is determined by the level of agonistic behavior,
size, strength and aggressiveness.
Highly determined by ability of an individual to learn and recognize
those in higher ranks of the hierarchy
Levels of testosterone or estrogens determines order in the hierarchy
SOCIAL ORGANISATION IN BEES
Roles are unchangeable among members of a group due to genetic How waggle dance is performed
differences conferring differences in body structure- polymorphism A bee that performs a waggle dance runs straight ahead for a short
giving rise to queens, drones and workers. distance, returns in a semicircle to the starting point, runs again through
Organization is based on a caste system. the straight course, then makes a semicircle in the opposite direction to
Perform dances as visual orientations for communication. complete a full figure-eight circuit.
Grooming and licking activities are in form trophallaxes transmitting While running the straight-line course of the dance, the bee’s body,
chemical odors and pheromones. especially the abdomen, wags vigorously from side to side.
Honey bee dancing is performed by a worker bee that has returned to the honey The duration of the waggle phase is proportional to the distance from the
comb with pollen or nectar, informing other workers about both the distance and food source (1 second = 1 Km).
direction where the food is. The orientation of the dancing bee during the straight portion of her
1. Round dance: Communicates only distance from the food source (less than 50 waggle dance indicates the location of the food source relative to the sun.
meters from the hive). It involves running around in narrow circles, suddenly The angle that the bee adopts, relative to vertical, represents the angle to
reversing direction to her original course. the flowers relative to the direction of the sun outside the hive.
2. Sickle dance: Communicates only distance from the food source (between 50 Importance of dominance hierarchy
and 150 meters from the hive). This dance is crescent-shaped and represents a Reduces aggression associated with feeding, mate selection and breeding
transitional dance between the round dance and a waggle dance. site selection.
3. Waggle dance (wag-tail dance): Communicates both distance and direction. Is established order and stability
performed by bees foraging at food sources that are more than 150 meters from Influences resources among population (
the hive. Avoiding injury of animals due to fighting in order to establish a
Round dance Sickle dance Waggle dance hierarchy.
Subordinate remains to obtain food, avoid predators, chance to mate
Increasing genetic vigor by ensuring that the strongest and genetically
fittest have a reproductive advantage.
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Behavior in Animals Advanced Level Biology Notes By ROGERS Male 0774129440 & Dongo Shema Fredrick 0782642338
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Behavior in Animals Advanced Level Biology Notes By ROGERS Male 0774129440 & Dongo Shema Fredrick 0782642338
Group hunters can catch larger prey than individual animals can, and animals foraging TYPES OF LEARNED BEHAVIOUR
might find spots where food is plentiful and all members of the group benefit rather than
1. Habituation: is learning to “ignore” stimuli that are not important, irrelevant,
wasting time fighting over it.
Groups can defend territories more efficiently than individuals can, and living in a group or repetitive e.g. after sometime, birds learn to ignore a scare crow that is
also provides better access to mates. positioned in one position of the garden.
There are also drawbacks to living in a group. Significance of habituation
Groups may attract predators or attacks by other animals because of scents or noises.
Helping young animals to understand neutral elements of their
Animals living in groups also spread disease more easily than animals living on their own.
environment.
LEARNED (INDIVIDUAL SPECIFIC) BEHAVIOR Economy of neuronal pathways and energy to other beneficial elements
Learning: adaptive change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience / of the environment.
practice.
Learned behavior: behavior acquired through previous experience / practice. 2. Associative learning: any learning process in which a new response becomes
associated with a particular stimulus.
COMPARISON OF INNATE BEHAVIOUR AND LEARNED BEHAVIOUR Two types of associative learning
(a) Classical Conditioning: A process in which an animal learns to associate a
previously neutral stimulus with a behavior once triggered by a different stimulus
INNATE BEHAVIOUR LEARNED BEHAVIOUR
Honey bees learn to associate floral colors and fragrances with the
1. Heritable - encoded in DNA and 1. Non-heritable - acquired only
presence of nectar.
passed from generation to generation through observation or experience
Pavlov’s Dogs salivated on hearing the sound of a bell in expectation of
2. Intrinsic - present in animals raised 2. Extrinsic - absent in animals raised
food, yet initially it was the food smell that stimulated salivation.
in isolation from others in isolation from others
Pavlov on the control of salivation in dogs
3. Stereotyped - performed in the 3. Permutable - pattern or sequence
He noted that when presented with the sight and smell of food, the dogs
same way each time by each may change among individuals of a
began to salivate in preparation of eating.
individual of a species species
Pavlov began to ring a bell each time the dog was shown their food.
4. Inflexible - not modified by 4. flexible - capable of modification to
After a while he found dogs salivated when the bell was rung, regardless
development or experience suit changing conditions
of whether food was present.
5. Consummate - fully developed or 5. Progressive - subject to
expressed at first performance improvement or refinement through
(b) Operant conditioning (Instrumental learning / ‘Trial-and-Error’
6. Unintelligent and automatic; the practice
learning):
animal does not appreciate the 6. Intelligent; the animal appreciates
A form of adaptive learning in which an animal learns to carry out a particular
importance of the behavior the importance of the behavior.
action in order to receive a reward or avoid an unpleasant experience.
Reinforcement is in related to behavior not reward or punishment.
Advantages of learned behaviour
In Skinners box, rats learnt to press a lever in order to obtain food.
Flexible
Cockroaches learning to run through a simple maze to find food.
Benefits animals with longer life spans and so there is time to learn
Skinner’s work on pigeons / rats
Benefits animals with an element of parental care of the young; which
Trained rats and pigeons to press a leaver in order to obtain food.
involves learning from the parent
Certain motor-output responses generated e.g. running around, resting,
Benefits animals that live with other members of the species for at least a
pressing leaver.
time e.g. in herds & packs
After training the subject will show the conditioned response (e.g.
pressing the leaver) if the response-unconditioned stimulus (a food
Note: The responses of learnt behaviour are adapted to the environment.
reward) association has been memorized.
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Behavior in Animals Advanced Level Biology Notes By ROGERS Male 0774129440 & Dongo Shema Fredrick 0782642338
Significance of conditioning They can alter sensitivity of peripheral receptors e.g. male
Emphasizes the importance of learning from the environment hormones in rats; increase sensitivity of the penis.
Extinguishes or promotes behavior by reward or punishment
Makes animal behavior predictable and flexible They may suppress or increase the performance of effectors for
example; hormones causing degeneration of muscles.
3. Latent Learning (Exploratory learning): Animals explore new surrounding They directly affect nerve cells and synapses in the central nervous
and learn information that has no apparent value at the time, but may be system by blocking inhibitory pathways or opening up excitatory
remembered and used later when necessity arises because it may mean the pathways
difference between life and death.
Rabbits / rats / mice explore their burrows, which may save them in case
of an emergency.
A sand wasp remembers the pattern of surrounding landmarks to help her
find the nest when she returns. PLANT BEHAVIOR
Worker ants can remember a series of landmarks along a trail and follow Instinctive/innate behaviors of a plant depend mainly on growth or movement in a
them (in reverse order) back home to the nest site. given direction due to changes in their environment e.g. light, gravity, water, air,
A hen uses previous experience to regroup eggs in the nest using wings. touch, etc.
3. Insight learning: The highest form of learning in which an animal Examples of instinctive / innate behavior in plants
applies thinking and reasoning in order to solve problems or deal with Tropisms: Growth movement towards (positive) or away (negative) from the
complex situations without immediate trial and error. stimulus e.g. phototropism, geotropism, hydrotropism, etc.
It is based on information learned from other behavioral Nastism: Non-directional response to stimulus e.g. when touched, folding of
activities. Mimosa pudica leaves (Thigmonasty).
It requires advanced perceptual abilities such as though and Examples
reasoning. (i) Photonasty: response to light (ii) Nyctinasty: movements at night or in the dark
A chimpanzee piles boxes to increase height for reaching hanging sweet (iii) Chemonasty: response to chemicals or nutrients (iv) Hydronasty: response to
bananas which are out of its reach. Experience from playing with the water (v) Thermonasty: response to temperature (vi) Geonasty/gravinasty:
boxes (apparent learning) increased the likelihood of the response. response to gravity (vii) Thigmonasty/seismonasty/haptonasty: response to contact
A child uses stones to hit at mango fruits which are high on the tree.
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Behavior in Animals Advanced Level Biology Notes By ROGERS Male 0774129440 & Dongo Shema Fredrick 0782642338
ii. Imprinting. 6.
iii. Instinctive behavior a. Distinguish between territoriality and a territory as used in
2. behavior.
a. Explain the significance of the following forms of behavior b. Give two examples of animals that commonly display
i. Territorial behavior territorial behavior.
ii. Courtship behavior c. Outline any four advantages of territorial behavior to such
b. Distinguish between learned and instinctive behavior. animals.
3. d. How can territorial behavior be detrimental to a species?
a. Explain the adaptive significance of altruistic behavior. 7. What do you understand by the term fixed action pattern?
b. State two factors that influence instinctive behavior a. Explain the following types of stimulus
4. i. Releasers
a. Using examples, distinguish between displacement activity ii. Motivating stimulus
and vacuum activity. iii. Terminating stimulus
b. What is the importance of the following forms of behavior to b. What is the role of the following in controlling behavior?
the survival of organisms in community? i. Then hypothalamus
i. Territorial behavior ii. Hormones
ii. Courtship behavior 8.
iii. Imprinting a. Distinguish between
iv. Habituation i. kinesis and taxis
v. Associative learning/conditioning ii. conditioned and simple reflex.
c. Give five ways in which animals avoid predation iii. Trophallaxes and dances in eusocial animals
5. b. Describe an experiment you can carry out to demonstrate
a. Differentiate between learned and instinctive behavior. orientation behavior in a named invertebrate.
b. Outline the characteristics of the following forms of innate
behavior
i. Social hierarchies
ii. Agonistic behavior.
c.
i. How may agonistic behavior be detrimental to the
species?
ii. How can the disadvantages of agonistic behavior be
overcome?
d. Distinguish between operant conditioning and classical
conditioning.
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