Animal Behavior &

Experimental Design
AP Biology
Why are these topics linked together?

 …it’s arbitrary.
 We’re going to use the topic of animal behavior to
explore experimental design (scientific method,
statistics, graphing, etc.).
 Keep in mind, the experimental design practices
we discuss can apply to ALL fields of study in
biology.
Animal Beahvior
 Ethology: study of animal behavior
 Behavior: what an animal does and how it does it
 Innate and learned
Innate Behaviors
 Innate behaviors are behaviors that are genetically inherited.
 Behavior influenced by genes can be selected on by natural
selection, so these behaviors should increase the fitness of an
organism in some way.

 Types of Innate Behaviors

 Instincts/Reflexes
 Fixed Action Patterns (FAP)
 Imprinting
Instincts
 Instinct: complex
behavior an
organism is born
knowing how to
do
 Reflex: automatic
response to a
stimulus
 Circadian Rhythm: internal biological clock

The Suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) region is located in The circadian clock in the hamster brain signals a
the hypothalamus of the brain. The SCN sends signals change in coat color according to season by releasing
throughout the body in response to dark and light. the hormone melatonin.

 More on Clock Genes:

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/inheritance/clockgenes/
Parallel in Plants: Photoperiod
Fixed Action Patterns
 Follow a regular, unvarying pattern
 Initiated by a specific stimulus
 Behavior is usually always carried
out to completion
 Examples:
 Graylag goose and egg rolling
 Male stickleback fish aggression
Imprinting
 An innate program for acquiring a specific behavior
 Requires an appropriate stimulus during the critical period
 Once acquired, the behavior is irreversible
 Examples:
 In the first two days of life, graylag goslings will accept any
moving object as their mother for life. Even a real mother
introduced after the critical period will be rejected
 Salmon hatch in freshwater streams and migrate to the ocean to
eat. When they are ready to mate, they return to their birthplace to
breed, identifying the exact location of the stream. During early
life, they imprint the odors of their birthplace.
Learned Behaviors
 Behaviors acquired through a process of
learning
 Types of Behavioral Learning
 Associative Learning
 Habituation
 Observational Learning
 Insight
Associative Learning
 When an animal learns that two events are connected.
 EX: Dog learns that the smell/sight of food leads to

eating (they will then begin to salivate)

 Types of Associative Learning
 Classical Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
 Spatial Learning
Classical
Conditioning
 A form of A.L. in which
an animal responds to a
substitute stimulus
 Example
 Psychologist Ivan Pavlov found that if after
repeated experiences in which a bell were rung
before a dog was given food, the dog would
salivate when the bell was rung alone
(no food present). Dogs associated the
bell with food.
 Operant
Conditioning
 Also known as trial and error
learning
 Occurs when an animal connects its own
behavior with a particular response.
 This is how we train animals- positive and negative reinforcement.
 Example:
 Psychologist Skinner trained rats to push levers to obtain food or avoid
painful shocks.
 Extinction: when a learned behavior no longer exhibits the
expected response, the learning can be reversed or forgotten
Spatial Learning
 When an animal associates attributes of a
location with the reward it gains by being able
to identify and return to that location
 Tinbergen observed wasps using pinecone
markers to return to their nests. If the markers
were removed, wasps could not find the nest.
Habituation
 It allows an animal to disregard a meaningless
stimuli
 The stimuli in question triggers an innate behavior,
not a learned one (different from extinction)
 Example:
 Sea anemones pull food into their mouths. If they
are stimulated repeatedly with non-food items
(sticks, for example) they will then begin to ignore
the stimulus.
Observational
Learning
 Occurs when animals copy
the behavior of another animal w/o any previous +
reinforcement of the behavior
 Example:
 Japanese monkeys usually remove sand from food by
brushing them with their hands. One monkey discovered that
dipping food in water more easily rid the food of sand.
Through observational learning, many of the other monkeys
began to use water to clean their food.
Insight
 When an animal, exposed to a totally new situation
and without prior experience or observation,
performs a behavior that generates a desirable
outcome.
 Example
 A chimpanzee placed in a
room with food beyond their
reach will stack boxes up to get
to the food.
 Kinds of Behavior

Innate Learned

Imprinting Observational Insight

Instinct Habituation
Learning

Associative
FAP’s Learning

Classical Operant Spatial

Conditioning Conditioning Learning
 Animal Movement
 Kinesis- undirected change in activity level/turning rate of
animal in response to a stimulus.
 Example: when bugs scurry when a rock is lifted.
 Taxis- directed movement towards or away from a stimulus.
 Phototaxis is movement towards light, chemotaxis is towards a
chemical.
 Example: moths fly towards light.
 Migration- long distance, seasonal movements to find food or
better environmental conditions.
 Example: whales, birds, elk, insects, and bats all move to warmer
climates during the winter.
Thermotaxis
 Endotherm: use internally generated heat to maintain body
temperature. Their body temperature tends to stay steady regardless
of environment
 Ectotherm: depend mainly on external heat sources, and their body
temperature changes with the temperature of the environment
• Can regulate temperature through behavior (thermotaxis)
Parallel in the Plant Kingdom
 Tropism: a turning in response to a stimulus
 Phototropism: response to light
 Gravitropism: response to gravity (stems exhibit –
gravitropism, roots exhibit + gravitropism)
 Thigmotropism: response to touch
Animal Communication
 Chemical- pheromones are chemical animals secrete to
communicate.
 Example: ants mark their trail, urine spraying, primer pheromones in
queen bees and termites
 Visual- animals will make displays to show aggression or
courtship.
 Example: Wolves will threaten each other by showing their teeth or
show submission by lying on their backs
 Birds of Paradise
 Auditory- making sounds.
 Example: frog calls, whale songs
 Tactile- touching
 Example: Monkeys will groom each other, wolves will greet dominant
males with a lick
 Social Behaviors
 Agonistic Behaviors- specific
aggressive and submissive
ritualized behaviors that exist to
establish dominance hierarchy but
minimize injury
 Dominance hierarchies- where
there is a pecking order indicating
status and power
 Minimizes fighting for food and mates
 Territoriality- defending an area for
food and/or mating.
Social Behaviors
 Altruism- seemingly unselfish, fitness-lowering behaviors
where an organism helps another animal.
 Usually occurs between relatives. This is called kin selection
 Leads to inclusive fitness (the fitness of the group with similar genes)
 EX: Belding’s ground squirrels give alarm calls when predators are
near. This risks that squirrels safety but protects the group, which not
coincidentally, is made of closely related females
 Geneticist J.B.S. Haldane: “I won’t lay down my life for one brother, but
I would lay down my life for two brothers or eight cousins.”