1. 2 immagini e concetti della biologia ambiente e sostenibilità sylvia s. mader

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Immagini e concetti della biologiaAmbiente e sostenibilità

Sylvia S. Mader

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Chapter 2

Behavioralecology

Mader Immagini e concetti della biologia Ambiente e sostenibilitàMateriali prodotti dalla redazione © Zanichelli 2014

4Mader Immagini e concetti della biologia Ambiente e sostenibilitàMateriali prodotti dalla redazione © Zanichelli 2014

Inheritance influences behavior

• Behavior is any action that can be observed and described.

• Lovebird experiments and studies of human twins support the hypothesis that behavior has a genetic basis (nature).


Learning can also influence behavior

• Learning (nurture) causes a durable change in behavior.

• In laughing gull chicks, visual experience and improvement in motor skills affect the development of begging behavior.

• Imprinting is a form of learning that allows baby birds to follow the first moving object they see during a sensitive period.

• Social interactions assist song learning in birds.


Associative learning links behaviorto stimuli /1

• Classical conditioning involves two types of stimuli that occur at the same time (e.g., Pavlov’s dogs).


Associative learning links behaviorto stimuli /2

• In operant conditioning, positive reinforcement is provided for desired behavior.

• Insight learning appears to have occurred when an animal solves a problem without prior experience.

• Habituation has taken place when an animal no longer responds to a repeated stimulus.


Sexual selection can influence matingand other behaviors /1

• Sexual selection refers to adaptive changes in males and females that lead to increased ability to get a mate.

• The good genes hypothesis suggests that females choose mates based on traits that improve survival.

• The runaway hypothesis suggests that females choose mates based on traits that improve male appearance.


Sexual selection can influence matingand other behaviors /2

• Sexual dimorphism means that males and females differ in size and other traits.

• Territoriality includes the behaviors needed to defend a territory.


Sociobiology studies the adaptive valueof societies /1

• Sociobiology applies the principles of evolutionary biology to the study of social behavior.

• Only if benefits (in terms of individual reproductive success) outweigh costs will societies come into existence.

• Group living has both advantages and disadvantages.


Sociobiology studies the adaptive valueof societies /2

• Altruism is a behavior that benefits the reproductive success of another individual, but decreases the reproductive success of the altruist.

• When animals act altruistically, they may beincreasing their own inclusive fitness.


Communication with others involves the senses

• Communication is a signal by a sender that affects the behavior of a receiver.

• Chemical communication involves pheromones.

• Language communication uses sound, including the spoken word, and visual communication, including posturing, body language, or eye contact.

• Tactile communication occurs via touch


Do animals have emotions?

• The body language of certain animals suggests that they do have emotions,and some research backs this up.

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1. 2 immagini e concetti della biologia ambiente e sostenibilità sylvia s. mader

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