Week 1.1 – introduction to animal behaviour
Course overview:
1. Exam
2. Individual assignment
3. Group assignment; scientific paper from the practicals
Scientific paper: research question always after the conjunction word, often
second sentence (or this is a expectation), and Topic in first sentence.
research question: cannot be too broad (no W’s and H’s). Keep them specific and
narrow.
- Follow the null hypothesis, which is the research question. The alternative
hypothesis is the opposite of the research question.
- Response variable Y: the behaviour you are studying (should be measurable
but can be categorical)
- Explanatory variable X: the factors explaining your behaviour - derived from
research question and prediction.
Introduction: 1.4,5,7 3.2,4,6 4.2,4,6
Behaviour: internally coordinated responses, of whole living organisms, to an
external/ internal stimuli.
Needs to be measurable, emotion are only an expression of behaviour
Changes in gene frequencies:
- Mutation: random accidental shift in gene frequency
- Genetic drift: accidental shift in gene frequency unpredicted (mis) fortune,
reduce genetic variation
- Migration: When organisms join a population and interbreed with residents,
the new generation will exhibit gene frequencies that differ from those in the
original population.
- Natural selection: only mechanism that causes an increase in the frequency
of adaptations
Natural selection: a process that results in increased survival and reproduction
compared to that of competing organisms
- variation, differential reproductive success heredity
- Not guided by anything
1. Directional: original and evolved means close to each other
2. Disruptive: means of population both at extreme
3. Stabilizing: mean is narrow, less variation
Genetic variation: a necessary ingredient of genetic change. a measure of the
variation in phenotype that is due to all variation in genotype.
1. Mutation: change in DNA, the effects are random (beneficial,
detrimental and no consequences). If mutation in DNA in eggs and
sperm can be inherited.
, 2. Gene flow: when organisms move into a population, bringing their
genes with them. In that way, new genes can be introduced and
genetic variation increases.
Additive genetic variation: proportion of genetic variation that is due to
differences among alleles that sum together.
Nonadditive genetic variation: results from interactions between genes and from
gene dominance.
Epistasis: expression of 1 allele, and the others are repressed. Interaction of
genes.
Recombination: occurs when chromosomes from parents line up during gamete
production. Information from one parent switch places with homologous (similar)
from the other parent during meiosis, thus creating new combinations of genetic
traits.
Speciation: formation of species, due to reproductive isolation, causes:
1. Geographic barriers: population split paths due to natural influences
2. Resource shifts: new recourses decrease so will not mate within this
population
3. Mate choice: if female preferences has a genetic basis, eventually 2 gene
pools exist
4. Genetic change: Mutations that prevent proper meiosis can produce
individuals that cannot mate with other members of the population
Evolution: Representation of the traits change in the population, because of
natural selection, which changes the frequency of alleles in a population, over a
certain time.
Natural selection per individual
Fitness: the number of off-spring an organism reproduces, and the frequency of
its genetics.
Function: adaptive fitness, copy mechanism of the animal regarding
behaviour.
Phylogeny: a hypothesis, tree, of the evolutionary relationships among types of
animals, often species.
1. Phylogenies are radiations over evolutionary time, not ladders of
evolutionary progress.
2. anything alive today represents a line that has been subject to natural
selection for as long as the lineage of any other living organism.
3. The places in a phylogeny where branching occurs are called nodes. These
nodes represent the last common ancestor that the organisms in the
branches shared. If organisms share a common ancestor, then they share
characteristics.
Cladistics: is a specific set of logical techniques for developing hypotheses about
phylogenies.
Cladogram: is also an evolutionary “tree,” but it is a welldefined hypothesis
about relationships.
candidate gene: is a gene that has been identified as having a strong possibility
of playing a role in regulating a phenotype.
, Selection on behaviour:
Frequency dependent selection: evolutionary process, by which the fitness of a
phenotype/ genotype depends on the phenotype/genotype composition of a
given population. (0-1, based on slope)
- broad- sense heritability H2 , The proportion of total phenotypic variance in a
population level due to genetic influence/variance. All genetic variation
nature vs. nurture, repeatability
- narrow-sense heritability h2, The proportion of phenotypic variance that can
be attributed to additive genetic variance. Only additive genetic varation.
Predicting off spring, selective
1. additive effects
2. dominance effects
3. epistatic effects
QTL: quantitative trait loci, a gene that contributes, with other genes, to a
phenotype. Because multiple genes contribute to the phenotype, no one gene
“determines” the phenotype.
Proximate levels …. Of behaviour Ultimate levels …. Of behaviour
Immediate cause Functions
Mechanisms Evolution
Development Phylogeny, relations history
The 4 why’s of animal behaviour:
1. evolution
2. ontogeny
3. causation
4. survival value
due to Niko Tinbergen
4 attributes of Tinbergen’s question that frame animal behaviour: mechanism,
development, utility and evolution.
1. Mechanism: what is the cause of a behaviour? Causation
- Animals behaviour responses to its sensory perceptions of the external
environment.
- Is the behaviour different or the same after multiple exposures?
- Test hypothesis: allows us to delve into how behavior is regulated and how
animals make choices about their activities.
2. Ontogeny: how does a behaviour develop?
- Does behaviour change during lifetime?
- To survive and reproduce an animal must change its behaviour through life
- Test hypothesis: learning and physiological development as driving forces in
shaping the behavior of adult animals.
Course overview:
1. Exam
2. Individual assignment
3. Group assignment; scientific paper from the practicals
Scientific paper: research question always after the conjunction word, often
second sentence (or this is a expectation), and Topic in first sentence.
research question: cannot be too broad (no W’s and H’s). Keep them specific and
narrow.
- Follow the null hypothesis, which is the research question. The alternative
hypothesis is the opposite of the research question.
- Response variable Y: the behaviour you are studying (should be measurable
but can be categorical)
- Explanatory variable X: the factors explaining your behaviour - derived from
research question and prediction.
Introduction: 1.4,5,7 3.2,4,6 4.2,4,6
Behaviour: internally coordinated responses, of whole living organisms, to an
external/ internal stimuli.
Needs to be measurable, emotion are only an expression of behaviour
Changes in gene frequencies:
- Mutation: random accidental shift in gene frequency
- Genetic drift: accidental shift in gene frequency unpredicted (mis) fortune,
reduce genetic variation
- Migration: When organisms join a population and interbreed with residents,
the new generation will exhibit gene frequencies that differ from those in the
original population.
- Natural selection: only mechanism that causes an increase in the frequency
of adaptations
Natural selection: a process that results in increased survival and reproduction
compared to that of competing organisms
- variation, differential reproductive success heredity
- Not guided by anything
1. Directional: original and evolved means close to each other
2. Disruptive: means of population both at extreme
3. Stabilizing: mean is narrow, less variation
Genetic variation: a necessary ingredient of genetic change. a measure of the
variation in phenotype that is due to all variation in genotype.
1. Mutation: change in DNA, the effects are random (beneficial,
detrimental and no consequences). If mutation in DNA in eggs and
sperm can be inherited.
, 2. Gene flow: when organisms move into a population, bringing their
genes with them. In that way, new genes can be introduced and
genetic variation increases.
Additive genetic variation: proportion of genetic variation that is due to
differences among alleles that sum together.
Nonadditive genetic variation: results from interactions between genes and from
gene dominance.
Epistasis: expression of 1 allele, and the others are repressed. Interaction of
genes.
Recombination: occurs when chromosomes from parents line up during gamete
production. Information from one parent switch places with homologous (similar)
from the other parent during meiosis, thus creating new combinations of genetic
traits.
Speciation: formation of species, due to reproductive isolation, causes:
1. Geographic barriers: population split paths due to natural influences
2. Resource shifts: new recourses decrease so will not mate within this
population
3. Mate choice: if female preferences has a genetic basis, eventually 2 gene
pools exist
4. Genetic change: Mutations that prevent proper meiosis can produce
individuals that cannot mate with other members of the population
Evolution: Representation of the traits change in the population, because of
natural selection, which changes the frequency of alleles in a population, over a
certain time.
Natural selection per individual
Fitness: the number of off-spring an organism reproduces, and the frequency of
its genetics.
Function: adaptive fitness, copy mechanism of the animal regarding
behaviour.
Phylogeny: a hypothesis, tree, of the evolutionary relationships among types of
animals, often species.
1. Phylogenies are radiations over evolutionary time, not ladders of
evolutionary progress.
2. anything alive today represents a line that has been subject to natural
selection for as long as the lineage of any other living organism.
3. The places in a phylogeny where branching occurs are called nodes. These
nodes represent the last common ancestor that the organisms in the
branches shared. If organisms share a common ancestor, then they share
characteristics.
Cladistics: is a specific set of logical techniques for developing hypotheses about
phylogenies.
Cladogram: is also an evolutionary “tree,” but it is a welldefined hypothesis
about relationships.
candidate gene: is a gene that has been identified as having a strong possibility
of playing a role in regulating a phenotype.
, Selection on behaviour:
Frequency dependent selection: evolutionary process, by which the fitness of a
phenotype/ genotype depends on the phenotype/genotype composition of a
given population. (0-1, based on slope)
- broad- sense heritability H2 , The proportion of total phenotypic variance in a
population level due to genetic influence/variance. All genetic variation
nature vs. nurture, repeatability
- narrow-sense heritability h2, The proportion of phenotypic variance that can
be attributed to additive genetic variance. Only additive genetic varation.
Predicting off spring, selective
1. additive effects
2. dominance effects
3. epistatic effects
QTL: quantitative trait loci, a gene that contributes, with other genes, to a
phenotype. Because multiple genes contribute to the phenotype, no one gene
“determines” the phenotype.
Proximate levels …. Of behaviour Ultimate levels …. Of behaviour
Immediate cause Functions
Mechanisms Evolution
Development Phylogeny, relations history
The 4 why’s of animal behaviour:
1. evolution
2. ontogeny
3. causation
4. survival value
due to Niko Tinbergen
4 attributes of Tinbergen’s question that frame animal behaviour: mechanism,
development, utility and evolution.
1. Mechanism: what is the cause of a behaviour? Causation
- Animals behaviour responses to its sensory perceptions of the external
environment.
- Is the behaviour different or the same after multiple exposures?
- Test hypothesis: allows us to delve into how behavior is regulated and how
animals make choices about their activities.
2. Ontogeny: how does a behaviour develop?
- Does behaviour change during lifetime?
- To survive and reproduce an animal must change its behaviour through life
- Test hypothesis: learning and physiological development as driving forces in
shaping the behavior of adult animals.
