AP BIOLOGY – UNIT 1ANIMAL BEHAVIOR NOTES

1. Physiological Responses- changing the functioning of the body- acclimation (dilating capillaries to release heat)

2. Morphological Responses- changing the anatomy (structure) of the body- growing thicker fur or change in fur color in winter

3. Behavioral Responses- changing behavior to adapt to the change- moving to a more favorable location - cooperative behavior- agonistic behavior when threatened

• Innate behavior is developmentally fixed, regardless of the environment, and under strong genetic influence (ex. agonistic behavior)

• Learned behavior is due to cognitive development, change with experience & environment (ex. Mother bears teach their cubs about hunting, berry picking, fishing, and the best places to find tasty grubs)

• Cooperative behavior is when an animal invests resources in a common interest shared by other group members • Agonistic behavior is any social behavior that involves fighting, thus it is a contest involving threats. • FAP is a sequence of unlearned (innate) , unchangeable behavioral acts, that once started, are carried out to completion• Niko Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behavior. He suggested that understanding any behavior requires

answering FOUR questions:1. What stimulus elicits the behavior, and what physiological mechanisms mediate the response?2. How does the animal’s experience during growth and development influence the response?3. How does the behavior aid survival and reproduction?4. What is the behavior’s evolutionary history?

Animal Movement:Kinesis = change in activity rate in response to stimuli.

Ex. Isopods live best in moist conditions; move more in dry areas to increases likelihood of encountering a moist area5. Taxis = a more or less automatic, oriented movement toward or away from a stimulus6. Migration - using sun (seasonal changes), stars, Earth’s magnetic field, etc. 7. Signal - behavior that causes change in another’s behavior8. Communication involves the transmission of, reception of, and response to signals between animals

1. Chemical Communication:1. Pheromones – important in reproduction behavior2. Scents—important in marking territory or defense

2. Auditory Communication (vocalization): 9. Learning is the modification of behavior based on specific experiences

1. Maturation: behavior due to developing physiological changes 2. Habituation: loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information3. Spatial Learning: the modification of behavior based on experience with the spatial structure of the

environment, including the location of nest sites, hazards, food, and prospective mates4. Associative Learning- behavior through trial and error

10. Classical Conditioning 1. arbitrary stimulus associated with reward or punishment2. Pavlov’s Experiment

11. Operant Conditioning 1. “trial-and-error learning” 2. Associates behavior with reward or punishment, Skinner Box3. Foraging behavior – Balance between benefits of nutrition and cost of finding food (predation, energy,

etc.)1. Cost-benefit analysis

4. Agonistic behavior – contest behavior determining access to resources5. Dominance hierarchy - pecking order6. Territoriality - defending an area against others7. Altruism is defined as behavior that might

decrease individual fitness, but increase the fitness of others.12. Defining animal signals and communication.

1. A signal is a behavior that causes a change in the behavior of another animal.2. The transmission of, reception of, and response to signals make up communication.

13.1. Orienting 2. Tapping 3. Singing 4. Mating

ECOLOGY NOTES

•1. Exotic/Nonative Species – Why are they bad?

a. These transplanted species disrupt their new community by preying on native organisms or outcompeting them for resources. Kudzo.

2. Community Ecology

A. Populations are linked by interspecific interactions that impact the survival & reproduction of the species involved.

• Community−an assemblage of populations living close enough together for potential interaction• Dominant Species−most abundant, highest biomass, powerful control over occurrence and distribution of other

species… VA Sugar Maple• Keystone Species−NOT necessarily most abundant, exert strong control due to their ecological roles or niches…

Sea Otters!!!• Richness number of species & abundance• Species diversity older = greater diversity larger areas = greater diversity climate = solar input & H2O available• Communities with higher diversity are

• More productive and more stable regarding their productivity• Better able to withstand and recover from environmental stresses• More resistant to invasive species, organisms that become established outside their native range

• A keystone species is one that has a strong effect on the composition of the community

B. Factors that affect a community1. Disease2. Interspecific Interactions:

• Competition• Predation • Symbiosis

Mutualism − mycorrhizae Commensalism

C. Defense Mechanisms

D. Niche• An organism’s niche is the specific role it plays in its environment…its job! Ecological niche is the total of an

organism’s use of biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.

• All of its uses of biotic and abiotic resources in its environment• Ex: oak tree in a deciduous forest

Provides oxygen to plants, animals Provides a home for squirrels Provides a nesting ground for blue jays Removes water from the soil

E. Succession • Ecological succession− transition in species composition over ecological time• Pioneer organisms = bacteria, lichen, algae• Climax community = stable • Primary− begun in lifeless area; no soil, perhaps volcanic activity or retreating glacier. • Secondary an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil intact

F. Human Impact

Gross primary productivity is the total amount of energy that producers convert to chemical energy in organic molecules per unit of time. What is left over in that same amount of time is net primary productivity which is the energy available to be used by another organism.

200 J (biomass eaten by catepillar) à 100 J (feces) + 33 J (growth) + 67 J (cellular respiration)

200 Joules = 200 Joules

All of the biomes combined make up the biosphere.