Psychology 2TT3

Animal Behaviour
Instructor: Dr. Brett Beston (bestonbr@mcmaster.ca)

Outline for Part 1

Introduction Course plan Why do we study animal behaviour?

Psychology Questions

We dont always know how people will behave or what they think. We need to do research. For example, answer True or False to these questions:

Animal Behaviour Objectives

By the end of this course the students will be able to: Understand the importance of animal behaviour research Discuss the two mechanisms that change behaviour over time Describe the mechanisms that control and generate behaviour in most animals Apply scientific thinking for analyzing novel problems in animal behaviour

Animal Behaviour Objectives (cont.)

Detail the major components of behaviour, which are shared by most animal species. Explain human behaviour based on concepts and examples studied in the course. Interpret graphs and know how to draw graphs from data.

Dugatkin

Psychologys Contribution to Principles of Animal Behaviour

Shepard Siegel

Reuven Dukas B. Geoff Galef

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Animal Behaviour Group

Sigal Balshine (Psychology) Ana Campos (Biology) Mertice Clark (Psychology) Martin Daly (Psychology) Denys DeCatanzaro (Psychology) Reuven Dukas (Psychology) David Earn (Mathematics) Paul Faure (Psychology) Paul Higgs (Physics) Bennett Galef (Psychology) Grant McClelland (Biology) Jim Quinn (Biology) David Rollo (Biology)

Shepard Siegel (Psychology) Jonathon Stone (Biology) Margo Wilson (Psychology)

http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/ psychology/animal/index.html

Logic of course plan

We will focus on major concepts that you need to understand

Evaluation
Evaluation breakdown Term tests Test 1 (Feb 8th) Test 2 (Mar 7th 25% 30%
lectures 1 to 4
lectures 5 to 9

Final examination

45%

The 2TT3 website has only partial lecture notes

You are responsible for all the material covered in the lectures You should take your own notes in lectures Attending lectures is necessary for succeeding in the course

How do we depend on animals?

Fly learning and human mental health
Fruit fly experiments

Memory-enhancing drugs and the treatment of mental retardation in humans.

Helicon Therapeutics
Our Mission: To discover drugs for treating disorders of memory
www.helicontherapeutics.com
Flies receive tingle in feet and notice a chemical scent. Purpose is to see how well flies recognize tingle with chemical. "Classical Conditioning" Involves elevator and two tubes, flies avoid the shocking when fly learns through practice repeatidly 10 training sessions in odor shock training,it will not last there has to be a spacing session if you wait over 24 hrs, then there will be no learning. Fruit Fly eggs get extra kreb gene? and red eye colour gene....helps convert short term to long term memory the fruit flies born they for long term memory even after 1 training session, equivalent to photographic memory Switch is set for kreb gene between fully off or on... Fruit flies can not cram Human and Fruit flies share the same mechanism in which memory and plasticity in the brain

Interview with Tim Tully

Uses of animal-behaviour research

Entertainment (pets, zoos, safaris, nature programmes on TV) Model systems for human applications Protection of rare, endangered animals Control of pests and damage-reduction
Birds and Airplanes F-15 Eagle collided with storks, sucked into engine, each stork hit plane with 15 tons of force

 Collisions between wildlife and aircraft have resulted in the loss of over 400 aircraft since 1950, and over 100 human lives since 1995. Collisions between aircraft and birds cost the aviation industry over $1.2 billion per year. In Canada, over 800 bird strike incidents are reported each year.
Ex. Hudson

Wildlife vs. aircraft

Passengers saved after plane ditches in New York's Hudson River (January 19, 2009) They found that 2 canada gees struck thedisabled engine and
it.

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Bird-airplane collision
Falcons are predator birds they help get rid of migrating birds

Most airports employ control teams that do research on and run programs for reducing bird collision.

Research in Israel has reduced bird-aircraft collisions and damage by ~85%, saved human and bird life and over US$ 40 million per year.

www.birds.org.il

Twice a year, 500 million birds crossing through the land As a result, every ind. that joins the israel armed forces have to study a college course on bird migratory pattern course

Chapter 3

Proximate Factors

Lee Alan Dugatkin

Scientic approaches in animal behaviour research

black headed something...sings song if intruder if female is alone and males flies back

From a scientic approach, explain why approaches: relationships, neurologically, songbirds sing? Manybe to warn of predator, hunger, intruder, etc may

Scientic approaches
! Function (why) vs. mechanism (how) what is the goal what is necc. in the animal to produce this song =Ultimate vs. proximate mechanisms wat is it good for what are the immediate causes = Adaptive signicance vs. what is it good for machinery (genetics, physiology, neurobiology, endocrinology)

Example
Plumage color in male house nches
Males tend to be more colourful

Why is there such large plumage variation (among males & between males & females)? What is the adaptive signicance of red plumage? How is the red coloration generated?

Proximate mechanisms
How is the red coloration generated? The red coloration comes from carotenoid pigments ingested in food Choosing to eat more carotenoid-rich food But why is there a if a father has less colour, than his son positive relationship has less colour as well results in more red therefore, there must be between father and son some transferable plumage trait
plumage scores?
Finches are red because of the diet they eat

Ultimate mechanisms
What is the adaptive signicance of red plumage? Positive correlation between male mating success and red-color intensity

Ultimate mechanisms
What is the adaptive signicance of red plumage? what does the female gain from choosing male with colour Positive correlation between male mating success and red-color intensity

1.0 12.1

0.6 20.2

27.80

0.27

SHAM: Artificially colour by dye to feathers of males BRIGHTENED: Artificially brighten the feathers LIGHTENED: no colour

measure female response in return to colour of male females are attracred to brightened shows us why males seek caratanoid foods to ger a mate

Ultimate mechanisms
What is the adaptive signicance of red plumage? Why do female choose males with colour?

Recovery from Infection

Feeding young

Males with less colouration visit less often than males with more colouration and feed the young Males with more colouration are able to fight off or recover from infection, red score recovers the fastest and less disease, passsed onto offspring so offspring survival is optimal

Why is there such large plumage variation?

Males but not females actively seek carotenoidrich food Males who can afford seeking color instead of energy are probably of better quality Females estimate male quality based on the red colour
indicates health, quality, security, etc. females use colour of plumage as an indicator of quality of male

(Note that the answer involves both proximate and ultimate mechanisms)

Other Examples of Proximal Causation

Horomone changes describe behavioural modications

Hormones

Other Examples of Proximal Causation

Horomone changes describe behavioural modications
ex. testorterone in males

Other Examples of Proximal Causation

Horomone changes describe behavioural modications Parental Care males with lower testosterone levels spend more time with young
castrated males clearly show that they are willing to spend time with pups.

Other Examples of Proximal Causation

Horomone changes describe behavioural corticoid peaks at 30 mins, greatest effect on modications behaviour, careful levels peak at 30 mins. Memory Stress affects our ability to remember details
gluco corticords: stress hormones, interfere spatial memory water maze test in diff. conditions i.e shocks to induce stress

2 mins, should have no effect 4 hours, should have no effect as well as cortical levels have decreased

Other Examples of Proximal Causation

Horomone changes describe behavioural modications
block effect of corticoid hormones? metrapron??

TIme that rat spent in water maze, orange is time in opposite quadrants, green is time in target platform is around the edge and recognized by rat

After 30 min of shock, they go across the maze wildly Least amount of time in target quadrant, no diff in any other quadrant

Other Examples of Proximal Causation

Neurological examples of Proximal Causation Spatial learning in honeybees
foraging environment learning to find food and travel back to nest and give off signals to others to find the source of food.

Neurological examples of Proximal Causation

The ability to remember and retrieve information from the environment is critical for many aspects of animal behaviour
structure analogous to human hypothalamus

Spatial learning in insects is often associated with a cluster of small neurons called Mushroom bodies
important in memory formation, size is important in formation of memories

Neurological examples of Proximal Causation

Foragers have larger (14.8%) mushroom bodies than do nursing bees honey bees take on diff. behaviour depending on age
young = nursing, around nest older = foraging

The development of mushroom bodies can be accelerated by forcing juvenile bees to begin foraging Nursing bees Foraging bees

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