Title: You talkin’ to me?: Investigations in animal behavior
Author: Kasey Yturralde
Date: Fall 2004
Background
Lab uses ethology to introduce students to the scientific method and stresses inquiry
based learning. Ethology is the study of animal behavior and usually emphasizes
behavior in the animal’s natural habitat. In this lab students will use an ethogram to
quantify animal behavior.
Animal Behavior
Animal behavior is a popular topic for many PBS and Discovery channel nature shows.
In particular, fantastic and bizarre behaviors are often featured because they are
inherently interesting to watch and because they are curious from an evolutionary
perspective (i.e. How did these strange behaviors evolve? What survival or reproductive
advantage do they give that particular animal?). However, animal behavior has been
important for humans since prehistoric times. The study of animal behavior, or ethology,
can even be found in cave paintings, which depict social wolves and solitary bears
(Sinervo 1). Humans that foraged for various animals would have needed a working
knowledge of the habits and whereabouts of their prey. Therefore, early animal behavior
studies were very much an applied endeavor.
These early applied animal behavior studies contrast with the birth of modern
ethology in the 1930s with studies conducted by Niko Tinbergen, Konrad Lorenz and
Karl von Frisch 2. These three scientists received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1973
for their research in ethology. One important aspect of ethology to emerge from this
period is Tinbergen’s analytical approach to behavior comprised in “Tinbergen’s four
questions”. Tinbergen addressed four main areas of ethology: causation, development,
evolution and function or survival value (for more, see animal behavior lecture series
from UCSD3).
Animal Communication
The study of animal behavior covers a variety of topics, which include predation,
foraging, habitat selection, communication, sociality and mating. One lab would scarcely
be able to provide a survey of all these topics, let alone provide any detail. Therefore,
this lab will focus on animal communication. By focusing on one aspect of animal
behavior, it will be easier to anticipate student questions and to conduct a guided inquiry
lab exercise. If a more open-ended lab is desired, then this lab could be left open so that
students could explore any aspect of animal behavior.
Why study animal communication? Aside from the fact that it is inherently fascinating,
there are some compelling arguments for the study of animal communication. The ability
to communicate can be as important to an individual as finding the appropriate habitat. If
a particular species is at risk of becoming endangered then having a thorough
1
http://bio.research.ucsc.edu/~barrylab/classes/animal_behavior/HISTORY.HTM#_Toc400814869
Alcock, J. 2001. Animal Behavior, 7th Ed. Sinauer Associates, Massachusetts.
3
http://www-biology.ucsd.edu/classes/bieb164.SU99.2/lectures/lecture1.html
2
1
understanding of the requirements for mating, foraging and predator defense becomes
incredibly important. For instance, knowing that individuals are unable to attract mates
because of nearby light or noise pollution enables biologists to effectively manage and
ultimately conserve species further endangerment.
Because behavioural traits can be shaped by natural selection and may change over time,
it is possible to understand evolutionary relationships among animals using animal
signals 4. Incorporation of behavioural traits along with morphological traits may
elucidate a more accurate taxonomic classification of species. Knowledge of animal
communication also has very practical applications. There are many insect pests, which
rely on chemical communication for mating. Knowing how insects use these signals
allows us to interrupt their communication and subsequently their mating. This approach
to handling potentially devastating pests enables us to manage them with biological
controls and integrated pest management. Lastly, the knowledge of animal
communication can be used by zoo managers to design zoo habitats that encourage
natural behaviour and minimize stress on captive animals.
Natural selection
Charles Darwin proposed the theory of natural selection as a mechanism that explains
how plants and animals evolve. In this lab, it is intended that natural selection describes a
process, a mechanism of evolution and adaptation describes a trait that is particularly
well-suited to an environment. Natural selection is the differential survival and/or
reproduction of individuals due to differences in traits. There are three necessary criteria
in order for natural selection to act on a particular trait5: 1) variation in a trait; 2) trait
must be heritable; 3) trait has effect on whether individual survives and/or reproduces.
Let’s use an example to better illustrate these criteria. Take ladybugs living in Arizona
and the pattern of spots as particular trait. Being very hot, ladybugs might experience
(natural) selection on the pattern of spots if having more black spots was a disadvantage
due to overheating.
1. Variation in a trait.
a. The first point, variation, is important because there must be alternate
forms of a particular trait in order for one to be favored over another. If
all ladybugs have the exact pattern of spots, then there would be no change
in this trait, natural selection cannot favor one over another if all ladybugs
look alike.
2. Trait must be heritable.
a. If it is favorable to have few black spots, then those particular beetles may
live longer and end up with more offspring. However, this trait must be
passed on to offspring (i.e. heritable) in order for this trait to increase in
frequency.
4
Bradbury J.W. and S. L. Vehrencamp. 1998. Principles of Animal Communication. Sinauer Associates,
Sunderland, Massachusetts, pg 6.
5
Alcock, J. 2001. Animal Behavior, 7th Ed. Sinauer Associates, Massachusetts.
2
3. Trait has effect on whether individual survives and/or reproduces.
a. In order for selection to act on a trait, the chances of an individual
surviving or reproducing must be affected by the trait. In our example,
ladybugs with black spots will only decrease in number over time if these
spots reduce the possibility of survival and/or reproduction.
Typically natural selection has been discussed in terms of morphological traits such as
the shape of limbs. However, any trait that has a genetic basis can be acted upon by
natural selection. Therefore, traits such as visual signals, social behavior and male
courtship displays are also subject to natural selection.
Adaptation
In this lesson adaptation will be treated as the result of natural selection, as opposed to
the process itself. An adaptation is any trait that has resulted from natural selection.
Adaptations are traits that increase an individual’s chance of survival and/or reproduction
compared to other alternate forms of the trait. This means that an adaptation is not
necessarily the most perfect possible trait. An adaptation is just a particular form of a
trait that works best compared to other alternate forms.
Natural selection and communication
How can we learn about natural selection in animal communication? Why is there such
great diversity in the types of communication employed by different animals? It might be
that animals have particular adaptations for communication according to the types of
environments they live in. In order to learn more about natural selection in terms of
animal communication, let’s consider the interaction between animals and their
environment. Rufus A. Johnstone 6 provides an example of how environment is
important for selection on animal signals in warblers. Warblers of the genus
Phylloscopus live in the forests of Kashmir, India. They are small, green birds with
varying patterns of pale patches on their head, wings, rump and tail. These color patches
are important for finding and keeping territories within the forest. Researchers found that
species with many pale color patches were more conspicuous and lived in very dark
forest habitats. On the other hand, those birds with few color patches were relatively
inconspicuous and lived in much brighter, open habitats.
Johnstone suggested that species have evolved visual signals that best communicate
within their particular environments. Those species that live in dark habitats have
adaptations, bright and conspicuous signals, allowing them to best communicate to other
warblers. Species inhabiting sunny habitats are able to communicate without such bright
visual signals. These types of adaptations for communication can be found in all
lifestyles such as terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal and aquatic. The Trials of Life video
shows examples of all modes of communication including visual, chemical, auditory and
vibrational.
6
Johnstone, R. A. 1997. The evolution of animal signals. In Krebs, J.R. and N. B. Davies ed.
Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach, pp. 155-178. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.
3
The above description of animal behavior is mostly in terms of the ultimate questions.
That is, the majority of the discussion addresses why animals act the way they do, how
particular behaviors or communication is advantageous to individuals. However, there
are also a plethora of proximate questions that address how animals respond to their
environment and each other. Here I will provide a brief description of this type of
approach to animal behavior. Behavior can be broken down into three steps7:
™ Stimulus
¾ Animal receives some type of stimuli that can be external (from the environment
or other animals) or internal such as hunger. External stimuli are detected using
any variety or combination of the senses: touch (includes vibrations),
chemoreception, auditory, or visual.
™ Neural integration
¾ Neurons receive and process neural information.
™ Response
¾ Depending on the stimuli, animals then set off a pattern of nerve impulses from
the central nervous system that are coordinated into sequences of muscle
contractions (ex muscles in legs coordinate movement and escape response to
predation)
Objectives:
Student will be able to
1.
Collect detailed observations of animal behavior
2.
Develop a catalog (ethogram) of animal behavior
3.
Measure various animal behaviors (collect quantitative data)
4.
Identify the various modes animal communication
5.
Become familiar with the scientific method
6.
Develop simple investigation of animal behavior (within small student groups)
7.
Collect, analyze, interpret and report data in written format.
Goals:
Students will learn
1.
The importance of maintaining objectivity while making observations and
identifying animal behaviors.
2.
How animal behaviors are traits that can be acted on by natural selection
3.
The importance and advantages of quantitative data.
4.
The importance of repetition and controlled variables in experimental design.
5.
How to distinguish between the various components of the scientific method.
6.
The importance of using mathematics in discerning patterns in nature.
7.
The importance of presenting experimental results and conclusions.
7
See website ___ and Alcock, J. 2001. Animal Behavior, 7th Ed. Sinauer Associates, Massachusetts.
4
AZ standards
Grades 6-8
™ Strand 1: Inquiry process
¾ Concept 1: Observation, Questions and Hypothesis
ƒ Formulate predictions, questions or hypotheses based on observations. Locate
appropriate sources.
¾ Concept 2: Scientific testing (investigating and modeling)
ƒ Design and conduct controlled investigations.
¾ Concept 3: Analysis and Conclusions
ƒ Analyze and interpret data to explain correlations and results; formulate new
questions.
¾ Concept 4: Communication
ƒ Communicate results of investigation.
™ Strand 2: History and nature of science
¾ Concept 1: History of science as a human endeavor
ƒ Identify individual, cultural, and technological contributions to scientific
knowledge.
¾ Concept 2: Nature of scientific knowledge
ƒ Understand how science is a process for generating knowledge.
Grade 6
™ Strand 4: Life Science
¾ Concept 3: Populations of organisms in an ecosystem
ƒ Relationships among various organisms and their environment.
Grade 7
™ Strand 4: Life Science
¾ Concept 3: Populations of organisms in an ecosystem
ƒ Relationships among various organisms and their environment.
Grade 8
™ Strand 4: Life science
¾ Concept 4: Diversity, adaptation, and behavior
National Standards
Content Standard A: Science as inquiry
™ Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
™ Understanding about scientific inquiry
Content Standard C: Life Science
™ Regulation and behavior
™ Diversity and adaptations of organisms
Content Standard G: History and Nature of Science
™ Nature of science
5
Materials
Field crickets: These can be obtained from local pet stores. You will probably be sold
crickets of various ages. It is important to remember that any territorial behavior or
courtship and mating behavior will be limited to adults and requires both sexes. You may
have to do some sorting if there are any behaviors in particular that you want students to
observe.
Cat food
Lettuce, grapes, other juicy fruits or vegetables
Clear, plastic terrarium (one per table)
Ruler
Graph paper
Access to wall clocks
Time
The minimum time required for this lab is 5 days following the schedule outlined below.
Pre-lab activity
Trials of Life video and “You talkin’ to me?” activity
Day 1
Observations and ethogram
Day 2
Develop questions, hypotheses and experiment using worksheets
Day 3-4
Conduct experiments
Day 5-6
Analyze data, write up into poster
Day 7
Poster presentation
Grade level
This lesson plan is designed for middle school grades 6-8. However, it could certainly be
adapted for high school grades.
Procedure
Pre-lab activity
• Video on animal behaviour: The Trials Of Life: Talking to Strangers
• Animal communication game: “You talkin’ to me?”
o Play this game after the video so students have an idea of the variety and
extent of animal communication
o Attach animal bio to back of shirt. Advise students NOT to look at their
identities. Students will attempt to find out who they are and how they
communicate by asking other people ONLY yes/no questions.
o Hand out worksheet to accompany video.
o Goals for activity and video:
ƒ Encourage interest in animal behavior
ƒ Introduce students to the concept of adaptation and natural selection
ƒ Encourage excitement about upcoming lab exercise with crickets
o Content
ƒ Introduce students to diversity of animal communication
• Modes of communication
o Chemical
o Auditory
o Visual
6
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
o Tactile
o Multiple modes of communication
Animal behavior
• Two main types of questions can be asked about behavior
o How questions are answered by describing how an
animal is biologically equipped to behave, what the
mechanisms are that allow for behavior
o Why questions ask for explanation about why a
behavior is beneficial to an animal
• Behavior is coordinated response to environmental stimuli.
• These responses may be learned over time
• Behavior are determined in part by an animal’s genes
o This means that behaviors are traits that can evolve
Communication involves two individuals
• Sender
• Receiver
• The cooperative transfer of information from the sender to a
receiver
SEE Worksheet #1
Lab exercise
™ Throughout lab, students will record their observations, procedures, background
information and data in a journal.
Day 1
™ In this lab students will have one day of observation time with their animals, field
crickets.
¾ Initially, will have students fill out Worksheet #2 that guides student observation
in a way that will reveal differences in behaviour and morphology of nymph,
adult, male and female crickets.
¾ Subsequently, time will be spent making general lists of behaviors and in a
discussion of what constitutes behavior. By the end of the day students should
have constructed ethograms. See Worksheet #3.
¾ The concept of an ethogram will be discussed, but the students will be able to
develop their own format. This will include a class discussion of:
ƒ what constitutes a behaviour
ƒ danger in assigning emotions to animals
ƒ how do scientists measure and quantify behavior
¾ Below is an sample ethogram:
7
Possible behaviors: antennae cleaning, leg cleaning, eating, singing, chasing, fighting,
biting, drinking water, mating and laying eggs
Time
Behavior
Comments
There are two possible techniques for observing animals. They differ according to the
number of individuals sampled in a given time period. See summary below from:
(http://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/biol261/Ethogram/EthoBody.htm#Analysis)
Focal approach. With this method, you locate a single individual and follow its behavior for a
standard time (or as long as possible up to that time). If a focal individual moves out of your view,
then you start a new sequence of observations on a new focal individual. Selecting the focal
animal can be systematic (you might just follow young animals) or randomized (select a random
number from a table, then follow the nth individual encountered). During a focal study, you
should record the following data as they occur:
•
•
•
•
•
the context (date, time, location, weather, habitat, social context)
the focal animal ID (if you can identify them uniquely, or just by #1, #2, etc)
the sequence of behaviors
the duration of behaviors (using a stopwatch or Ethoscribe software)
the immediate consequences (e.g. responses of other individuals, etc.)
How you record your data will vary with the stage of your study. When building your catalog, you
will have taken extensive notes. That won’t work when trying to quantify how an animal spends
its time. Organized data sheets are critical for focal studies, because they allow you to record data
quickly and efficiently during the observation period, and to tabulate the results accurately
afterward. A well-written catalog of behaviors will allow students to create a form for collecting
data for the quantification phase of the ethogram. An example data sheet is available online. We
will discuss how to use this sheet in class. Please feel free to modify this (for example, you may
prefer to give the first time of observation, then use a stopwatch to record the duration of each
behavior).
Survey approach. This method involves watching many individuals at the same time. At
systematic (or randomized) times, you count the number of individuals performing each possible
behavior. For example, if you are watching a flock of ten geese in a lake, you might set your timer
to alert you at one minute intervals. When the timer goes off, you note what each of the geese in
the flock are doing at that instant, as well as the context and consequences of their actions. You
will repeat this every minute for your entire observation period. Creating a data form that can be
filled in quickly also facilitates taking survey data in the field. Ethoscribe software also allows you
to use the survey method.
Day 2
™ The second day students will work develop their own questions pertaining to the
behavioral patterns observed. First, we will discuss, as a class, the types of
observations that everyone made and what types of questions they have. Students
8
will work on generating multiple hypotheses to explain these questions and discuss
the importance of testable hypotheses and alternative hypotheses.
™ Students will generate predictions from their hypotheses and simultaneously develop
experiments. On this day emphasize the idea of a fair test; this will introduce students
to using controls and conducting tests that only test one variable at a time.
¾ During discussion, give a (prepared) example of an experiment that has a number
of characteristics that should be changed or improved. This example will not use
crickets because otherwise students will end up just using the example for their
experiments. See Worksheet #4.
Day 3-4
™ The second week students will carry out their experiments in groups of two or three
and test their hypotheses. Students will collect quantitative data in their journals and
transcribe this data onto spreadsheets.
Day 5-7
Presentation and discussion
™ In order to prepare students for science fair projects and to stress the importance of
communication in science, each group will construct a poster documenting their
question, hypothesis, results and conclusions.
™ It might be useful to discuss posters as a class. Students could discuss which posters
were good and what sort of features they had in common. Alternatively, students
could discuss features that did not work well (ex-printing that is too small to read
from a distance, graphs that do not have labels or titles).
¾ During this discussion ask for students input about posters. Ask them for their
input on a grading rubric for posters and incorporate this into rubric. Present this
rubric to students so they know exactly how they will be evaluated on this project.
™ The last day should be set aside for students to read everyone’s posters.
Glossary
Behavior: animals’ actions or reactions in response to external or internal stimuli
Ethogram: a catalog of behavior patterns of a species.
Communication: the cooperative transfer of information from a signaler to a receiver8
Signaler: produces a signal, which conveys information
Receiver: detects signal and uses information to help make a “decision” about how it
should respond9
Adaptation: a trait that enables an individual to survive or reproduce better than the
alternate forms of that trait in a particular environment
8
Alcock, J. 2001. Animal Behavior, 7th Ed. Sinauer Associates, Massachusetts.
Bradbury J.W. and S. L. Vehrencamp. 1998. Principles of Animal Communication. Sinauer Associates,
Sunderland, Massachusetts, pg 3.
9
9
Natural selection: process that results in evolutionary change via differences in traits that
are important for survival and/or reproduction. This leads to differences in the number of
offspring (also inheriting such traits) left by individuals of a species
Dependent variable: the variable that you are measuring. This is the variable that
changes as a result of your independent variable.
Independent variable: the variable that you are manipulating.
Hypothesis: a possible explanation for how or why something happens. This should be a
simple statement, NOT a prediction of what you expect to happen.
Prediction: This is what you expect to happen if your hypothesis is correct.
Evaluation
Formative assessment
• After showing the behavior video and playing game, begin actual behavior lab
with discussion of what students consider to be behavior and what they consider
communication between animals
o This could be done in small groups where students discuss among
themselves and then address the rest of the class with their ideas
• Further questions for this lab might be focused on why behavior might be
important for animals
o The purpose of this question would be to determine how easily (or not)
students would be able to make the connection between behavior and the
ability of an animal to survive and/or reproduce
Summative
• The video worksheet will require students to follow along with video and identify
different modes of communication.
• The ethogram will allow summative assessment of thoroughness and detail in
student observations.
• Following observations, group and class discussion of employing scientific
method to study animal communication in crickets, provide students a quiz. This
quiz will require students to read a short paragraph and identify the question,
hypothesis, predictions, experiment and conclusions.
• Provide students (possibly in group) with a scenario and ask them to explain what
is happening and how they could test their hypotheses. The scenario would be
some type of interesting behavioral interaction between two (or more) animals.
• Students will conduct experiments with field crickets that will ultimately result in
a poster. Students will be evaluated according to how well their experiments
tested their question, data collection and analysis. In addition their presentation of
data and the extent to which these graphs and/or tables illustrate support for (or
not) their hypothesis will be evaluated. Finally, they will b evaluated according to
how well students brought their experiment back to their original question
(whether they supported or refuted their hypothesis or what additional questions
need to be addressed). SEE POSTER RUBRIC.
10
Extension
Data analysis and presentation
For older students, enter data into Excel spreadsheets. Students could summarize data
using very simple excel functions for mean and distribution. Students could also use the
Excel Chart wizard to produce graphs. Some middle school students would be capable of
these tasks.
Website Resources
Insects in the Classroom: A Study of Animal Behavior:
http://www.rednova.com/news/stories/2/2004/09/03/story103.html
Matthews, R.L. et al. 1997. Insects as teaching tools in primary and secondary
education. Annual Review of Entomology 42:269-289.
http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/perthMedia/chalcidoids/pdf/MattheFlMa997.pdf
The Center for Insect Science Education Outreach
http://insected.arizona.edu/home.htm
This is an excellent site that has many insect fact sheets and lesson plans.
Flour Beetles: Hands-on Discovery Lab
Age Group: Can be adapted for elementary through high school.
Class Time: Initial discussion and preparation one class period (55 minutes).
Checking beetles every 3 to 4 weeks will take about 20 minutes.
http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/ythfacts/resourc/tcherpln/flbeetl.htm
Crickets in the classroom: This page is about using common field and house crickets to
teach skills of observation and measurement. The unit also includes basic information on
cricket biology and introduces students to the scientific literature
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/ecade/CricketsintheClassroom/cricketsintheclassroom.
html
11