Organisms Exchange Information
 Flight or Flight Response
 Watch
this...http://youtu.be/Ry
P8L3qTW9Q
 Predator Warnings
 Aposematic
coloration – bright
colors warn others of
poison/toxin/deadly
nature of organism
 Protection of young
 Herds, flocks, and
schools – shield their
young and/or mob
their predator
 Altruistic behavior:
animals that risk their
own life to protect
their young – insuring
their genes are passed
on = evolutionary
success
 Plant – plant & Plant -
predator interaction due to
herbivory
 Studies have shown that
plants release volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) into the
air as a consequence of
damage to tissues (possible
destroying vacuoles where
VOCs are stored)
 Hi VOCs concentrations
attract herbivore predators =
indirect defense
 Possibility that plants can
communicate via VOCs
(intra-plant and inter-plant)
 Avoidance Responses
 Avoid behaviors that
could have aversive
responses
 Food aversions
 Learning to avoid
electric fences
 Territorial marking in
mammals change the
behavior of mammals of
the same species
 Many male mammals
spray urine throughout
their territories
(especially along their
borders) to warn other
animals of the same
species to keep out;
communicate via a
chemical signal
 Coloration in flowers can change the
behavior of other organisms…
 Bees base their color vision on ultra
violet, blue and green. It is also
thought that bees prefer different
shades of blues, whites, and purple
flowers.
 Bees cannot see red. Flower petals
have Ultra Violet patterns on them,
not visible to humans in normal
light, but visible to bees. The
patterns are believed to guide the
bees onto the flower.
 In general, it’s believed that swathes
of color are also more helpful to
foraging bees and butterflies,
providing a stronger visual signal
that suggests ‘plenty of food here
http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/flower-pollination.html
 Bees perform dances that
provide information
about the location of
food. The dances can
occur inside dark hives –
so communication
depends on tactile,
chemical and auditory
cues
 http://youtu.be/4NtegA
OQpSs
 Sounds are commonly
used to communicate
over long distances,
through water, and at
night
 Songs of male birds
provide for species
recognition, a display to
attract mates and a
warning to other males
of territorial boundaries
 http://youtu.be/DsQnRn
E-W8A
 Packs communicate to…
 allows members to
successfully corner and
attack large prey
 insures successful care
and feeding of young
 helps members to
defend common
territory
 Wolves make
threatening gestures by
staring and baring their
teeth.
 Herds, Flocks, and Schools
provide several advantages:
 Concealment – most
individuals in the flock are
hidden from view
 Vigilance – individuals can
trade off foraging and
watching for predators
 Defense – a group of
individuals can shield their
young or mob their
predator
 Colony and swarming behavior
 Swarm behavior is a collective
behavior exhibited by animals
of similar size which aggregate
together, perhaps milling about
the same spot or perhaps
moving en masse or migrating
in some direction (also called
flocking, herding, schooling,
blooms, etc…)
 It is an emergent behavior with
small simple subunits working
together to make something
much larger and complex
 Migration is the long-
distance, seasonal
movement of animals. It
is usually in response to
seasonal availability of
food or degradation of
environmental
conditions
 Courtship and mating
behaviors
 Elaborate visual displays
of dances, aggression,
etc…
 Calls and Songs to
attract mates
 Emit pheromones into
the air to attract mates
 http://youtu.be/gTkUH
dCF848
 Foraging in Bees and other
animals
 Searching for and
exploiting food resources;
can be done alone or in
groups
 Search images help
animals find favored or
plentiful food
 The bee dance can indicate
proximity of food source
(distance and direction) –
bees communicate to hive Olive Baboons – forage for food; young learn
proper foraging techniques from elders
 Avoidance behavior to
electric fences, poisons and
traps
 Associative learning occurs
when an animal recognizes
that two or more events are
connected
 Cryptic coloration –
blending in to avoid
predation, catch prey, etc…
 http://www.boredpanda.co
m/amazing-animalcamouflage-photos/
 Cooperative behavior
tends to increase the
fitness of the individual
and the survival of the
population
 Pack Behavior
 Herd, Flock and
Schooling Behavior
 Predator Warning
 Colony and Swarming
behavior in Insects
 Parental care for young
 Predator Warning Example
– Belding’s ground
squirrels give alarm calls
(whistles) that warn other
squirrels that a predator is
approaching.
 Altruistic Behavior –
seemingly unselfish
behavior that appears to
reduce the fitness of the
individual but ultimately
increases the fitness of the
group