Interested in NEUROSCIENCE?
Then come out to the first meeting of the
Thursday, February 15 at 6pm
229 Natural History Building
Learn about volunteer activities, speakers and lectures,
grad and med school, research opportunities, and much, much more!
FREE PIZZA!
Interested, but can’t make it?
Contact neuroscienceclub@gmail.com
to sign up for our email list!
Announcements
Exam 1, this Wednesday, 14-Feb.
If you last name begins with A – L: 116 RAL (right here)
If you last name begins with M – Z: 151 EVRT
• Bring: #2 pencil
Photo ID
Student ID#
NetID (usually 1st part of e-mail)
• Arrive early
• Sit every other seat.
• No cell phones, no hats
• Neighbors will have different exams
Test Format
• 50 questions, multiple choice & T/F
• bonus questions (one short answer)
• 50 minutes
Test Material
• Any thing from lectures or text book
is fair game
• Fact-based questions, concept
application
Assigned Reading
Chapters from Book: 1, 2, 3, 5
Understand examples, terms (usually bolded), and
be able to answer the discussion questions in each
chapter (unless they require additional reading).
Lecture 2: Foundations
1) Animal behavior is about interactions
2) History of animal behavior
ethology  behaviorism  interdisciplinary
3) Founders & their contributions
Tinbergen, Lorenz, von Frisch, Skinner
4) Instincts & sign stimuli
Genetically programmed behavior vs. learned
behavior
Lecture 3: Science Methods
1) Scientific method depends on TESTING
hypothesis testing: supported, never “proven”
2) Approaches
theoretical, experimental, comparative
understand use of control, replication
3) Data & variation
statistics, accuracy vs. precision, qualitative vs.
quantitative (categorical)
4) Theory vs. law, evolution
5) Limitations of science
Lecture 4: Evolution
1) Definitions:
diversity, population, gene, taxonomy, evolution,
speciation, natural selection, coevolution
2) Mechanisms of evolution
mutation, drift, migration, selection
3) 3 requirements for evolution by natural selection
4) Examples of evolution in action
pepper moths, herbicide & antibiotic resistance
5) Group selection
its limitations, and when it can occur
6) Adaptationist vs. Nonadaptationist explanations
for behavior
Additional material from textbook:
Make sure you understand the example with
voles (Chap 1, page 4-8) under the heading
“Understanding Monogamy”
Lecture 5: Proximate & Ultimate
1) Proximate & Ultimate questions
2) Gene x Environment interactions
3) Song learning: Proximate
Developmental: environment (auditory & social)
Physiological: neural circuitry, hormones
4) Song learning: Ultimate
Attract mates, hold territories
Probably evolved 3 times independently
Evolves to suit ecological environment
What is the differences between Proximate and Ultimate questions?
What is the distinction between Proximate and Ultimate causes?
Proximate questions - how
mechanisms responsible for interactions
processes, mechanisms, “nuts and bolts”
Ultimate questions - why
how these interactions influence an individual's
survival and reproduction.
evolutionary reasons, fitness consequences
Tinbergen’s 4 questions
Proximate causation: sensory motor mechanisms
Ontogeny: interaction between genes and environment
to shape behavior (development)
Ultimate Causation: selective processes that shape
behavior (function)
Phylogeny: historical processes that shape behavior
(constraints)
Additional material from textbook:
Chapter 2: You do not have to memorize the
names (or acronyms) for the neural
components of the brian.
Lecture 6: Genetics I
1)
2)
3)
4)
Gene x Environment interactions
Classical vs.Operant conditioning
Innate behaviors, fixed action patterns.
Methods to quantify genetic component of
behavior (including modern methods)
5) Know coefficients of relatedness between
relatives.
6) Understand why it may be difficult to identify
genes for behavior.
Lecture 7: Genetics II
1) Two ways that genetic variation (sequence
vs. expression) can influence behavior.
2) Understand how microarrays work.
3) Understand basic principles behind division
of labor in honey bees (types of behavior,
ontogeny of behavior).
Additional material from textbook:
You do not have to memorize the names of
specific genes and their effects.
Lecture 8: Hormones
1) Know: What hormones are. Where are they
made? What do they do?
2) Modes of hormone action
3) Organizational vs activational effects.
4) Hormones influence on behavior
– Sexual behavior
– Other behaviors
– Understand that hormonal mechanisms are
often conserved among species but can also
differ among species.
Additional material from textbook:
Make sure you understand proximate and
ultimate mechanisms for temporal variation
in behavior (Chap 5, page 148-160) under
the heading “Behavioral Schedules”
Lecture 9: Development
1) Understand the proximate and ultimate
reasons for developmental flexibility and
developmental homeostasis.
2) Know the different mechanisms of kin
discrimination.
3) Understand fluctuating asymmetry and its
causes.
What is the difference between
developmental homeostasis and flexibility?
What evidence exists to prove these two
things?
What are their benefits?
Developmental flexibility: a change in the
development & production of a behavior
based on variation in environment.
Examples: learned behaviors, hormonal
effects on behaviors, just about everything
except behavioral differences due entirely to
genetic differences!
Proximate reason: It occurs as a result of
genotype by environment interactions on
developing traits.
trait
(phenotype)
environmental variation
trait
(phenotype)
environmental variation
trait
(phenotype)
environmental variation
trait
(phenotype)
environmental variation
Why does developmental flexibility exist?
Ultimate reason: Flexibility can account for
important, but variable environmental
conditions, leading to increased fitness
under different conditions.
Anolis lizards: morphology of hind legs changes
when raised on large trunks or small branches.
Fitness benefits =
lizards faster when limb
length matches branch
width. (escape, prey
capture)
trait = hind
limb length
env. var. = branch width
Normal vs. cannibal forms in tiger salamanders
Individuals can develop as normal predatory
larvae or switch over to a cannibal form.
Switch to cannibalism affected by:
Population density
Size differences
Drying of water source
Genetic relatedness to others
Fitness benefits =
cannibals have more
prey, grow faster
(cost = spread disease,
more conspicuous to
predators).
Prop.
cannibals
density or drying rate
Developmental homeostasis:
Development of specific behaviors
despite variation in environment
This category includes, but is not limited
to innate behaviors
Proximate reason: Developmental
process not influenced by
environmental variation.
Why does developmental homeostasis exist?
Ultimate Reason: Homeostasis reduces the
chance of devastating developmental errors
due to environmental deficits/changes.
For example, regardless of environmental
conditions, tadpoles still need to
metamorphose into frogs.
Lecture 10: Recognition
1) Know the different types of recognition
systems (what they do).
2) Know how they work.
3) Understand the components of recognition
systems.
4) Understand Optimal Threshold Models for
recognition.
Lecture 11: Coevolution
• Coevolution: The occurrence of genetically determined traits
in two or more species selected by the mutual interactions
controlled by these traits.
• Species interactions where coevolution is likely to occur:
Predation, Competition, Mutualisms and Mating
(hybridization)
• Character displacement: when the expression of a character
(i.e., behavior) changes when species occur together
(sympatry) due to competition or reproductive isolation.
Co-evolution in Mating
• Optimal threshold model – what can be
modified to avoid hybridization?
– Call modification vs. call perception (signaler
vs. receiver)
• The developmental plasticity of a trait can
in fact be considered a trait in its own right.
• Arms races – constrained
• Red Queen Effect – running in place
• Pred/Prey and Parasite/Host – sensory tuning and mimicry of
cues
• Mutualisms
– Obligate vs. facultative
– Trophic, Dispersive, Defensive
• Mutualisms as major stepping stones in evolution
• Evidence for co-evolution (demonstrate genetic changes
invoked by species interactions)