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Ethology & Cognitive Ecology

What is the Point?

The point is to show the different forces that

are shaping animal behaviors and to show

you what a complete explanation of a

behavior is like for biologists.

Proximate

Ontogentic

Adaptation Value

Phylogenetic

Cognitive ecology: studies interactions between

information processing abilities and animal fitness.

Ethology: study of natural animal behavior; four levels

Ecology: studies interactions between organisms and

between organisms and their environments.

Understand natural behaviors

Understand cognition as a cause and

consequence of evolution & environment

Biology

Consider the whole animal

Tinbergen’s Ethology

1) Proximate: What immediate events & mechanisms

cause the animal to behave that way?

2) Ontogenetic: What past experiences and genetic

biases cause the animal to behave that way?

3) Adaptation: What is the survival value for behaving

that way?

4) Phylogenetic: What is the history of the animal’s

species that causes it to behave that way?

~1970

• One of most robust species on the planet

• Can remain active without food for one month

• Can go without air for 45 minutes

• Can recover after being submerged underwater for half an hour

Cockroach Cockroach

16 msec before a toad’s tongue

flips out of its mouth, a

cockroach turns and runs.

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Cockroach Cockroach

ProximateWind-sensitive cercal hairs

• Toad produces a tiny gust of wind 41ms before tongue moves

• Cockroach starts to run 3ms after wind

• Tongue hits 10-15ms after running starts (too late to change direction)

• The hairs can detect a tiny gust, as small as 0.03 mph

• The hairs have to be physically moved (glued stiff, no escape response)

Cockroach

Proximate

• If moved, hairs send a neural signal

• Starts at Terminal Ganglion

• Ends at Thoracic Ganglia (escape legs)

• Hairs that sent the signal determine direction of the leg movement (opposite)

• 220 hairs on each cerci

• Move 180 degrees in one of four directions

• Direction of wind determines which

hairs move

Cockroach

AdaptationWind-sensitive cercal hairs

Predator avoidance

Why doesn’t roach run right when it sees a toad?

• Once wind gust is detected the toad is committed to movement

• Toad can’t reprogram tongue at that point

• Roach has better chance of escape

Cockroach

OntogeneticWind-sensitive cercal hairs

How does this behavior develop?

• Born with only 4 hairs (will develop 440)

• Newly hatched cockroach (no experience w/wind) turns away

from wind almost as accurately as an adult (Genetic)

• If an adult loses a cerci, it turns toward wind instead of away

• After 30 days it corrects the behavior (Learning & Rewiring)

Cockroach

Phylogenetic

Orthopteroid insects

~200 million years

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Cockroach• ~200 million years, proliferation of amphibians

• Possible arms race between Orthopteroid insects

& predators

Tentacled Snake

vs. fish

Southeast Asia

Tentacled Snake

vs. fish

C-start response (short for getting into a C shape when startled)

Tentacled Snake

vs. fish

Ken Catania

Tentacled Snake

vs. fish

Ken Catania

“feint”

Tentacled Snake

vs. fish

Ken Catania

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Tentacled Snake

vs. fish

1) Snake has adaptive

advantage over fish

2) Optimal foraging

efficiency

Ken Catania

Proximate & Ontogenetic (individual):

Snakes create a feint which initiates the startle reflex of

the fish (neural mechanism not yet known).

Naïve snakes use feints to startle fish into their mouths

(genetic basis).

Phylogenetic & Adaptive (population):

Contributes to optimal foraging efficiency

Takes advantage of the “rare enemy” effect

Is phylogenetically unique to this species

Tentacled Snake

vs. fish

Cuckoo

vs. reed warbler

Brood Parasitism

In experiments with mock cuckoo eggs, reed

warblers reject some cuckoo eggs.

Cuckoo

vs. reed warbler

Some species visually recognize their eggs very well

Perhaps were once parasitized & developed sharp recognition

skills (blocking parasites)

Spotted

flycatcher

Reed

bunting

Songbird species that are not

currently “cuckooed”

In an experiment with mock cuckoo

eggs, they rejected all cuckoo eggs.

They do not visually recognize their young (at all)

Respond to auditory signals

Cuckoo

vs. reed warbler

They do not visually recognize their eggs well

The cost of accidentally kicking out their own egg is high (each egg

is a major investment of energy and season’s worth of time)

Why reed warblers are victims

Cuckoo

vs. reed warbler

Proximate & Ontogenetic (individual):

After mating (proximate), cuckoo lays eggs in the nest of the

species that raised them (ontogenetic).

Egg coloring genes passed down maternal line (genetic

basis) so cuckoo offspring will produce eggs like the species

that raised them (ontogenetic).

Phylogenetic & Adaptive (population):

Contributes to foraging efficiency, reproductive rate, &

offspring survival (adaptive value)

Is widespread among cuckoo species (common ancestor of

the order) and appears in other bird families (phylogenetic).

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Cuckoo

vs. reed warbler

Phylogenetic

tree (birds only)

Brood parasitism

Ethology

1) Escape response of the cockroach

2) Predatory behavior of the tentacled snake

3) Brood parasitism in the cuckoo

Proximate

Ontogenetic

Adaptation

Phylogenetic

Need an understanding of cognitive skills that underlie

these behaviors (as part of proximate explanation)

1) Cockroach: How well can the roach discriminate predator wind

from non-predator wind? How well can the roach adjust his

escape (eg., if a second strike or second predator is detected)?

2) Tentacled snake: What perceptual cues are important triggers

for the snakes’ feints? How does the snake compute the angle

of his strike?

3) Cuckoo: What cues are important for discriminating imposter

eggs (eg., shape, size, color, smells, timing)? What is the role of

genes versus learning in the species who have defeated brood

parasitism?

Cognitive Ethology (or Cognitive Ecology)

Leslie Real, p. 417

Understand cognitive problems that animals face in their

natural environments.

Proximate & Ontogenetic (individual): Understand the

developmental mechanisms of the cognition & their

genetics, the neural pathways, the hormones, etc.

Phylogenetic & Adaptive (population): Understand the

ecological function and evolutionary history of specific

cognitive abilities

Leslie Real, p. 417

Cognitive Ethology (or Cognitive Ecology)

Would have this goal:

Reading for today: Real, 1993

Cognitive Ethology or Cognitive Ecology

Which food

patch?

Food ratio 2:1

Bee ratio 4:1

If in larger patch there’s:

2x Food

4x Feeders

Then, makes sense to go to smaller patch Reading for today: Real, 1993

Cognitive Ethology or Cognitive Ecology

Which food

patch?

Food ratio 2:1

Bee ratio 1:1If in the larger patch there’s:

2x Food

1x Feeders

Then, makes sense to go to larger patch

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Cognitive Ethology or Cognitive Ecology

Reading for today: Real, 1993

1:1

2:1

5:1

Fish distribute

themselves optimally,

according to expected

payoffs.

Amount of food

Number of competitors

Reading for today: Real, 1993

Cognitive Ethology or Cognitive Ecology

Important to understand animal cognition in order to

explain even the most basic behaviors (foraging,

mating).

Cognition of individual animal in the moment (proximate)

Cognitive development (ontogenetic)

Survival value of cognitive functions (adaptation)

Evolutionary history of cognition (phylogenetic)

Cognitive Ethology or Cognitive Ecology

Rats, mice, and pigeons live successfully in association with our species because of

their generalist, flexible diet.

Generalists identify novel food sources and strategies flexibly, by learning.

Because rats, mice, and pigeons are generalists, they are likely to show types and

degrees of learning that other animals do not.

Cognitive Ethology or Cognitive Ecology

Male and females show no difference in

spatial learning or hippocampal volume

Males and females differ in spatial learning

and hippocampal volume

Males have larger home ranges than females

due to polygynous mating strategy

Males have same size home ranges as females

due to monogamous mating strategy

Cognitive Ethology or Cognitive Ecology

Meadow Voles

Pine Voles

Conclusion

Two main points from the readings:

1) Part of an ethological explanation of

behavior should include cognition (Leslie

Real article)

2) Part of the explanation of cognition should

include evolution and natural environment

(Reuvan Dukas article)

An approach known as cognitive ecology

Interpreting animal behavior requires

multiple levels of explanation (ethology)