NBB 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Behavioral Ecology, Fixed Action Pattern, Ethology
1 Oct 2017
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We can predict proximate mechanisms based on looking at what behaviors would be ideal for fitness. In other words, the ultimate perspective informs the proximate perspective. They continue incubation: when the egg hatches, the cuckoo chick pushes the warbler eggs out of the nest (this is an instinct) If you put an exact model of a gull head in front of the baby chick, it will yield pecking. Then experimentally change the appearance of the model to test whether the chick will still peck at the beak. If you present a head with no bill, the chick will not peck. If you present a male stickleback a paper model with a red belly, the sticklebacks will try to attack it: male sticklebacks will try to court female sticklebacks, stimulus is a swollen, grey belly. Mostly looked at foraging behavior- how animals learn how to find food: ethology, european, biology, mostly focused on birds, insects, fish, careful field observations and experiments.
