BIOLOGY 1M03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 51: Proximate And Ultimate Causation, Mate Choice, Eusociality
26 Oct 2016
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Individuals can behave in a wide range of ways. Animals help other organisms for something in return. Behavioural ecologists study genetics, hormonal signs, neural signalling, natural selection, evolutionary history, and ecological interaction. Proximate causation (mechanistic): how actions occur in terms of the neurological, hormonal, and skeletal muscular systems involved. Ultimate causation (evolutionary):explains why actions occur, bases on their evolutionary consequences and history. Fixed action patterns: examples of innate behaviour, which is an inherited trait and shows very little variation due to learning or the individual"s condition. It is much more common for an individual to have behaviours which 1) change in response to learning ans 2) show exibility in response to changing conditions. Cost-bene t analysis: animals appear to weigh the costs and bene ts of responding to a situation in various ways. Costs and bene ts are measured in terms of their impact on tness. Decisions made by non-human organisms are not recognized as conscious.
