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Lecture 3 For Evolution of Animal Behavior

This document summarizes key concepts around animal foraging and feeding behaviors, predator-prey relationships, and antipredator strategies. It discusses how food webs distribute energy from the sun through different trophic levels, with most energy being lost at each level. It then examines different foraging strategies like suspension feeding, herbivory, and carnivory. Pursuit, stealth, mimicry, and traps are provided as examples of carnivorous hunting techniques. The document concludes by outlining four antipredator behaviors: escaping or fighting predators, camouflage, detecting predators early, and warning signals or group defense.

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170 views6 pages

Lecture 3 For Evolution of Animal Behavior

This document summarizes key concepts around animal foraging and feeding behaviors, predator-prey relationships, and antipredator strategies. It discusses how food webs distribute energy from the sun through different trophic levels, with most energy being lost at each level. It then examines different foraging strategies like suspension feeding, herbivory, and carnivory. Pursuit, stealth, mimicry, and traps are provided as examples of carnivorous hunting techniques. The document concludes by outlining four antipredator behaviors: escaping or fighting predators, camouflage, detecting predators early, and warning signals or group defense.

Uploaded by

MyxdarkxAngel
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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lecture 3 for evolution of animal behavior

12/17/2014 3:06:00 PM

Natal site
new resident
1. search
2. settlement
3. residency
When in a new habitat
- find food
- find mates
- establish territory
How to find food:
FORAGING
Links all communities they are linked by something called food web.
Food Web = A set of interaction: what eats what. Its just an outline of what eats
what
Usually divided by Feeding or trophic level
Generally trophic means animals feed on level below.
Sun energy plant Herbivores eaten by carnivores [food chain]
Plants are autotrophs and plants from producers.
Herbivores are consumers (primary consumer)
Carnivores are 2nd consumers.
Tertiary consumers
Herbivores are prey
Carnivores are predators and predators have top predators.
Arrows show the direction of energy moving.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What groups might feed at multiple levels?
1. Omnivores (eats on certain level of everything)
2. Top predators (
3. Parasites
8.50 - Which group of animals has the most tropic animals?
(70% feeding) -> there are more parasites than free living animals.
Until recently, they were not included on food web but they can
feed on multiple levels.
10.24 - Pic of a typical food web.
10.56 complex food web.
11 parasites flowing through the system 11.50 only map 4 of them
Process is energy dependent
Comes from sun and food web distributes it to everyone. We can measure energy in each tropic
level.
How to measure energy? 13:15
1. Bomb calorimeter

2. Surrogate- biomass ( more biomass = more energy)


There is a distribution of biomass a lot more energy in green stuff
Rule of ten.(2nd rule of Transfer of energy from another 90 percent lost (heat) only 10 percent go
to herbivore and then that goes to carnivore.
Most energy lost as heat called respiration energy.
Biomass pyramid (in notes) dont have 16:40
Take a lot to support a top predator
Reduce cost . . .
1. Natural Selection tends to favor specialization in feeding to reduce processing costs.
Processing cost play huge role and be very heavy.
Example: Animal eat big seed vs. small seed.
- We will find specialization where animal has huge beck for big nuts.
- Tiny birds will have tiny beaks for tiny seeds to maximize intake of energy.
Mostly 2. feeding behavior is constrained by gape (size of mouth) such as only eat the size
it will fit in mouth
Most animal gap limited. They ignore food too large.
Apart from that there are three basic types of feeding: 22.43
1. Suspension feeding in aquatic system where they remove suspended food from water
column.
Ex: U shaped burrow = the bottom of the ocean?
-

Underground predators cant get to it oysters, clams, popular


feeding strategy, they are small animals
Blue whale largest animal is a suspension eater
o Top of mouth have filter and will with water and krill

Feeding strategy in the notebook make sure to check. dont have.


Basic Eating Strategy
1. Suspension feeders
Even though 99% susp. Feeder are small they can be large also. Blue whale largest animal more
then 100 tons. Called a Boleen whale)
Eats krills using susp. Feeder.
27.22 Waterfowel suspension eaters.

Diving duck = Loon (they have gizzards to digest food, they had
lead posioning) eats by catches fish vs dabbler has suspension
filter for food.
o ??? tube worm filter feeder suspension feeder 29:33

2. Herbivory eating plants 33:34


a) herbivore specialize on parts of plants not gape limited so some will only feed on
flowers some on leaves and some on root and some on fruit.
We call this micro-specialization of resources.
b) plants have defenses ( they do not like eating )
- Examples: poisonous, thrones, cactus, pines, toxins, sap toxin in sap.
EXAMPLE: Milkweed Plant: produces toxins that gums up (feeding parts of insects)
Milkweed beetles: vein cutting behavior Comes and cuts major veins on leaf and sap
comes out then beetle goes and feeds on the tip of the leaf where there is no sap
39:28 Monarch butterflies feed on milkweed.
- Interpacle toxins. When predators feed on monarch they get violently ill and
regurgitate the butterfly and it flies off.
- Severe vomiting and regurgitation.
- Also the warning colors
SOMETHING . Plants need harvivors and roots stems and leaves are defended.
a. Flowers and fruits are not defended. 41:33
Flowers for pollination and fruits for seed dispersal.
Black and red are the most contrasting colors and against a green background. (most berries are
black or red) Attract birds and us. they attract us by nectar
Nectar nutrient rewards for flowers = nectar and for fruits = its the body of the fruit.
- They can increase their fitness by dispersing their nectar (fruits something)
- Make more copies of the plant
- Wheat and corn have trained us to reproduce them. A nutrient war [marijuana?]
Check notebook pic
Flying poop study 45:16 he would put tarps on the forest ground and then he would collect the
tarps from the birds They pooped when they leave the forest They are pooping on the edge
Sandy Hook the bird pooped the type of berry they ate.
Poop cause better plant growth.
47:45
2. Carnivory- eating meat. Plants sometimes benefit by being eaten by carnivores. Only
fight if you are corner
Prey run like hell!
There are 4 different strategies:
a) pursuit = chase takes a lot of energy
a. example: Cheetah
b. 2 pursuit strategies
i. Tracking cheetahs do the predator stirs to keep prey directly in front.

ii. Interception predator will go to a place where it expects the prey to be,
intercepts prey along its light path. [gazelle] 52:35
b) Stealth - full pursuit is exhausting
a. Big predators stalk and rush
b. They creep up and get close to the prey
c. Low level activities.
d. Rush takes a lot of energy
e. Cheetah not move a lot. Track their animal and at the last moment they would
run.
f. Puma they sit on trees and then they jump
g. Cheetah and puma have the same energetic strategy
c) Aggressive mimicry 57:50
a. predator mimics a signal that is attractive to the prey. One is called *Alligator
snapping turtle
b. has an outgrowth that wriggle looks like worm, attract prey and he then eats them.
(like many deep see fish. Angel fish/angular fish?)
d) Traps 1:00:37 (for 2 minutes)
a. Spiders webs
b. bubble traps by whales (go low and release bubbles and goes in a circle) to get
small fish (the fish stay within the circle) and then eat them from the bottom.
c. Birds can also be attracted to it.
PURSHIT STRATGEY
this is what cheetahs usually do. Predators steers to keep pray directly in front. (pic)
b) interception predator in interception goes to the place where predators should be. (intercept
c) Steelth because full pursuit if
Big predators stalk and rush
Rush takes a lot of energy.
d) aggressive mimicry
predator mimics a signal that is attractive to the prey. One is called *Alligator snapping turtle
has a outgrowth that wriggle looks like work attract prey and he then eats them.
e)traps spider web
bubble traps by whales to get small fish and then eat them from the bottom.

12/17/2014 3:06:00 PM
Antipredator Behavior: 1:11:01
4 basic strategy to increase the cost to the predator. Making life more difficult
1. Rule of thumb:
- run like hell the item is usually smaller
- fight on by corner
- fight to the death
2. Make prey location
cryptic coloration (camouflage)
cryotic behavior
graph (NB)
Sex selection behavior
Sage grouse avian predators. (hawks)
There are leks (lekking the males would do this in the morning) too (from pic)
They only lake in the morning because for hawk to fly they need thermals so predators come pm.
3. make prey capture even more difficult
a. example: early detection( ears to know predators coming),
b. evasive maneuvers 1:17
i. Example: bats feed on moths, bats let out a signal and moth dives.
[cheetah spotting1:19:00 its a stalking thing] you cant catch me. The stopping behavior.
(ahaha you cant catch me then the cheetah usually doesnt catch the gazelle)
4. (3.) Repel predators 1:21:09
Aposematic or warniy Aposematic coloration threaten injury (colors to not eat like wasp)
Batesian Mimicry (look it up) 1:22:53
- harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful
species directed at a common predator
4. (final) Group Defense (behavior) 1:23:18
- a large group of animals
- Alarm call, schooling and fish (confuses the predators), and massive movement
The giraffe the spots confuse the predators
Pic: Nagana sleeping disease (transmitted with texy flies)
- With horses, it kills. Thats why none in Africa. 1:27:00

12/17/2014 3:06:00 PM

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