Lecture 10 ANSC3090 Animal Behaviour Oct 8 2024 PDF

ANSC3090 Oct 8, 2024 Picture: Dr. Kutzer Alexandra Harlander Dr. vet. med. PhD, Dip ECAWBM(WSEL) 1 Video: Dr. Reuckli 2  400,000...

ANSC3090 Oct 8, 2024 Picture: Dr. Kutzer Alexandra Harlander Dr. vet. med. PhD, Dip ECAWBM(WSEL) 1 Video: Dr. Reuckli 2  400,000 346,791 350,000 310,961 300,000 250,000 # hits 200,000 150,000 140,831 100,000 55,286 50,000 14,823 7 107 385 5,039 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 Decade 3 4 Behaviour: What do we mean by this word? Can only animals behave, or can any living organism exhibit behaviour? Resting outside Is inactivity considered a behaviour? Can groups behave, or is behaviour limited to individuals? Must behaviour involve motion? Can developmental changes in response to a stimulus be Foraging inside considered behaviour? 5  Behaviour: Definitions? Do plants behave? Plants grow towards or away from stimuli. Plants release chemicals in response to diseases. Plants respond to changes in season. Plants adapt and survive in their environments. Definitions are crucial. Resting outside Definitions of terms reflect the current knowledge and understanding at a specific time. 300-year-old lime tree Ethograms: practical need to define behaviour Foraging inside 6 Examples 7 Definitions of Behaviour (dictionaries) ‘the way that someone behaves’ ‘the way that someone or something behaves in a particular situation’ ‘the way a person or animal acts or behaves’ ‘the way something (such as a machine or substance) moves, functions, or reacts 8 Definitions of Behaviour (Behavioural Biology) “The total movements made by the intact animal.” Tinbergen (1951) 9 Definitions of Behaviour (Behavioural Biology) “What an animal (or plant) does.” Davis (1966) 10  Definitions of Behaviour (Behavioural Biology) “Behaviour includes all those processes by which an animal senses the external world and the internal state of its body and responds to changes it perceives.” Manning (1972) 11 Definitions of Behaviour (Behavioural Biology) “Behaviour can be defined as the way an organism responds to a stimulation.” Raven and Johnson (1989) 12 Definitions of Behaviour (Behavioural Biology) “External visible activity of an animal, in which a coordinated pattern of sensory, motor, and associated neural activity responds to changing external or internal conditions.” Beck et al. (1991) 13 Definitions of Behaviour (Behavioural Biology) “Observable activity of an organism; anything an organism does that involves action and/or response to stimulation.” Wallace et al. (1991) 14 Definitions of Behaviour (Behavioural Biology) “A response to external and internal stimuli, following integration of sensory, neural, endocrine, and effector components. Behaviour has a genetic basis, hence is subject to natural selection, and it commonly can be modified through experience.” Starr and Taggart (1992) 15 Definitions of Behaviour (Behavioural Biology) “All observable or otherwise measurable muscular and secretory responses (or lack thereof in some cases) and related phenomena such as changes in blood flow and surface pigments in response to changes in an animal’s internal and external environment.” Grier and Burk (1992) 16 Definitions of Behaviour (Behavioural Biology) “Behaviour involves the interaction between an animal’s machinery, its bones, muscles, nervous system, etc. and its outside world, such as its food, enemies and social practice.” Hall and Halliday (1998) 17 Definitions of Behaviour The challenge 18 Definitions of Behaviour Survey study of 174 respondents with varying levels of knowledge about behavioural biology. Asked to indicate whether a given phenomena is a behaviour or not. Asked to agree or disagree with various statements about behaviour. 19 Definitions of Behaviour Generally approved (≥64% agreement) statements: A developmental change is usually not a behaviour Behaviour is always influenced by the internal processes of the individual Behaviour is something whole individuals do, not organs or parts that make up individuals A behaviour is always in response to a stimulus or set of stimuli, but the stimulus can be either internal or external 20 Definitions of Behaviour Generally disapproved (≤24% agreement) statements: Behaviour is always in response to the external environment A behaviour is always an action, rather than a lack of action People can all tell what is and isn’t behaviour, just by looking at it Behaviour always involves movement Behaviours are always the actions of individuals, not groups In humans, anything that is not under conscious control is not behaviour Behaviour is always executed through muscular activity 21 In summary No one can agree on how behaviour is defined (more than 50% gave contradictory answers) Why does this matter? Makes it difficult to tackle significant moral/emotional problems Intellectual rigour of scientific inquiry 22 The result? “Behaviour is the internally coordinated responses (actions or inactions) of whole living organisms (individuals or groups) to internal and/or external stimuli, excluding responses more easily understood as developmental changes.” Levitis, Lidicker Jr., & Freund (2009) 23 Criteria of definitions 1. Operational – allows the inclusion or exclusion of boundary phenomena 2. Essential – it is based on what survey responses intuit the word to mean 3. Widely applicable – avoids taxonomic bias and can be applied to any living organism 4. Succinct – each word is necessary 24 Terminology – e.g. Dictionary of Animal Behaviour Access through the University Library 25 Context and levels of behaviour/behavioural analysis Macro – Whole animal Individual – Groups of Laboratory – Field – Highly controlled Natural conditions Species – Population of Micro – (Edwards, 2018) Cellular 26 Context and levels of behaviour/behavioural analysis Species Seasonal timing of migration Behavioural type Feeding Population Migration Behavioural act Biting grass blades Family group Flying to food source Body parts Leg Dyad Agonistic interaction between Muscles Gastrocnemius individuals Individual Walking to food patch Neurons Tibial nerve (Edwards, 2018) 27 https://mediahelpingmedia.org/2021/02/04/the-questions-every-journalist-should-ask/ (Tinbergen, 1963) 28 Four Questions and Proximate and Ultimate Explanations Proximate Factors – HOW? Directly trigger and control behaviour e.g., physiological, developmental proximate causes 29 Four Questions and Proximate and Ultimate Explanations Ultimate Factors – WHY? Related to consequences or adaptive value of a specific behaviour 30 Proximate and Ultimate Explanations Example: Foraging Behaviour Video: Dr. Reuckli 31 Tinbergen’s ‘4 Questions’ Why do animals behave the way that they do? (‘how’ and ‘why’) Four ‘levels of explanation’ – Equally important to understand animal behaviour Framework for thinking about animal behaviour 32 (Tinbergen, 1963; Bateson and Laland, 2013; Beer, 2019) Tinbergen’s ‘4 Questions’ Causation Survival value Animal behaviour Tinbergen’s 4 Questions Ontogeny Evolution (Tinbergen, 1963; Bateson and Laland, 2013; Beer, 2019) 33 Tinbergen’s ‘4 Questions’ Current/One point in time Causation Survival value Mechanistic (Adaptive) Function (Current) Utility Animal behaviour Tinbergen’s 4 Questions Ontogeny Evolution Developmental Phylogenetic Chronological/Historical (Tinbergen, 1963; Bateson and Laland, 2013; Beer, 2019; 34 Dugatkin, 2019; Nesse 2013)  Tinbergen’s ‘4 Questions’ Current/One point in time Causation Survival value Mechanistic (Adaptive) Function (Current) Utility Proximate Animal behaviour Ultimate Questions/ Tinbergen’s 4 Questions Questions/ Explanations Explanations (‘how’) (‘why’) Ontogeny Evolution Developmental Phylogenetic Chronological/Historical (Tinbergen, 1963; Bateson and Laland, 2013; Beer, 2019; 35 Dugatkin, 2019; Nesse 2013) When measuring animal behaviour…. Confident? Happy smile? On January 31, 1961 Ham became the first chimpanzee in space. Clever Hans, phenomenon: a performing horse in Berlin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – did Hans solve calculations? 36 Folk psychology ? Folk psychology part of our daily life? Human psychology is founded on folk psychology: e.g. natural interpretation of children’s behaviour given our robust knowledge of human children. Folk animal psychology? The kind of expertise that humans have when they spend a lot of time interacting with another species. Farmers, zookeepers, vets, pet owners develop a folk animal psychology that they use to understand, predict and better interact with the animals in their care (Andrews 2009, 2015) 37 Anthropomorphism? The attribution of human characteristics and feelings to other animals Starting point for considering what animals want/need in order to have a good life? It is essential to use science and other information when considering/evaluating animal welfare, not relying on anthropomorphism alone. 38 Critical Anthropomorphism Critical anthropomorphism Essential not to rely on anthropomorphism alone, without science [SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION] or other information 39 Structured approaches Observing to observing behaviour animal behaviour involve defining ethograms and describing the Single observed behaviour animal using time parameters 40  Observing animal Behavioural observations behaviour Group of animals Scientific description of behaviour Structured approach 41 Behavioural observations – a structured approach 1) Which animals to observe? 2) What behaviour to record? It all depends on your 3) Define behaviour (ethogram) research 4) Data collection protocol (sampling question/hypothesis! See one of the next lectures methods) 5) When should the animal(s) be observed? 6) Preliminary observations, pilot study 42 Which of these cats are ‘lying down’? Photo by Jacalyn Beales on Unsplash Photo by Alvan Nee on Unsplash 43  Which of these cats are ‘lazy’? Photo by Jacalyn Beales on Unsplash Photo by Alvan Nee on Unsplash 44 Which of these cats are ‘lying sternally’? Photo by Jacalyn Beales on Unsplash Photo by Alvan Nee on Unsplash 45 Behaviour measurements Quantitative Qualitative - How often? - Whole animal - How long? approach - How quickly? - Descriptive terms - Etc. - Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) (Travnik and Sant’Anna, 2021) 46 Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) Photo by Jacalyn Beales on Unsplash Not relaxed Completely relaxed (Travnik and Sant’Anna, 2021) 47 Behaviour measurements Quantitative Qualitative - How often? - Whole animal - How long? approach - How quickly? - Descriptive terms - Etc. - Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) (Travnik and Sant’Anna, 2021) 48 Ethogram ‘a catalogue of descriptions of the discrete, species typical behaviour patterns that form the basic behavioural repertoire of the species’(Martin & Bateson, 2007; p.34) 49 Ethogram: directories/catalogs of species-specific behaviours A list of behaviours with clear definitions/detailed descriptions Mutually exclusive Specific to the animal you are studying Can be simple or very complex Should include ‘” other” and /or “out of view” Objectively described in detail so that another observer can recognize the behaviour. It is important to test it out and practice! 50 Example Ethogram 51 Example Ethogram 52 Terminology – Time-parameters of behaviour Duration - State Frequency – Event Interval Pause Latency (Altmann, 1974) 53 Terminology- Duration States: have a duration, long (e.g., seconds, minutes, hours, % of time) Should be mutually exclusive Example: DURATION: 450 sec = 7.5 minutes = 75% feeding within the 10 minutes observation period (Altmann, 1974) 54 Terminology - Duration Pauses between behavioural states (Altmann, 1974) 55 Terminology – Frequencies and Rates Events Frequency: counts Rates: events/number of occurrences per unit time; distribution over time Example: RATE: 3x/600sec = 0.005 (Altmann, 1974) 56 Terminology – Latency Latency: duration (seconds, minutes, etc.) Time it takes to perform a specific behavioural pattern Example: (Altmann, 1974) 57 Terminology – Behavioural Bouts Bout: sequence of actions that are temporally clustered together Example: Repetitive pecking followed by a pause 58