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Ecology BIOL-2101 Prof. Dan Mennill Department of Integrative Biology, University of Windsor 1 Lecture 6: Behavioural Ecology Part 1 Today: My research Intro to behavioural ecology Vocal learning in wild birds 2  Ec...

Ecology BIOL-2101 Prof. Dan Mennill Department of Integrative Biology, University of Windsor 1 Lecture 6: Behavioural Ecology Part 1 Today: My research Intro to behavioural ecology Vocal learning in wild birds 2  Ecology: The study of the relationships of organisms and their environment 5 Why ulet woul carry that could massive anters its weigh as much as entire head ↳ adaptive significant value ↳ weapons Behavioural ecology: The study of the behaviour of organisms, with reference to adaptive significance 6  What behaviours are important for survival? 7  Competition How do organisms defend resources?8 How doBehavioural organisms attract ecologymates? mate attractions 9 What behaviours are important for reproduction? 10 How do parents and offspring interact? 11  in soliday vs groups Behavioural ecology When do organisms gather in groups?12  Vocal learning in wild birds: The dynamics of vocal learning in nature Dan Mennill University of Windsor www.uwindsor.ca/dmennill @dmennill  Research framework Behavioural animal Ecology and communication recording Acoustic of wild animals and use the sounds they produce window mind - as into try a to their Communication understand what does an animal want in a reproductive defend resources ect partner ; Behavioural Animal Ecology Conservation  Research themes Vocal learning and Communication cultural evolution networks turn of yellow I day year Female Social Conservation signals signals bioacoustics  Research techniques Field studies Wildlife recording Sound playback Radiotelemetry Songbirds Hummingbirds Parrots Vocal Learning Cetaceans Bats Humans Vocal learning Sensory phase have to hear sounds critical during this window in order to them as produce Silent period adults birds not humans South migration Sensorimotor phase babies babbling poor copies of adult sounds that better with get practice Crystallization becomes point at which neural activity more fixed neural connections rigid  Zebra Finch ~ model of how vocal learning Sound Spectogram DIALECT visualizing sound - of music peice - quick learning soua - born travelling distance Short and ending up singing sounds Objective: Use an experimental approach to study song learning in wild birds Savannah Sparrow Study site: Bowdoin Scientific Station in eastern Canada Study site: Bowdoin Scientific Station in New Brunswick of Bay Fundy Kent Island covered with Savannah Sparrows massive guals  Ider ducks extinct for island except - nothing to eat them Savannah Sparrow h = 300 or 600  Capture every bird - - Mist nets Collect Feather Samples blood sample (relation) BRO S have to put these bands on always LYR OW L Population studied since 1960’s Strong natal site philopatry birds that were born here return here after migration RARE ! z  when on breedingtes how to fly and & & forage males arrive first females 2-3 weeks later  When males arrive from migration they sing the most at dawn 100 - when females arrive 80 males sing Songs per hour the most at dusk ↳ Females Fly at dusk 60 Song output is moderate incubation and during 40 hatchling Feeding Song When output is lowest 20 fledglings are present 0 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 Time (hour) / Song When Song When output males output females is arrive ismoderate arrive, lowest from migration males during whensing incubation fledglings they the sing most are and the at hatchling most present. dusk. at feeding. dawn. Moran et al. 2019 Avian Res. Objective: Use an experimental approach to study song learning in wild birds  - Simulate a tutor on the Island Loudspeakers: sounds that broadcasting - could use in context exp. to if figure out young sparrows are to sounds listening Weatherproof they in near their youth and Programmable later producing them as adults Light activated Solar powered  ? which songs they sing from Kent island typical Song OR animals learn song that young a matches one of the simulated tutors Vocal Learning Hypothesis Wild animals learn songs by listening to conspecific tutor song ↑ Stimulus 07 perfect march learned almost Song Stimulus Bird L.BL identically to the Stimulus 07 Stimulus 10 Bird L.BL Bird Y.YL Stimulus 07 Stimulus 10 Bird L.BL Bird Y.YL Stimulus 09 Bird NL.B Thirty birds crystallized songs that matched stimuli Unequivocal support for the Vocal Learning Hypothesis animals learned their from songs - sounds that they had heard in their life early learned first of during - their life year Mennill et al. 2018 Current Bio.  Stimulus 1 Stimulus 7 Stimulus 11 Stimulus 12 Generation 1 Generation 1 Generation 1 Generation 1 Generation 2 Generation 2 Generation 2 Generation 2 Four birds learned songs from other subjects, revealing two generations of vocal learning  Bird: B.OG Bird: G.LL Bird: G.ON Bird: G.OY Stimulus 37 Stimulus 24 Stimulus 29 Stimulus 20 Initial song Initial song Initial song Initial song Final song Final song Final song Final song Four birds sang experimental songs for only a few weeks could Sing threw instead the songs that played but chose not to away after the first couple of weeks for the rest of their life committed to their > - typical island song one song All experimental birds defended a territory and attracted a mate Experimental 4 birds showed 3 similar Longevity longevity 2 1 Still of capable being understood 0 Experimental Typical Song song  Sensory phase Silent period # Sensorimotor phase * Crystallization Re-exposure Hypothesis Animals will learn songs that are heard both early in life and prior to first breeding season 3 types of stimuli: Summer only Spring only · Summer and spring  Most birds learned songs heard early in life, re-exposed to later 1.0 19/21.8.6.4.2 2/21 0/21.0 Summer Summer Spring only & Spring only X2=13.9 Mennill et al. 2018 Current Bio. p=0.0009  Strong support for the Re-exposure Hypothesis Animals have to hear the 1.0 19/21 sound in the first three months of their life.8 or to they're it never going learn.6 - info refined when near.4 again.2 2/21 0/21.0 Summer Summer Spring only & Spring only X2=13.9 Mennill et al. 2018 Current Bio. p=0.0009  Bird: GL.L Bird: S.SG Bird: S.OR Song 1 Song 1 Song 1 Song 2 Song 2 Song 2 Song 3 Final song Final song Final song Birds often over-produced songs early in year one Thomas et al. 2021 Animal Behaviour Selective Attrition Hypothesis After over-production, animals will retain songs most similar to their neighbours  Bird: S.SG Adult Neighbours Song Song 1 2.6 6.1 B.OG 6.3 7.0 BS.L Song Song 2 6.9 5.4 G.OY 5.4 4.3 SN.O retained that had the song best match with his Final Finalsong song 2.6 B.OG neighbors Birds retain similar songs Support for the Selective Attrition Hypothesis Thomas et al. 2021 Animal Behaviour  3 More aggression when males Aggression score 2.8 that produce songs are With their good matches 2.6 end neighbors they in fewer up encounters with aggressive their 2.4 neighbors Less aggression 2.2 SURVIVAL ADVANTAGE ~ 2 1.9 5 6 7 8 9 10 More similar More different Acoustic similarity By retaining similar songs, birds experience less territorial aggression Thomas et al. 2021 Animal Behaviour Overproduction & selective attrition structure geographic variation in song Mechanism : of - pockets - learning your in youth similar sounding animals # onset of overproducing at the adulthood - undergoing Selective attrition based on what you hear/who you're around d DRIVE DIALECT - 50m Hensel et al. (2022) Animal Behaviour Conclusion Experimental evidence that wild birds learn from conspecific vocal tutors Birds preferentially learn songs heard early in life, and encountered again later Overproduction, selective attrition, decreases territorial aggression  Ecology BIOL-2101 Prof. Dan Mennill Department of Integrative Biology, University of Windsor 1 Lecture 7: Behavioural Ecology Part 2 Today: Chapter 6 Tinbergen’s Four Questions Adaptive behaviour Sexual selection 2  Redback Australian Spider Female 3 produce toxin venom capable of killing small vertebrates ↓ 4 Male tiny - 5 Sexual dimorphism males and females different appear Ex Humans 6 Prof. Maydianne Andrade 7  Niko Tinbergen red dot is Stimulus that elicits the of response begging from young animal 8  Tinbergen’s Four Questions fr a young animalsimprinted by Niko Tinbergen helped establish the study of behavioural biology He and his colleagues won the 1973 Nobel Prize for “discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns” Niko Tinbergen Tinbergen articulated (1907-1988) four key questions… 9  Tinbergen’s Four Questions Four questions to ask about any behaviour: 1. Causation (sensory-motor mechanism): How does it function at molecular, respond delect stimulus with physiological, neural, cognitive level? hormones 2. Ontogeny (developmental changes): How does it change with age and what are the developmental steps? Stages go through you get as 3. Evolution (phylogenetic history): Vocabulary Older Ex. How does it compare in do other exhibit animals similar behaviors ? closely related species? Ex Song ,. birds humans 4. Function (adaptive significance): How does it impact the animal’s chances of survival and reproduction? Fitness Z 10  Tinbergen’s Four Questions Four questions to ask about any behaviour: 1. Causation (sensory-motor mechanism): How does it function at molecular, Immediate proximate z physiological, neural, cognitive level? 2. Ontogeny (developmental changes): questions How does it change with age and what hormones stimulus , neural response are the developmental steps? processes 3. Evolution (phylogenetic history): How does it compare in BIGQ's closely related species? ultimate 4. Function (adaptive significance): questions How does it impact the animal’s chances of survival and reproduction? 11  male enter nest ↳ female more closer ↓ male inserts his insemination devi. d flips on top d Female chew on him 12  Tinbergen’s Four Questions Male red-backed spiders will sacrifice their lives in order to mate with females 1. Causation (sensory-motor mechanism): Females attract males with phermones, Females attract males Females to her with web with phermones vibrations , males court females with vibrations Court Male ↳ mating sound 2. Ontogeny (developmental changes): Males reach sexual Males reach maturitymaturity in three sexual in threefemales months , four in months, females mature in four months mature months ↳ sexual dimorphism 3. Evolution (phylogenetic history): Other Other closely-related closely related spider species Spider species exhibit this exhibit dimorphism" this “sexual cannibalism” ↳ " Black Widow Sexual 4. Function (adaptive significance): Males achieve Males achieve higher higher reproductiveby reproductive success success sacrificing by sacrificing themselves themselves ↳ takes Female more time eating while She's 13 allou male to inseminate longer + more  Prides numerous rep females 14 Sexual Females Maturity & chased in out by group pairs brothers 15  babel other males who are affiliated with Other groups take over if win place 16  Takeover occurs I yo old younger will will all cubs - new male / new pair win the group 17  Tinbergen’s Four Questions of take When a coalition males over a pride , they typicallyhill all cubs less than one year old 1. Causation (sensory-motor mechanism): Adult males recognize unrelated by cubs unfamiliar odour , triggering aggression 2. Ontogeny (developmental changes): Males reach sexual maturity at 3 years take pride at 4 and can over another 3. Evolution (phylogenetic history): Three Panthera other species (tigers , leapards, jaguars) are more solitary 4. Function (adaptive significance): Females will enter if estrus sooner they no have longer a dependent cub & chance to have cubs 18  Behavioural ecology Explores why organisms behave the way they do The focus is often on how behaviour is evolutionarily adaptive in natural environments 19  Behavioural ecology Fitness: the contribution an individual’s offspring make to the genetic make-up of subsequent generations Behavioural ecologists often evaluate fitness by examining relative reproductive success FIGURE 5.31 20 21  no rain Food exhausted tiny seeds left birds beaks had w big food FITNESS Rosemary and Peter Grant 22  Behavioural ecology don't have fitness species individuals have fitness Fitness is an attribute of an individual, it is not an - attribute of a species Wrong: Favourable mutations will persist if they improve the fitness of the mutant species Correct: Favourable mutations will persist if they improve the fitness of the mutant individual 23  Behavioural ecology Fitness is an attribute of an individual, it is not an attribute of a species Wrong: A bird with a strong beak maximizes the fitness of her species to survive dry periods Correct: A bird with a strong beak maximizes her own fitness during dry periods 24  Behavioural ecology Natural selection: selection that favours traits that maximize an individual’s chance of surviving and reproducing Sexual selection: selection that maximizes the number of fertilizations Reproduce or matings 2 snowypainted bunting Viability selection: selection that maximizes the survival of the individual 25  Behavioural ecology Some areas of focus in behavioural ecology: 1. Foraging behaviour 2. Enemies (including predators, parasites) 3. Sexual selection 4. Social behaviour with conspecifics 26  Foraging behaviour Food choices have a direct effect on fitness Foraging and processing food is costly It is efficient to be selective and utilize good foraging patches Bumblebees remember the location of good foraging areas and return to them 27  Enemies: Predation Foraging may increase an organism’s risk of being depredated Choice of food is often a cost-benefit decision, with tradeoff between little seed foraging location and ↓ right away eat quick food quality food get as quick possible as wout being ealen When in danger, organisms tend to be Grey squirrels carry large, less active and move as but not small, food items to little as possible cover of safety to eat 28  Symbiosis Enemies: Parasites thrives but the other doesn't one organism Parasites may change their host’s behaviour in their own interest ↑ Often, behaviour of intermediate host may be modified to increase the chance of encounter with the final host Nematode Myrmeconema tropicum causes ant to develop berry-like abdomen robin eats it - infected 29 Zombie Snails 30  Enemies: Parasites behaviour of birds in the Parasitize the other World Brood parasites parasitize the parental activities of other = species - Hosts rear parasitic offspring oblivious to their unrelatedness There is high selective pressure for hosts to recognize parasitic young European cuckoo parasitism has been studied extensively 31  mom laid Seggs EGG diff Cuckoo egg 32 parasitic egg 33 Max reproductive success if camaflodge eggs. 34 If notthrown egg will away grow quick , hatch quick off - push all host eggs 35  to Cuchoo Advantage of - lack parental invest. Benefit Host devote all energy - fitness to one offspring diminished the parasitized all parental energy 36  Term test 1: Sample question Which of the following statements is the best equation representing photosynthesis? A. Sunlight + 6 CO2 + 6 H2O → C6H12O6 + 6 O2 B. Sunlight + 6 CO2 + C6H12O6 → 6 H2O + 6 O2 C. Moonlight + 6 CO2 + 6 H2O → C6H12O6 + 6 O2 D. 6 CO2 → 6 H2O → C6H12O6 → 6 O2 E. All of the other answers are good representations of photosynthesis. 43  Term test 1: Sample questions Which of the following branches of ecology is matched with the correct definition? A. Ecology energetics = the study of fixation, transfer, and storage of energy in ecosystems B. Population ecology = the study of how nutrients cycle between different pools within ecosystems C. Behavioural ecology = the study of mangroves, their salt metabolism, and their roots D. Ecophysiology = the study of population growth and decline 44  Sexual selection Reproductive success is key to fitness within Intrasexual selection: 2 competition between members of the same sex (usually males) for access to the other sex two for Female males compete Intersexual selection: between members of one sex (usually females) Large size is advantageous in discriminating among the intrasexual battles of male elephant seals possible mates 45  Sexual differences Bateman’s principle: in sexually reproducing species, variability in reproductive success is greater in males than females curve levels ↓ Off as soon as she reaches threshold 46  Females invest in quality Male want as many reproductive Sexual differences opp as can Bateman’s principle: in sexually reproducing species, variability in reproductive success is greater in males than females Females invest more in offspring than males For females, reproduction limited by the number of offspring they can bear For males, reproduction is limited by access to females 47  Sexual competition Reproduction may be more important for success than individual survival longer male jaws redback sat in her Suicidal the more kids he had traded off survival for reproduction copulation by male redback spiders enhances reproductive success by increasing the duration of copulation. FIGURE 6.3 48  Intrasexual selection Intrasexual aggression often involves aggression between rivals over access to resources Interactions can result in the evolution of aggressive behaviour, risk taking, and weaponry Male bighorn sheep spar to establish dominance position, and access females 49  Intersexual selection Females show mating elaborate preferences Fans tail Ornamentation: visual displays and acoustic and phermone signals in males increase desirability by females Ornamentation is costly; it reveals the male’s & condition harder Females choose toFlyemail superior mates when Female birds of paradise they choose more evaluate male plumage ornamented mates 50  Sexual dimorphsim Both inter and intra- sexual selection can give rise to sexual dimorphism Across many pink nose organisms, males & are the more extravagant sex ↓ attes - Male mandrils are larger and more colourful than females 51  noreason to grate Attractive males Reproductive skew reaches an extreme in lek- based mating systems for sit months one male receive lots other males receive little for females Cock-of-the-rock lek where males advertise to females 52 male with biggest anters hangs out in middle of medow female With them others hope copulates 53  males form alliance only one male receives copulation Female raise alone 54  Social behaviour gang up Advantages of group living: enhanced predator detection, defense from predators, defense from competitors, and other functions Disadvantages of group life: increased competition, increased risk of infection more mouths to feed BUT more T eyes to delect predators 55  contribute does not genetically some don't breed devote life to helping Eusocial organisms live in other animals within breed groups group In eusocial organisms, some individuals forego reproduction to help others Known in many unrelated groups of organisms High levels of social developments Specialized phenotypes (castes) often evolve: foraging, defense, reproduction, etc. 56  Leaf cutter ants HUGE GROUPS 57  > - carrying leaves F cutting leaves Media worker cutting a leaf 58 Media worker carrying a leaf 59 huge mandibles Soldier defending media worker 60  Queen that only one reproduces The queen and nursing minima 61 eatr -ungus on leaves 62 63  Kin selection Kin selection: natural selection that favours genetic contributions to future generations through altruistic - behaviour with close - relatives - Dwarf mongoose life in large family groups and breed cooperatively 64  Kin selection There are two alternative paths to fitness: Reproduce yourself One termite breeds (the queen) all – If you reproduce sexually, others assist her you share 50% of your genes with your offspring Help relatives reproduce – If you reproduce sexually, you share 50% of your genes with each parent, and therefore 50% of your genes with your siblings same genetic pay off 65 66  Kin selection For altruism to evolve, the cost to the organism, such as the loss of fitness, must be outweighed by the indirect benefit, often weighed by the relatedness of the helpee Naked mole rats live in cooperative groups where a single female breeds 67  Kin selection Would I lay down my life to save my brother? No... But would down life lay I my to save two brothers , or eight cousins J. B. S. Haldane 1892-1964 68  Summary Tinbergen articulated four questions at the heart of behavioural ecology Behaviour ecology often focuses on the adaptive significance of animal activities Sexual selection (intra- and inter-) shape many aspects of behavioural ecology Many interesting behaviours have evolved: sexual cannibalism, infanticide, brood parasitism, cooperative breeding, others 69