Lecture 32. Behavioral ecology: communication

1. What is behavioral ecology?

a. the study of how behavior influences interactions among organisms (i.e., communication, social behavior)

b. the modification of an organism's environment through behavior-- migration, behavioral thermoregulation.

2. What is communication?

a. Communication is "the production of a signal by one organism that causes another organism to change its behavior in a way that is beneficial to one or both" (Audesirk and Audesirk, 1998)

b. Usually between members of same species, but can be interspecific (e.g., aposematic coloration)

3. What is the function of communication?

a. mating

i. locate mate

ii. is mate receptive to mating?

iii. make sure mate is in the same species

b. pass along information to conspecifics

i. how to locate food or living space

ii. warn of predators

c. resolve conflicts

d. build/reinforce social bonds

4. How does communication work?

a. any of the 5 senses (sensory modalities) can be involved, separately or together

b. chemical communication

i. chemoreceptors and chemotaxis in "simple" organisms

ii. olfaction: pheromones

-- moths/ sex attractant of the female

-- alarm pheromone

-- marking territories

-- termite and ant trails for food finding

iii. usually short distance, but a sensitive receiver can stretch that (male moth), very species specific, last a long time, but not too flexible

c. visual communication

i. active visual communication involves a display behavior

-- wolves, cats and dogs

-- courtship dance (birds, insects) or courtship flight

-- visual mating display -- fireflies

-- threat displays -- conflict resolution without injury

-- warning signals -- white tailed deer

ii. passive visual communication-- usually coloration

-- readiness to mate in monkeys

-- adult plumage in birds

-- dewlap of lizards (actively expanded, passively colored)

-- bowerbirds -- make stuctures to attract mates, decorations

iii. finding food -- dance language of bees

-- waggle dance -- encodes location and distance

iv. visual communication is short range, instantaneous, won't alert predators (usually), but useless in the dark (except for fireflies) or in dense vegetation

d. communication by sound

i. mating calls of frogs, birds, insects (ex: mosquito)

-- highly species specific (see G &K, Fig. 38.19)

-- may be learned (e.g. some birds) or innate (insects)

-- can attract predators

* frog-eating bats

* bat-avoiding moths

ii. warning calls, gophers, ground squirrels

iii. vibrational "sound"

-- water striders

-- kangaroo rats

-- leafhoppers

iv. territory defense -- bird song, e.g., redwing blackbird

v. language-- the ultimate complexity

-- different calls for different purposes

-- symbolic, referring possibly to objects distant in space and time

vi. sound carries well over long distances, works well in the dark, can be

tuned to frequencies that aren't heard well by other organisms

e. communication by touch

i. reinforces social bonds-- social insects, vertebrates, especially primates

ii. often precursor of mating (from snails to primates)

Next time: Behavioral ecology: migration and homing