Tinbergen's Behavior Model in Depth

ExternalSensorsExternalSensor

Effectors

Environment

Organism

FAP #1FAP #2Sign Stimulus

ActivationCenter

Pattern GeneratorsPG#1PG#2IRMMotor Neurons+++

Intrinsic Motivational

Factors (physiological state of

organism)

InternalSensors

+ or -

Hormonal Levels+ or -ExternalOperational

(motivational)Factors

+ or -

Operational (motivational) pulses from higher level (if any)

+ or -

• Observing vs. Watching

Measuring Animal Behavior

• The Detection Problem• The observability of different subjects• The problem of observer differences• Identification of subjects

• Identification and description of action patterns (ethograms, more later) and behavioral relics.

Measuring Animal Behavior, cntd.

• Quantification (mensuration) - how do we measure behaviors? Not always possible.

• ad libitum (L. "at pleasure")

• Focal-animal sampling

• Scan (instantaneous) sampling

• One-zero sampling

Observer Sampling Techniques

• Single muscle contractions

• Action Patternsmultiple contractions into a

functional sequencestereotypedspecies-typical

• Complex Patterns consist of many linked action patterns

Units of Behavior

Catalog of behaviors and postures (ie., of action patterns)

• Name (short, descriptive, but “non -judgmental”)• Description (only relevant ones need be included)

• Form • Velocity• Duration• Amplitude• Orientation

• Drawings

Ethograms

Examples of Descriptive Drawings

Further Examples

Notice that this behavior actually consists of several action patterns.

Whether to catagorize them as separate or together depends in large part on whether one reliably follows another.

Kinematic Diagrams

Graphs that can be used to understand likely linkages of action patterns.

bd bill dip hs head shake pw preen wing tw tail wag wf wing flap bs bill shake

Abbreviations for Behaviors

Behavior Sequence

(note that time is not part of this description)

Making a Kinematic Diagram

Followed by:

Behavior bd hs pw wf tw total bd 0 9 1 0 0 10 hs 1 5 8 2 0 16 pw 7 2 0 0 0 9 wf 0 0 0 0 2 2 tw 2 0 0 0 0 2

total 39

Primary Transition Matrix:

Making a Kinematic Diagram: Sequence Data

bd hs pw wf tw total bd 0 9/10=0.9 1/10=0.1 0 0 1.0 hs 1 /16=0.0625 5/16=0.3125 8/16=0.5 2/16=0.125 0 1.0

Followed by:

Behavior bd hs pw wf tw total bd 0 9 1 0 0 10 hs 1 5 8 2 0 16 pw 7 2 0 0 0 9 wf 0 0 0 0 2 2 tw 2 0 0 0 0 2

total 39

Our primary transition matrix

Calculations of transition frequencies for the first two behaviors

Making a Kinematic Diagram:Calculation of transition frequencies

bd hs pw wf tw total

bd 0 9/10=0.9 1/10=0.1 0 0 1.0

Making the diagram

hspwbd0.90.1(10)(9)(16)

Making a Kinematic DiagramAdding the Behaviors

wfhs

pwbd

0.9

0.1

0.5

0.0625

0.125

0.3125

bd hs pw wf tw total

bd 0 0.9 0.1 0 0 1.0 hs 0.0625 0.3125 0.5 0.125 0 1.0 pw 0.7778 0.2857 0 0 0 1.0 wf 0 0 0 0 1.0 1.0 tw 1.0 0 0 0 0 1.0

Making a Kinematic Diagram: Adding More Transitions

bd hs pw wf tw total

bd 0 0.9 0.1 0 0 1.0 hs 0.0625 0.3125 0.5 0.125 0 1.0 pw 0.7778 0.2857 0 0 0 1.0 wf 0 0 0 0 1.0 1.0 tw 1.0 0 0 0 0 1.0

twwf

hs

pw

bd

0.9

0.1

0.5

0.0625

0.125

0.7778

0.2857

1.0

1.0

0.3125

The Completed Diagram

• Often involve “behaviors” -- groups of action patterns -- instead of action patterns.

• Using one of the observational techniques mentioned earlier, measure the amount of time spent on a series of behaviors.

Time Budgets

Experimental Data in Ethology

Lab vs. field experiments:

• Control of extraneous variables vs. realism.

Natural Experiments: a situation where nature, unknown to the experimenter at the time, has already produced a situation that can be used as an experimental test of some hypothesis. Dangers?

Manipulated Variable Experiments in the Field

Beewolves -- parasitoids of bees

Designator Action Pattern and Brief Description

H Hover -- hang in water column with fins NOT spread

BR Bottom Rest

B Breathing (surfacing and gulping air)

FS Fin Swim -- slow swimming using pectoral fins; without fins in spread condition

SS Serpentine Swim -- rapid, uses entire body and S-shaped movements without fins in spread condition

S Shaking -- Does the shimmy: shimmies body, usually with fins and gills spread

GS Gill Spread -- only indicate this if the behavior is not done as part of one of the next 5 behaviors.

FSH Fin Spread with body horizontal to mirror. This may include periods of gill spreading as part of the action pattern.

FSP Fin Spread Display with body perpendicular to mirror. This may include periods of gill spreading as part of the action pattern.

A "Arches" body. This may include periods of gill spreading as part of the action pattern.

Ch Charge mirror -- approach rapidly but does touch. This may start from FSP. A charging fish may have its fins and gills spread. A movement towards the mirror out of a display makes the behavior a charge.

Ct Contact mirror -- same as above but with actual contact. Watch approach before designating as either Ch or Ct. Probably a rare behavior for most fish.

L Leave -- swim away from mirror

Betta ethogram data