Behavior+Lab+Student+Manual

BEHAVIOR
(Developed by J. Kilgore, modified by C. Scheele and N. Seefelt and J. Tanner) -To become familiar with multiple methods to quantify behavior -To develop hypotheses and predictions based on initial observations -To collect and analyze data -To practice presentation skills INTRODUCTION The field of behavioral ecology involves the study of ecological and evolutionary processes to explain the occurrence and the adaptive significance of behavioral patterns. In the fields of wildlife/fisheries biology and conservation biology, understanding the behavioral interaction of animal species in a wide range of natural conditions can be critical to management and conservation plans. For example, understanding the details of mating systems has helped to determine acceptable harvest seasons and limits. In addition, knowing migration and dispersal patterns have directed the locations and sizes of preserves. Consider the behavior and interactions of group-living social vertebrates. From an evolutionary standpoint, group living can be adaptive as it confers many benefits to an individual, thus increasing their reproductive success. Groups of animals may be better able to defend themselves against predators, locate and hunt food, assist each other with the rearing of young, provide mates during reproductively active times, and learn survival skills from one another. Many mechanisms exist that help group-living organisms interact without evolutionary prohibitive costs; for example, aggressive encounters can determine rank and dominance hierarchies. In some primates, yawns exposing teeth and direct eye contact are often considered threats. In order to diffuse aggressive encounters, primates may present their hindquarters to dominant individuals. In such social groups, animals communicate through odor, body posture, gestures and vocalizations. Behaviors can be termed adaptive if they aid an individual’s chances of surviving to reproduce. Maladaptive behaviors also exist. In zoo settings, stereotypies are considered to be socially based maladaptive behaviors (i.e. they are misplaced behavior based on an animal’s inability to perform the desired behavior). Stereotypies are seen in many types of animals and include self-mutilation, pacing and rocking. Behavioral ecology is based on the principle that behavior patterns have been shaped by natural selection to maximize the survival and/or reproductive success of an individual. In terms of the day-to-day life of an animal, Krebs and Davis (1993) have translated this principle into an **‘optimality theory’** which has become an important predictive tool in the field of behavioral ecology. This theory asserts that an animal will modify its behavior to maximize the benefits it gains from a behavior while minimizing the associated costs. The magnitude of the costs and benefits of a specific behavior are likely to vary based on the specific conditions under which it occurs. The presence of and distance from predators, distance to protection, quality of food, and hunger are all factors that can influence the foraging decision of an animal as these factors can alter the cost/benefit ratios of this behavior. For example, hungry animals may be more likely to forage under risky conditions than a satiated individual. Consequently, an animal must alter its behavior to accommodate present circumstances and to maximize the benefits it accrues from it. Consider the decisions that gray squirrels (//Sciurus carolinensis//) face when foraging for food. A squirrel’s goal is to maximize its survival by locating, eating, and storing food while avoiding predators (Krebs and Davies 1993). Thus a squirrel’s immediate trade-off is between feeding and danger, with danger represented by potential predators or novel items (new predators, new food items, etc.). These decisions about potential food value and predation can be tested against models of optimal foraging for net benefit (see Brown and Downhauer 1988). Lima et. al. (1985) observed squirrels taking larger cookies provided at a table back to tree cover before eating them, while smaller cookies were eaten at the table. The authors deduced that the larger cookies required greater handling times, which made the squirrels open longer to predation. Eating the smaller cookies at the table maximized feeding rate but with larger cookies, the relative cost of traveling back and forth to the safety of the tree was reduced due to the larger energy gain. The squirrels were balancing the variable trade-offs for maximal benefit. Wariness in urban squirrels can be stimulated by potential predators such as raptors, cats and dogs (Manski et al. 1981, Gustafson and VanDruff 1990). Squirrels balance the fitness gained by foraging and traveling between trees with exposure to predation. What other stimuli may squirrels construe as potentially dangerous? What other cues stimulate wariness? How might habituation to stimuli factor in squirrel behavior? Urban squirrels may potentially encounter novel food and non-food items regularly. How does a squirrel initially learn what is and what is not food? What are some cues scientists can use that indicate a food item is novel to an individual squirrel? METHODS FOR OBSERVING ANIMAL BEHAVIOR Most behaviors can be divided into either states or events. Behavioral **states** are ongoing (can be timed with a stopwatch). Examples of behavioral states are grooming, resting, feeding, etc. Behavioral **events** are instantaneous occurrences such as a bite or a lunge. The choice of a behavioral observation method in a study depends on the type of question being asked, the number and types of behaviors (states and/or events) that you have selected to measure, and practical considerations such as observability, time and equipment. Different recording methods are useful for different kinds of questions (Altmann 1974). For example, if you hypothesize that adult males are more aggressive than juvenile males, you can record the number of times a male threatens another individual.
 * Objectives:**

These are opportunistic observations of all behaviors seen during an observation period, regardless of the individual. This method provides questions, ideas, and hypotheses for future research and often reveals rare behavioral events. However, there is a high potential for biases towards more conspicuous individuals and/or behaviors.

This method allows you to accurately measure several behaviors in selected individuals by observing only **one** focal animal at a time. All occurrences of behavior and interactions are recorded for an individual in a group. This provides accurate data on frequencies and durations of behavior and can be used for states and events. A standard way of recording data for a focal animal sample is to keep a minute-to-minute account of the animal’s activity. At the onset of each minute, record the animal’s behavior and any other behavior observed during this minute. For example: 9:00 feed, rest, groom, feed 9:01 feed (animal feeds during the entire minute) 9:02 feed, approached and threatened by animal B, sits 9:03 sits

This technique focuses on an interaction sequence rather than the behavior of a specific individual. The beginning of the sample period is determined by the beginning of an interaction and ends when the interaction terminates. However, it is sometimes difficult to determine the beginning and end of a sequence. An example of sequence sampling: 9:02 Animal A moves towards the food pile and threatens Animal B; Animal B moves away from Animal A, 2m west and sits down Animal A feeds on the food pile 9:03 Animal A feed and Animal B sits

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To understand and analyze the causes and consequences of behavior requires that we first describe what animals do. An ethogram is a list of the full suite of behaviors characteristic of an individual or a group of individuals, and provides a mechanism for standardizing the study of behavior. For example, you need to define the specific motor patterns you interpret as a threat to assure that other researchers are able to replicate your study. Ideally, ethograms should be constructed by following free-living animals around their natural habitats at different times of day and across a long period of time. One of the most important, and difficult, steps in constructing an ethogram is naming and defining behavior patterns. Everyone will have a slightly different way of describing or recognizing a behavior, and this can bias the data collection. Each behavior must be given a descriptive name without any implication of its possible cause or motivation and without any anthropomorphic comparisons. “Grooming”, “feeding”, “running” and “resting” are all descriptive references, whereas “aggressive behavior” denotes motivation. The very designation of a category with a functional or motivational name often colors the observer’s opinion about how a behavior affects the life of the study animal. For example, below are definitions of three behaviors that may be categorized as aggressive: Chase: Pursuit of an animal by another Attack: One animal leaps at another with both forepaws Fighting: Grappling or wrestling (often including kicking and scratching) Make sure that the definition is as descriptive as possible so that another researcher could recognize the behavior based on your definition. In addition, although some behaviors seem to be self-explanatory, it is necessary to define even the simplest behaviors and be sure not to include the name of the behavior in the definition. Example: Sitting: Sitting on hindquarters (incorrect) Instead: Sitting: Resting on hindquarters (correct) LITERATURE CITED: Altmann, J. 1974. Observational study of behavior: sampling methods. Behaviour 49 (3): 227-267. Brown, L. and J.F. Downhauer. 1988. Analysis of Behavioral Ecology: A Manual for Lab and Field. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA. Krebs, J.R. and N.B. Davies. 1993. An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology. Blackwell Science, Ltd. Oxford, UK. Gustafson, E.J. and L.W. VanDruff. 1990. Behavior of black and gray morphs of //Sciurus// //carolinensis// in an urban environment. American Midland Naturalist 123:186-192. Manski, D.A., L.W. VanDruff, and V. Flyger. 1981. Activities of gray squirrels and people in a downtown Washington, D.C. park: management implications. Transactions of the Forty-Sixth North American Wildlife Conference 46:439-454.

ACTIVITY
As a group, you will decide on a subject animal and location where you will observe its behavior. Selecting highly visible animals on campus (such as ducks, squirrels, chickadees, house sparrows, etc.) will make your observation time more efficient. After selecting your species, your group should observe your species for 15 minutes and construct an ethogram. Once your group has become familiar with the animal’s behavior, your group will be developing a study and completing this study in the lab session. Based on your initial observations, develop a **hypothesis** about the behavior of your species. Be creative! Then develop a **prediction** that you can test in the next 20 minutes. As a group, decide **what behaviors** you should measure and **what method** or methods you will use to gather your data. It is possible that you may incorporate more than one method of collecting behavioral data. You should **design a simple data sheet** (see example) so that all data collection is consistent. However, when you and your group decide to collect data, it is important that all members of the group participate in the data collection. Collect your data for 20-30 minutes. After all groups collect their data, we will return to the lab for data crunching, presentations and group discussion. Do NOT feed the animals you are studying during the lab period! As a group, you will briefly (~5 min) present your study to the class. Include in your presentation a statement of your hypothesis, its rationale, prediction(s), methods, results (graph), conclusions, and how you would conduct this study the next time, except for the obvious need for more data points.
 * Each group needs to turn in one data and calculation sheet and your ethogram to your TA at the end of the session. Your evaluation for this lab will be based on the data sheet, overhead sheet and your presentation.**

Example Datasheet Individual 1 Species:________ Age:___________ Sex:____________
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Mallards exhibit courtship behavior from mid-September throughout the winter until March. Displays visible at this time include the following: Please note that these are only a subset of the behaviors that Mallards exhibit. Use these as a guide to help you to define other behaviors that you observe while in the field. Stokes, D. 1979. Stokes nature guides: A guide to bird behavior. Volume 1. Little, Brown and Company Ltd., Toronto, ON, Canada. List complied by Laura McKinnon
 * Male Head Shake and Tail Shake:** In an attempt to attract a female’s attention prior to a more elaborate courtship display, the male shakes his bill from side to side and may raise his breast out of the water but the wings do not flap.
 * Male Grunt-Whistle:** The male arches his neck with the bill pointed down into the water and then flicks up droplets of water while simultaneously giving a quick whistle call.
 * Down Up:** The male dips the breast and bill into the water and then lifts only the bill up. This is similar to the Grunt-Whistle but without the neck arching.
 * Nod Swims:** Males or females swim with the neck outstretched flat against the surface of the water. Nod swimming in females will cause other males to display. Males often nod swim after copulation.
 * Head Up Tail Up:** Head, wingtips and tail of the male are stretched upwards, then tail and wingtips are lowered and the male turns towards the female, he nod swims and then turns away from the female.
 * Inciting:** Female repeatedly flicks bill over body as she follows her mate.
 * Mock Preening:** Male or female will lift up one wing, fanning the feathers to exhibit the speculum and holds the bill behind its wing, mock preening. This is a possible sign of commitment between a male and a female.
 * Pumping:** Males and females bob heads up and down while facing each other. This is usually followed by copulation.
 * Resting/Sitting:** Males and females will rest in the water or sit on land.

Squirrels on the campus of Michigan State University exhibit a wide range of behaviors. We have listed the following behaviors as a guide to help you understand and label different squirrel activities. //Keep in mind that the behaviors that are listed are only a subset of behaviors that you will see. You will most likely have to define other squirrel behaviors while out in the field.// a. Searching for food b. Eating food a. Walking b. Bounding c. Climbing a. Alarm calling b. Hiding c. Freezing d. Tail switching e. Alertness 1. Pauses in locomotion 2. Sitting looking up 3. Looking up while foraging a. Chasing b. Fleeing
 * Foraging:**
 * Locomotion:**
 * Antipredator Behaviors:**
 * Social Encounters:**

List complied by Wiline Trouilloud

House sparrows typically breed during the spring and summer, but they may engage in nest building and courtship behaviors in fall and winter. House sparrows are also very social birds that often feed and roost together in large groups. They also can be quite aggressive towards others species of birds and chase them away from bird feeders. Stokes, D. 1979. Stokes nature guides. A guide to bird behavior. Volume 1. Little, Brown and Company Ltd., Toronto, ON, Canada. Please note that these are only a subset of the behaviors that House Sparrows exhibit. Use these as a guide to help you to define other behaviors that you observe while in the field. List complied by Elizabeth Smiley
 * Male Hop-and-Bow:** Part of sparrow courtship, one or more males chirp while hopping about in front of female(s) with their heads held high, tails fanned and pointing upward, wings drooping slightly, and their rump feathers fluffed up.
 * Wing-Quiver:** Bird quivers wings rapidly while crouching. This behavior is seen in several contexts. During courtship, the male may use this to respond to a female who approaches during courtship. A female may use this to initiate mating. Males may perform this behavior right before the nestlings fledge. Fledglings may use this to beg for food.
 * Head-Forward:** Body of bird is horizontal with the head forward. Wings are slightly spread. This is an aggressive display often seen at bird feeders when a sparrow is trying to chase another bird away from the food.
 * Tail-Flick:** The bird flicks its tail repeatedly while sitting erect. This is a warning display to other birds in the flock that danger is near (e.g., predators, strange birds near the nest).