BIOL 1108 Lecture Notes - Lecture 45: Fixed Action Pattern, Natural Selection, Endocrine System
Document Summary
A response to a stimulus (a piece of information gathered about the environment) Everything an organism does and how it does it. Muscular activities (e. g. movement and sound production) For any behavior, we can ask what causes it, how it develops, what adaptive function it serves, and how it evolved. Knowing the genetic, anatomical, and physiological mechanisms underlying the behavior. Knowing why natural selection favored that behavior. Behavior evolves by natural selection, just like any other traits. These traits have a (partial) genetic basis. A common way to interpret a behavior. How it increases survival and reproductive success. A sequence of unlearned behaviors that is essentially unchangeable and invariant. Generally, a behavior that is so important that all genetic variation has been lost. Behavior is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Normal egg retrieval by a goose is an example of a fixed action pattern, a stereotyped behavior in response to a stimulus.
