Adaptive behavior (ecology)

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In behavioral ecology, adaptive behavior is any behavior that contributes directly or indirectly to an individual's reproductive success, and is thus subject to the forces of natural selection. [1] Examples include favoring kin in altruistic behaviors, sexual selection of the most fit mate, and defending a territory or harem from rivals.

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Conversely, non-adaptive behavior is any behavior that is counterproductive to an individual's survival or reproductive success. Examples might include altruistic behaviors which do not favor kin, adoption of unrelated young, and being a subordinate in a dominance hierarchy.

Adaptations are commonly defined as evolved solutions to recurrent environmental problems of survival and reproduction. [2] Individual differences commonly arise through both heritable and non-heritable adaptive behavior. Both have been proven to be influential in the evolution of species' adaptive behaviors, although non-heritable adaptation remains a controversial subject. [2]

Non-heritable

Populations change through the process of evolution. Each individual in a population has a unique role in their particular environment. This role, commonly known as an ecological niche, is simply how an organism lives in an environment in relation to others. [3] Over successive generations, the organism must adapt to their surrounding conditions in order to develop their niche. An organism's niche will evolve as changes in the external environment occur. The most successful species in nature are those that are able to use adaptive behaviors to build on prior knowledge, thereby increasing their overall knowledge bank. In turn, this will improve their overall survival and reproductive success.

Learning

Many species have the ability to adapt through learning. [3] Organisms will often learn through various psychological and cognitive processes, such as operant and classical conditioning and discrimination memory. [3] This learning process allows organisms to modify their behavior to survive in unpredictable environments. [3] Organisms begin as naive individuals and learning allows them to obtain the knowledge they need to adapt and survive. A learned adaptive behavior must have a psychological, as well as a biological, component; without the integration of these two disciplines, behavioral adaptation cannot occur.

Kin selection

Kin selection (commonly referred to as altruism) is an example of an adaptive behavior that directly influences the genetic composition of a population. It involves evolutionary strategies that favor the persistence of an organism's relatives, often at the cost of the organism's own survival and reproduction. [4] This will result in population gene frequency variation over successive generations, based on the interactions between related individuals. The probability of altruism increases when the cost is low for the donor, or when there is a high level of gain for the beneficiary. In addition, individuals often display altruistic behaviors when the relative is genetically similar to them. [4] This means offspring or siblings are more likely to benefit from altruism than someone more distantly related, such as a cousin, aunt, or uncle. [5] Kin selection has played a large role in the evolution of social and adaptive behaviors in chimpanzees. Closely related chimpanzees will form a kin group that cooperates to protect a territory, thereby increasing their access to females and resources. [6] By working together with close relatives, they can ensure that their genes will persist in the next generation, even if circumstances make them unable to reproduce themselves. [6] This behavioral adaptation coincides with the chimpanzee's ability to distinguish kin from non-kin (referred to as visual kin selection) allowing chimps to formulate large, complex societies, where they use altruistic methods to ensure their genes persist in future generations. [7] A wide variety of species, including lions, honeybees, and other insects have displayed kin selection as an adaptive behavior. [8] [9] [10]

Territorial defense

As mentioned above, chimpanzees work together with closely related kin to protect their territory. [11] Defending territory from rivals (known as territoriality) is a learnt adaptive behavior performed by several ecological species. The advantage of being territorial varies depending on the species of interest, but the underlying principle is always to increase overall fitness. [12] Many species will display territoriality in order to acquire food, compete for mates, or have the safest lair. Bird song is an example of learned territorial defense. Studies show that birds with high-quality songs will use them as a stimulus to deter predators from their territorial range. [13] Higher quality songs have been proven to act as the best defense mechanism in a variety of bird species, such as the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). [14] Therefore, correct learning of the birdsong early in life is necessary for territory defense in birds. European beavers (Castor fiber) are another species that use territory defense. They are very protective of their territory because they spend a great deal of time and energy familiarizing themselves with the location and building a habitat. Beavers have developed the technique of scent-marking as a way to intimidate intruders. [15] This scent acts as a "psychological fence", thereby decreasing the possibility of injury or death by predation.

Controversy

There is debate on whether or not there exists a biological component associated with the learning process in ecological adaptive behavior. Many researchers suggest that the biological and psychological disciplines are integrated, while others believe that the non-heritable component is strictly psychological. They argue that non-heritable traits cannot evolve over successive generations. [16]

Heritable

Male northern elephant seals will fight to defend their harems from rival males, note the pink scarring on the neck of the dominant male. Northern Elephant Seal, San Simeon.jpg
Male northern elephant seals will fight to defend their harems from rival males, note the pink scarring on the neck of the dominant male.

Organisms can also express heritable adaptive behaviors. These behaviors are encoded in their genes and inherited from their parents. This gives the organisms the ability to respond to situations with their innate response mechanisms. Using these mechanisms, they can respond appropriately to their internal and external environment without having to learn. [3]

Natural selection

Heritable adaptive behavior evolves through natural selection. In this case, some genes better equip individuals to respond to environmental or physiological cues, thereby increasing reproductive success and causing these genes to persist in future generations. Non-adaptive behaviors cause a decrease in reproductive success so the genes are lost from future generations. [3] These adaptive and non-adaptive characteristics arise through random mutation, recombination, and/or genetic drift. [2] Essentially, natural selection is a mechanism that contributes to directional gene selection in individuals that reproduce. Traits that cause greater reproductive success of an organism are favored, whereas those that reduce reproductive success are selected against. [17] [18]

In contrast to learning, natural selection is solely a biological concept. It is the biological and genetic component that allows an adaptive behavior to be inherited with no connection to the environment. This form of adaptive behavior is most commonly considered in ecological studies, and therefore natural selection is often used to explain ecological adaptive behavior in organisms.

Sexual selection

While kin selection is non-heritable and a direct result of the environment, sexual selection is a heritable adaptive behavior, and can therefore can be acted upon by natural selection. Sexual selection refers specifically to competition for mates. [19] Many traits or features that are characteristic of a certain species can be explained by sexual selection as an adaptive behavior; this is because competition for mates results in specific traits being inherited. [19] Only the species that are able to successfully compete and obtain a mate will reproduce and pass their genes on to the next generation. Therefore, species-specific genetic traits must be inherited, allowing individuals to be successful in their designated environments. There are many environmental examples of sexual selection as an adaptive behavior; one popular example is sexual dimorphism. Sexual dimorphism is a morphological, phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. [20] A common example of sexual dimorphism is difference in body size. [20] Sexual dimorphism can specifically be seen in the fish species, Lamprologus callipterus. [21] These male fish are substantially larger (sometimes up to 60 times) than their female counterparts. [21] The male's increased size is advantageous because the larger individuals are able to compete for females, and subsequently defend their offspring, which grow inside empty snail shells until birth. [21] Basically, the larger the male fish, the greater the adaptive benefit. The advantage of being larger and more powerful is demonstrated in the male's ability to compete and protect. In contrast to the males, the female fish must remain small in order to lay eggs inside the snail shells. [21] It is evident that size plays a significant role in the reproductive success of this particular fish species. [22] Large size is a common adaptive behavioral trait that is inherited through sexual selection and reproduction, as demonstrated in Lamprologus callipterus and other sexually dimorphic species.

Importance

It has been proven that adaptive behavior is crucial in the process of natural selection, and thus is important in the evolutionary process. Species that possess positive adaptive behaviors will inherently acquire evolutionary advantages. For example, adaptive behavior is a mechanism of population stabilization. [23] In natural communities, organisms are able to interact with each other creating complex food webs and predator-prey dynamics. Adaptive behavior helps modulate the dynamics of feeding relationships by having a direct effect on their feeding traits and strategies. [23] These adaptive behaviors allow for resilience and resistance in the face of disturbances and a changing environment. [23] In ecology, the coexistence of organisms in natural ecosystems and the stability of populations are central topics. Currently, we live in a world experiencing great changes at a fast rate, mostly due to anthropogenic impacts on organisms and the environment. [23] By studying adaptive behavior one can understand ecosystem complexity – how it emerges, how it evolves, and how it can be maintained.

Measurement

An organism's behavioral strategies and ability to adapt will determine how they respond under different environmental conditions. Fitness is a common measure of adaptive success, and can be defined as the number of descendants left over after a group exhibits a particular behavioral strategy. [24] Successful strategies will result in increased survival and reproduction, which in turn can be characterized as a profitable behavioral adaptation.

Related Research Articles

Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolved to solve. In this framework, psychological traits and mechanisms are either functional products of natural and sexual selection or non-adaptive by-products of other adaptive traits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural selection</span> Mechanism of evolution by differential survival and reproduction of individuals

Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charles Darwin popularised the term "natural selection", contrasting it with artificial selection, which is intentional, whereas natural selection is not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual selection</span> Mode of natural selection involving the choosing of and competition for mates

Sexual selection is a mode of natural selection in which members of one biological sex choose mates of the other sex to mate with, and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex. These two forms of selection mean that some individuals have greater reproductive success than others within a population, for example because they are more attractive or prefer more attractive partners to produce offspring. Successful males benefit from frequent mating and monopolizing access to one or more fertile females. Females can maximise the return on the energy they invest in reproduction by selecting and mating with the best males.

Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from disciplines including psychology, ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population genetics. Within the study of human societies, sociobiology is closely allied to evolutionary anthropology, human behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, and sociology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Behavioral ecology</span> Study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior due to ecological pressures

Behavioral ecology, also spelled behavioural ecology, is the study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior due to ecological pressures. Behavioral ecology emerged from ethology after Niko Tinbergen outlined four questions to address when studying animal behaviors: What are the proximate causes, ontogeny, survival value, and phylogeny of a behavior?

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group selection</span> Proposed mechanism of evolution

Group selection is a proposed mechanism of evolution in which natural selection acts at the level of the group, instead of at the level of the individual or gene.

In evolutionary biology, inclusive fitness is one of two metrics of evolutionary success as defined by W. D. Hamilton in 1964:

In biology, altruism refers to behaviour by an individual that increases the fitness of another individual while decreasing their own. Altruism in this sense is different from the philosophical concept of altruism, in which an action would only be called "altruistic" if it was done with the conscious intention of helping another. In the behavioural sense, there is no such requirement. As such, it is not evaluated in moral terms—it is the consequences of an action for reproductive fitness that determine whether the action is considered altruistic, not the intentions, if any, with which the action is performed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychological adaptation</span>

A psychological adaptation is a functional, cognitive or behavioral trait that benefits an organism in its environment. Psychological adaptations fall under the scope of evolved psychological mechanisms (EPMs), however, EPMs refer to a less restricted set. Psychological adaptations include only the functional traits that increase the fitness of an organism, while EPMs refer to any psychological mechanism that developed through the processes of evolution. These additional EPMs are the by-product traits of a species’ evolutionary development, as well as the vestigial traits that no longer benefit the species’ fitness. It can be difficult to tell whether a trait is vestigial or not, so some literature is more lenient and refers to vestigial traits as adaptations, even though they may no longer have adaptive functionality. For example, xenophobic attitudes and behaviors, some have claimed, appear to have certain EPM influences relating to disease aversion, however, in many environments these behaviors will have a detrimental effect on a person's fitness. The principles of psychological adaptation rely on Darwin's theory of evolution and are important to the fields of evolutionary psychology, biology, and cognitive science.

Human behavioral ecology (HBE) or human evolutionary ecology applies the principles of evolutionary theory and optimization to the study of human behavioral and cultural diversity. HBE examines the adaptive design of traits, behaviors, and life histories of humans in an ecological context. One aim of modern human behavioral ecology is to determine how ecological and social factors influence and shape behavioral flexibility within and between human populations. Among other things, HBE attempts to explain variation in human behavior as adaptive solutions to the competing life-history demands of growth, development, reproduction, parental care, and mate acquisition. HBE overlaps with evolutionary psychology, human or cultural ecology, and decision theory. It is most prominent in disciplines such as anthropology and psychology where human evolution is considered relevant for a holistic understanding of human behavior.

In evolution, cooperation is the process where groups of organisms work or act together for common or mutual benefits. It is commonly defined as any adaptation that has evolved, at least in part, to increase the reproductive success of the actor's social partners. For example, territorial choruses by male lions discourage intruders and are likely to benefit all contributors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mate choice</span> One of the primary mechanisms under which evolution can occur

Mate choice is one of the primary mechanisms under which evolution can occur. It is characterized by a "selective response by animals to particular stimuli" which can be observed as behavior. In other words, before an animal engages with a potential mate, they first evaluate various aspects of that mate which are indicative of quality—such as the resources or phenotypes they have—and evaluate whether or not those particular trait(s) are somehow beneficial to them. The evaluation will then incur a response of some sort.

Sex-limited genes are genes that are present in both sexes of sexually reproducing species but are expressed in only one sex and have no penetrance, or are simply 'turned off' in the other. In other words, sex-limited genes cause the two sexes to show different traits or phenotypes, despite having the same genotype. This term is restricted to autosomal traits, and should not be confused with sex-linked characteristics, which have to do with genetic differences on the sex chromosomes. Sex-limited genes are also distinguished from sex-influenced genes, where the same gene will show differential expression in each sex. Sex-influenced genes commonly show a dominant/recessive relationship, where the same gene will have a dominant effect in one sex and a recessive effect in the other. However, the resulting phenotypes caused by sex-limited genes are present in only one sex and can be seen prominently in various species that typically show high sexual dimorphism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual dimorphism in non-human primates</span> Sexual differences in primates

Sexual dimorphism describes the morphological, physiological, and behavioral differences between males and females of the same species. Most primates are sexually dimorphic for different biological characteristics, such as body size, canine tooth size, craniofacial structure, skeletal dimensions, pelage color and markings, and vocalization. However, such sex differences are primarily limited to the anthropoid primates; most of the strepsirrhine primates and tarsiers are monomorphic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evolution of eusociality</span> Origins of cooperative brood care

Eusociality evolved repeatedly in different orders of animals, notably termites and the Hymenoptera. This 'true sociality' in animals, in which sterile individuals work to further the reproductive success of others, is found in termites, ambrosia beetles, gall-dwelling aphids, thrips, marine sponge-dwelling shrimp, naked mole-rats, and many genera in the insect order Hymenoptera. The fact that eusociality has evolved so often in the Hymenoptera, but remains rare throughout the rest of the animal kingdom, has made its evolution a topic of debate among evolutionary biologists. Eusocial organisms at first appear to behave in stark contrast with simple interpretations of Darwinian evolution: passing on one's genes to the next generation, or fitness, is a central idea in evolutionary biology.

The theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychology are the general and specific scientific theories that explain the ultimate origins of psychological traits in terms of evolution. These theories originated with Charles Darwin's work, including his speculations about the evolutionary origins of social instincts in humans. Modern evolutionary psychology, however, is possible only because of advances in evolutionary theory in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of evolution</span> Overview of and topical guide to change in the heritable characteristics of organisms

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to evolution:

Inclusive fitness in humans is the application of inclusive fitness theory to human social behaviour, relationships and cooperation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social selection</span> Term used in biology

Social selection is a term used with varying meanings in biology.

This glossary of genetics and evolutionary biology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in the study of genetics and evolutionary biology, as well as sub-disciplines and related fields, with an emphasis on classical genetics, quantitative genetics, population biology, phylogenetics, speciation, and systematics. Overlapping and related terms can be found in Glossary of cellular and molecular biology, Glossary of ecology, and Glossary of biology.

References

  1. ↑ Ecology and Behavior from Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life 10th edition. Starr and Taggart 2004. Thompson publishers ISBN   0-534-39746-8
  2. 1 2 3 Buss, D.M. and Greiling, H. 1999. Adaptive individual differences. Journal of Personality, 67: 209-243.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Staddon, J. E. R. (1983). Adaptive Behavior and Learning. Cambridge University Press.
  4. 1 2 Eberhard, M.J.W. 1975. The evolution of social behavior by kin selection. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 50: 1-33.
  5. ↑ Smith, J.M. 1964. Group selection and kin selection. Nature, 201: 1145-1147.
  6. 1 2 Morin, P.A., Moore, J.J., Chakraborty, R., Jin, L., Goodall, J. and Woodruff, D.S. Kin selection, social structure, gene flow, and the evolution of chimpanzees. Science, 265: 1193-1201.
  7. ↑ Parr, L.A. and de Waal, F.B.M. Visual kin recognition in chimpanzees. Nature, 399: 647-648.
  8. ↑ Bertram, B.C.R. (1976). Growing Points in Ethology. Cambridge University Press.
  9. ↑ Peters, J.M., Queller, D.C., Imperatriz-Fonseca, V.L., Roubik, D.W. and Strassmann, J.E. 1999. Mate number, kin selection and social conflicts in stingless bees and honeybees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 266: 379-384.
  10. ↑ Queller, D.C. and Strassmann, J.E. 1998. Kin selection and social insects. Bioscience, 48: 165-175.
  11. ↑ Krebs, J.R. 1980. Optimal foraging, predation risk and territory defence. Ardea, 68: 83-90.
  12. ↑ Gese, E.M. 2001. Territorial defense by coyotes (Canis latrans) in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming: who, how, where, when, and why. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 79: 980-987.
  13. ↑ De Kort, S.R., Eldermire, E.L.B., Cramer, E.R.A. and Vehrencamp, S.L. (2009). The deterrent effect of birdsong in territory defense. Behavioral Ecology, 20: 200-206.
  14. ↑ Yasukawa, K. 1981. Song and territory defense in the red-winged blackbird. The Auk, 98: 185-187.
  15. ↑ Rosell, F. and Nolet, B.A. 1997. Factors affecting scent-marking behavior in Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber). Journal of Chemical Ecology, 3: 673-689.
  16. ↑ Kohn, D. 1976. Two concepts of adaption: Darwin's and psychology's. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 12: 367-375.
  17. ↑ Lande, R. and Arnold, S.J. 1983. The measurement of selection on correlated characters. Evolution, 37: 1210-26.
  18. ↑ Haldane, J.B.S. 1953. The measurement of natural selection. Genetics, 1: 480-487.
  19. 1 2 Andersson, M. (1995). Sexual Selection. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  20. 1 2 Barlow, G.W. 2005. How do we decide that a species is sex-role reversed?. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 80: 28-35.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Kazutaka, O., Masanori, K. and Tetsu, S. 2010. Unusual allometry for sexual size dimorphism in a cichlid where males are extremely larger than females. Journal of Biosciences, 35: 257-265.
  22. ↑ McCormick, M.I., Ryen, C.A., Munday, P.L., and Walker, S.P.W. 2010. Differing mechanisms underlie sexual size-dimorphism in two populations of a sex-changing fish. PLoS One, 5: e10616.
  23. 1 2 3 4 Valdovinos, F.S., Ramos-Jiliberto, R., Garay-Narvaez, L., Urbani, P. and Dunne, J.A. 2010. Consequences of adaptive behavior for the structure and dynamic of food webs. Ecology Letters, 13: 1546-1559.
  24. ↑ Houston, A. and McNamara, J.M. (1999) Models of Adaptive Behavior. Cambridge University Press.
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