GATE Ecology and Evolution Behavioural Ecology Syllabus

Behavioural Ecology syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Behavioural Ecology in GATE Ecology and Evolution, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Classical Ethology

   5 topics

   • Instinct
   • Fixed Action Patterns
   • Imprinting
   • Learned Behavior
   • Proximate and Ultimate Questions
2. 2

   Sensory Ecology

   3 topics

   • Neuroethology
   • Communication
     • Chemical Signaling
     • Acoustic Signaling
     • Visual Signaling
   • Recognition Systems
3. 3

   Foraging Ecology

   2 topics

   • Foraging Behaviour
   • Optimal Foraging Theory
4. 4

   Reproduction

   7 topics

   • Cost of Sex
   • Sexual Dimorphism
   • Mate Choice
   • Sexual Selection
     • Runaway Selection
     • Good-Genes
     • Handicap Principle
   • Sexual Conflict
   • Mating Systems
   • Parental Care
5. 5

   Social Living

   8 topics

   • Costs and Benefits of Group-Living
     • Responses to Predators
   • Effect of Competition on Group Formation
     • Scramble Competition
     • Contest Competition
   • Dominance Relationships
   • Eusociality
   • Kin Selection
   • Altruism
   • Reciprocity
   • Human Behaviour

Behavioural Ecology flashcards for GATE Ecology and Evolution

18 of 52 cards from the Behavioural Ecology deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is an instinct in behavioural ecology?

   An innate, genetically programmed behaviour that is performed correctly the first time it is encountered, without prior learning or experience. It is largely stereotyped and species-typical.

2. Define a Fixed Action Pattern (FAP).

   A stereotyped, innate sequence of behaviour that, once triggered, runs to completion independent of further stimuli. It is uninterruptible, species-specific, and produced identically by all members of a species.

3. What is a sign stimulus (releaser) and how does it relate to a FAP?

   A sign stimulus (or releaser when used in social communication) is a specific cue that triggers a Fixed Action Pattern via the innate releasing mechanism (IRM). For example, the red belly of a male stickleback releases aggression.

4. Describe the classic egg-rolling FAP studied by Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz in the greylag goose.

   When a goose sees an egg outside its nest, it extends its neck and rolls the egg back with the underside of its bill. If the egg is removed mid-action, the goose completes the rolling motion to the empty nest, showing the FAP runs to completion.

5. What is a supernormal stimulus?

   An exaggerated version of a sign stimulus that elicits a stronger response than the natural stimulus. Example: a herring gull chick pecks more vigorously at an artificial bill with an exaggerated red spot than at a real parent's bill.

6. Define imprinting and name its discoverer.

   Imprinting is a rapid, largely irreversible form of learning that occurs during a sensitive (critical) period early in life, with no obvious reward. It was characterized by Konrad Lorenz, who studied filial imprinting in greylag geese.

7. Distinguish filial imprinting from sexual imprinting.

   Filial imprinting is a young animal forming an attachment to and following a parent (or moving object) during an early critical period. Sexual imprinting is learning the characteristics of a suitable mate, used later in adulthood for mate choice.

8. What defines a critical (sensitive) period in imprinting?

   A limited window of time early in development during which a particular type of learning (e.g., imprinting) can occur. After the period closes, the learning is difficult or impossible to establish or reverse.

9. List the major categories of learned behaviour.

   Habituation, sensitization, classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, operant (instrumental) conditioning, latent learning, insight learning, and imprinting.

10. Differentiate habituation from sensitization.

    Habituation is a decrease in response to a repeated, harmless stimulus (a simple form of learning). Sensitization is an increase in responsiveness following an intense or noxious stimulus, often making the animal more reactive to other stimuli.

11. Contrast classical and operant conditioning.

    Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning associates a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response (stimulus-stimulus learning). Operant conditioning associates a behaviour with its consequence (reward/punishment), shaping voluntary behaviour (response-consequence learning).

12. What is associative versus non-associative learning?

    Non-associative learning involves a change in response to a single repeated stimulus (habituation, sensitization). Associative learning involves forming a connection between two events or between a behaviour and its outcome (classical and operant conditioning).

13. What are Tinbergen's four questions?

    Tinbergen proposed four levels of explanation for behaviour: (1) Causation/mechanism, (2) Development/ontogeny, (3) Function/adaptive value, and (4) Phylogeny/evolution. The first two are proximate; the last two are ultimate.

14. Distinguish proximate from ultimate questions in animal behaviour.

    Proximate questions ask 'how' a behaviour works mechanistically and developmentally (immediate causes: hormones, neural circuits, genes, ontogeny). Ultimate questions ask 'why' it exists in terms of evolutionary function (fitness consequences) and phylogenetic history.

15. Classify each of Tinbergen's four questions as proximate or ultimate.

    Proximate: causation (mechanism) and development (ontogeny). Ultimate: function (adaptive/survival value) and phylogeny (evolutionary history).

16. What is neuroethology?

    The study of the neural basis of natural animal behaviour—how nervous systems generate and control species-typical behaviours, integrating neuroscience with ethology. It addresses proximate (mechanistic) questions.

17. What is a command neuron, a classic neuroethology concept?

    A single (or small set of) neuron whose activity is both necessary and sufficient to trigger a specific behaviour, such as the lateral giant interneuron driving the crayfish tail-flip escape response.

18. Define a central pattern generator (CPG).

    A neural circuit that produces rhythmic, patterned motor output (e.g., walking, swimming, breathing) without requiring rhythmic sensory input. It underlies many stereotyped, innate behaviours.

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