Animal Orientation in Space

Concept 3: Sensing and Responding to the Environment

Success Criteria & Vocabulary

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Behaviour: An organism's interactive response to its environment.

Gene: Section of DNA that codes for a protein and trait of an organism. 

Habituation: A short term learned behaviour where the organism learns not to respond to a harmless stimulus.

Imprinting: A rapid learning process by which a newborn or very young animal establishes a behaviour pattern of recognition and attraction towards other animals of its own kind. The tendency of young animals to follow the first moving thing they see. 

Innate behaviour: Any genetically determined behaviour (not learned behaviour).

Learned behaviour: A behaviour based on experience, or passed on from one individual to another by imitation.

Motor (efferent) neurons: Neurons that send nerve impulses from the central nervous system (CNS) to effector organs.

Nerve impulse: Electrical signals transmitted through neurons so that the central nervous system can sense the environment (through receptors) and produce a response (through efferent organs).

Pheromone: A chemical that an animal produces which changes the behavior of another animal of the same species.

Physiology : Chemical or physical functions in an organism.

Receptor: A structure that detects stimuli and sends a signal to another part(s) of the organism. 

Sensory (afferent) neurons: Neurons that send nerve impulses from receptors to the central nervous system (CNS).

Stimulus: A change in an organism's environment to which it can respond.

Territory: A defined area, used by an animal for a specific purpose, delineated in some way (e.g. by scent) and defended against individuals of the same species. 

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Concept 3: Support Notes

How do Animals Sense the Environment?

BEHAVIOUR is the result of an interplay between a STIMULUS and an organism's body. In animals, stimuli are detected by RECEPTORS. These are either nerve endings or specialised cells. 

In more complex animals, receptors send information in the form of electrical signals called NERVE IMPULSES along SENSORY (a.k.a. AFFERENT) NEURONS to the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS). Relay neurons within the CNS will transmit this signal to a specific control centre (usually in the brain). Here, the information is interpreted, and nerve impulses are sent along MOTOR (a.k.a. EFFERENT) NEURONS to an EFFECTOR organ (usually muscles or glands) which respond to the stimulus. 

Although animal behaviour involves detecting stimuli as well as responding to them, it is the action of effector organs that is observed. Effectors may be of several kinds:

For example: Glands are effector organs that produce and secrete susbtances which have specific effects.

For example: Cilia are hair-like effector structures important in the movement of fluid along tubes in organisms. In human females, cilia in the fallopian tube propel eggs from the ovary into the uterus. 

For example: Muscle is an effector organ that produces force and usually movement.

For example: Chromatophores are effector cells containing pigment, that change in size to cause the animal to change colour. When chromatophores are under the control of hormones, the response is slow (e.g. in fiddler crabs). In squid and octopus, the chromatophores are under nerve control, so they change colour very quickly!

What are Pheromones? What Effect do they have on Behaviour?

A PHEROMONE is a chemical produced by an animal and released into the external environment where it affects the PHYSIOLOGY or behaviour of members of the same species. 

Pheromones, which are often sex attractants, are common amongst insects and mammals, and commonly relate to reproductive behaviour. Many mammals, including those in the dog and cat families, use scent marking to mark TERRITORIES and advertise their readiness to mate. Other mammals including rabbits, release a mammary pheromone that triggers nursing behaviour in the young. 

Pheromones are also used as signalling molecules in social insects such as bees, wasps, and ants. They may be used to mark a scent trail to a food source or to signal alarm. Pheromones are widely used as baits to attract and trap insect pests. 

For example: Pheromones produced by a honey bee queen and her daughters, the workers, maintain the social order of the colony.

For example: Communication in ants and other social insects occurs through pheromones. Foraging ants leave a trail along the ground that other ants will follow and reinforce until the food source is depleted. Ants also release alarm substances, which will send other ants in the vicinity into an attack frenzy.

For example: In mammals, pheromones are used to signal sexual receptivity and territory, or to synchronise group behaviour. Pheromone detection relies on the vemeronasal organ (VNO), an area of receptor tissue in the nasal cavity. Mammals use a flehmen response, in which the upper lip is curled up, to better expose the VNO to the pheromones. 

For example: Reptiles also use the VNO to detect chemicals. The flicking of a snake's tongue samples chemicals in the environment and delivers them to the VNO. This behaviour is used to detect prey. 

Behaviour is either Innate or Learned.

Behaviour is the set of responses that an organism makes to stimuli. A behavioural adaptation is a behaviour that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment. Behaviours can either be INNATE or LEARNED. 

Innate behaviour

This results from the GENES inherited by an organism from its parents. The behaviour is instinctive and usually shows little variation between different individuals from the same species. 

Innate behaviours are not modified by experience, and so it is inflexible and stereotyped.

For example: Adult herring gulls will regurgitate their food (i.e. bring swallowed food up again to the mouth) when they are pecked on the red spot on their beaks by herring gull chicks. 

For example: Honey bees that have found food perform a set of movements called a waggle dance that tells other bees in the hive the direction and distance to the food. 

Learned behaviour

Learning is the modification of responses as a result of experience. Learned behaviours can vary greatly between individuals from the same species. 

Learned behaviour is flexible, in contrast to the rigidity of innate behaviour.

For example: The monarch butterfly has a bright orange colour and an unpleasant taste to birds. As a result of feeding experiences, birds avoid eating orange butterflies as they have learned to associate their colour with the unpleasant taste. 

Habituation

A snail will withdraw its body when its shell is tapped. This withdrawal response is an innate behaviour that helps it to avoid predation.

If the snail’s shell is tapped repeatedly, but the snail is not attacked by a predator, then the snail stops making the withdrawal response. This is called HABITUATION. Habituation allows animals to avoid wasting energy by responding to repetitive harmless stimuli.

Imprinting

Newly hatched birds of some species learn to recognise their mother and form an attachment to her. They will then follow her around and gain food and protection. This LEARNED behaviour is called IMPRINTING.

Imprinting is partly INNATE because the young birds will only learn to recognise and follow objects that have certain features. For example, goslings imprint on the first object they see that moves, but mallard ducklings imprint on an object only if it moves and also quacks.

Imprinting is useful if the first object with the key features really is their mother. However, young birds can imprint on people, balls and even cardboard boxes if these happen to be the first things they see and they have the correct features.

The period during which imprinting can occur is quite short, and once a bird has passed its critical age, it will not imprint on anything else. Although imprinting is a form of LEARNING, it has the rigidity that is characteristic of INNATE behaviour. 

Concept 4: Simple Response - Taxes

Success Criteria & Vocabulary

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Abiotic factor: Physical or non-living factor such as light, temperature, and humidity.

Homing: The ability of an organism to return 'home' across unfamiliar territory.

Innate behaviour: Any genetically determined behaviour (not learned behaviour).

Kinesis: A non-directional animal orientation response in which the speed or movement or rate of turning is proportional to stimulus intensity.

Learned behaviour: A behaviour based on experience, or passed on from one individual to another by imitation.

Migration: The long distance movement of animals from one region to another, usually seasonally.

Negative response: Response away from the stimulus.

Pheromone: A chemical that an animal produces which changes the behavior of another animal of the same species.

Positive response: Response towards the stimulus.

Stimulus: A change in an organism's environment to which it can respond.

Taxis: Animal orientation and movement in response to a directional stimulus.

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Concept 4: Support Notes

What are Taxes?

Orientation movements in animals can be grouped according to the complexity of the response. 

Let's learn about each of these four concepts (TAXES, KINESES, MIGRATION, and HOMING).

A TAXIS is an INNATE movement of an organism towards or away from a STIMULUS - it has a direction. 

Except from some simple aquatic plants, taxes happen in just animals. Taxes responses are named depending on the type of stimulus that elicits that response. 

What are some examples of Taxes?

Positive phototaxis - movement towards light. 

For example: Many swimming unicellular algae.

Negative phototaxis - movement away from light. 

For example: Earthworms.

Positive chemotaxis - movement towards a chemical. 

For example: Flatworms moving towards meat.

Negative chemotaxis - movement away from a chemical.

For example: Skunks have a small that repels other animals.

Positive geotaxis - movement towards gravity. 

For example: Pipi after being disturbed. 

Negative geotaxis - movement away from gravity.

For example: Land snails after being disturbed.

Positive rheotaxis - movement against a current.

For example: Many stream-living animals such as trout.

Positive thermotaxis - movement towards heat. 

For example: Lice and fleas move towards body warmth. 

A flying male moth, encountering an odour (PHEROMONE) trail left by a female will turn and fly upward until it reaches the female. This behaviour increases the chances of the male moth mating and passing on its genes to the next generation. 

Crayfish will back into tight crevices so that their body is touching the crevice sides. The antennae may be extended out. This behaviour gives the lobsters greater protection from predators. 

At close range, mosquitoes use the temperature gradient generated by the body heat of a host to locate exposed flesh. This allows the female to find the blood needed for the development of eggs.

Blowfly maggots will turn and move rapidly away from a directional light source. Light usually indicates hot, dry areas and the maggots avoid predators desiccation (drying out) by avoiding the light. 

Concept 5: Simple Response - Kineses

Success Criteria & Vocabulary

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Innate behaviour: Any genetically determined behaviour (not learned behaviour).

Kinesis: A non-directional animal orientation response in which the speed or movement or rate of turning is proportional to stimulus intensity.

Klinokinesis: The frequency of changing direction is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus. 

Orthokinesis: The speed of an animal is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus causing the movement. 

Stimulus: A change in an organism's environment to which it can respond.

Thigmokinesis: The animal stops moving when it comes in contact with a surface.

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Concept 5: Support Notes

What are Kineses?

KINESES are INNATE movements in random directions in response to external STIMULI. 

The rate of movement depends on the intensity of the stimulus rather than the direction of the stimulus. The  two main types of kineses are:

Orthokineses

ORTHOKINESIS is where stimulus intensity determines the speed of movement. 

For example: In slaters, the speed of movement is inversely proportional to humidity. Since the rate of movement decreases in damper air, the animals spend more of their time in damp areas. 

THIGMOKINESIS is shown by many animals living in crevices, such as earwigs, which stop moving when they come into contact with a surface.

Klinokineses

KLINOKINESES is where stimulus intensity determines the rate of turning. 

For example: Some flatworms turn more quickly in the light, so when a flatworm leaves a darkened area it turns more often, making it more likely to crawl back into the dark.

For example: The human body louse orientates with respect to body heat. The preferred temperature is 30°C , very close to skin temperature.

What is the difference between Taxes and Kineses?

In kinesis, movement happens in a RANDOM DIRECTION; no movement happens toward or away the stimulus. The stimulus creates a response that makes sure the animal spends more OR less time exposed to that stimulus. 

However, in taxis, movement is DIRECTIONAL. If the stimulus is beneficial, the response will be towards it. If the stimulus is harmful, the response will be away from it.

Concept 6: Complex Response - Homing

Success Criteria & Vocabulary

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Foraging: Searching widely for food.

Homing: The ability of an organism to return 'home' across unfamiliar territory.

Migration: The long distance movement of animals from one region to another, usually seasonally.

Navigation: The process of using environmental cues to find a desired location or stay on a desired course. 

Pheromone: A chemical that an animal produces which changes the behavior of another animal of the same species.

Polarised light: Light rays that occur on a single plane. 

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Concept 6: Support Notes

What is Homing?

HOMING is the ability of an animal to return to its home site after being displaced and it involves NAVIGATION (see Concept 7 below). In many insects, homing is important in increasing FORAGING efficiency because it reduces energy expenditure. 

Homing (returning to a home site) is distinct from MIGRATION, although navigation is involved in both behaviours. Homing behaviour often relies on the recognition of familiar landmarks, especially where the distances involved are relatively short. Navigation, often assisted by the use of trail PHEROMONES, is also involved in the foraging behaviour of many insects. 

What are some examples of Homing?

For example: Limpets return to the same spot to spend the period of low tide, as do most small fish that inhabit tide pools. 

For example: Bees can find their way back to the hive over distances of more than a kilometre. 

For example: Albatrosses (turoa) spend their non-breeding time wandering across thousands of kilometres in the southern oceans. Every two years, they return to their breeding grounds in New Zealand. 

Homing in ants

Cataglyphis desert ants use POLARISED LIGHT to NAVIGATE while  FORAGING, often pausing and turning 360° to apparently note the position of the Sun and the plane of light. When they discover a food source, they return directly to the nest. This ability to determine the direction to the nest reduces travel time when returning to the nest, making foraging more efficient. 

Homing in beewolf wasps

The beewolf digs a nest in sand. It is a predator of bees and captures and paralyses bees as food for its larvae. The paralysed bee is taken back to the wasp's underground nest, where the wasp lays its eggs inside the paralysed, but living bee. 

Tinbergen was a scientist who investigated the homing behaviour of beewolf wasps. Tinbergen found that these wasps used landmarks around their nest to find its way home, and when these landmarks were disturbed, the wasp became disorientated.

Concept 7: Complex Response - Navigation

Success Criteria & Vocabulary

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Constellation: A group of stars forming a recognisable pattern.

Environment: All the factors in an organism's surroundings that can potentially affect it.

Magnetite: A rock mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe3O4. 

Navigation: The process of using environmental cues to find a desired location or stay on a desired course. 

Polarised light: Light rays that occur on a single plane. 

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Concept 7: Support Notes

What is Navigation?

NAVIGATION is the process by which an animal uses ENVIRONMENTAL cues to find a desired location or stay on a desired course. 

Migratory birds must know their flight direction and when they have reached their destination. So they use a wide range of environmental cues to navigate accurately and determine their destination. Cues include star and solar cues, landscape features, wind direction, POLARISED LIGHT, magnetic and gravitational field information, and smell. 

How exactly do animals Navigate using the Stars, Sun, and Earth's magnetic field?

Using stars

Some birds migrate at night using a star compass. Experiments have shown that birds can memorise at least some of the CONSTELLATIONS. The key feature the bird uses is the point around which all the stars appear to rotate. In New Zealand, this is the South Celestial pole.

Unlike the Sun (which appears to move), the direction of the celestial South Pole does not change, so a star compass doesn't require an internal clock. 

Using the Sun

The position of the sun is an important navigational cue for many animals including insects such as bees and ants. To use the sun as a compass, an animal must be able to compensate for the sun's movement through the sky during the day, so the animal must know the time of day.

The disadvantage of a sun compass is that the sun is not always visible. This limitation is reduced by the ability of birds and many insects to see ultraviolet light from the sun - UV light penetrates the clouds better than the visible spectrum of light. Also, some animals can  see POLARISED LIGHT and can detect the plane of light in the sky even if the Sun itself can't be seen. 

For example: Bees communicate the direction and distance of the food source through the waggle dance. If food is located directly in line with the Sun, the communicator bee demonstrates it by running directly up the honey comb. To direct bees to food located either side of the Sun, the bee introduces the corresponding angle to the right or left of the upward direction into the dance. Waggle dancing bees that have been in the hive for an extended period adjust the angles of their dance to account for the changing direction of the Sun. This means directions to the food source are still correct even though the Sun has changed positions.

For example: Bees (and probably birds) can also see polarised light. When light arrives at the edge of the atmosphere, its waves are in planes (i.e. it is unpolarised). But as it passes through the atmosphere, it becomes polarised in a plane that depends on the angle between the Sun and the direction in which the observer is looking. So as long as part of the sky is clear, the position of the sun can be worked out. 

Polarised light may also play an important role in underwater navigation by fish and whales. Even in the clearest water, the sun's direction cannot be seen at depths of greater than about 200 metres, but light which does penetrate remains polarised down to depths of over 1000 metres. 

Using the Earth's magnetic field

A wide range of animals, such as bees, mice, pigeons, foxes, and some fish and amphibians, have been shown to find their way using a magnetic sense. A magnetic sense may help to give information about an animal's position, in two ways:

A very small amount of MAGNETITE (a magnetic form of iron oxide) has been found in the abdomens of bees and in the brains of pigeons, and it seems likely that these filaments are part of the magnetic sensory system. 

Concept 8: Complex Response - Migration

Success Criteria & Vocabulary

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Adaptive advantage: Any trait that results in an organism having a greater chance of surviving to an age where it can reproduce.

Breeding: The mating and production of offspring by animals."

Environment: All the factors in an organism's surroundings that can potentially affect it.

Flocking: The behavior exhibited when a group of birds are foraging or in flight.

Innate behaviour: Any genetically determined behaviour (not learned behaviour).

Learned behaviour: A behaviour based on experience, or passed on from one individual to another by imitation.

Migration: The long distance movement of animals from one region to another, usually seasonally.

Navigation: The process of using environmental cues to find a desired location or stay on a desired course. 

Niche: The sum total of an organism's requirements; its way of life.

Overwintering: The process by which some animals wait out that period of the year when "winter" conditions (cold or sub-zero temperatures, ice, snow, limited food supplies) make normal activity or even survival difficult.

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Concept 8: Support Notes

What is Migration?

MIGRATION is the long distance movement of individuals from one place to another. It usually occurs on a seasonal basis and for specific purposes: E.g. feeding, BREEDING, or OVERWINTERING (i.e. to pass through or wait out the harsh winter conditions). 

Many animals move great distances at different times of the year or at certain stages in their life cycle. Migratory behaviour is INNATE, but there may be a LEARNED component for repeat migrants. The behaviour is triggered by an ENVIRONMENTAL cue, e.g. a change of season. 

Watch the video to the left: "Where do birds go in winter?"

Migration carries risk and high energetic cost. Animals must spend a lot of time building energy stores that will fuel the effort. Animals can die while migrating, or get lost or blown off course. 

In order for migratory behaviour to evolve and be maintained, the advantages of migration must outweigh the disadvantages. The new environment in their migration destination must be able to provide some of the following to give migration an ADAPTIVE ADVANTAGE:

Watch the video to the left: "Bird migration, a perilous journey."

What are the Benefits of Group Migration?

Although some animals MIGRATE individually, many migrate in large groups. 

Group migration helps NAVIGATION by what is called the "many wrongs principle" in which the combining of many inaccurate navigational compasses produces a more accurate single compass. So, if an animal navigates by itself with a slightly inaccurate internal compass, or inaccurately interprets environmental cues, it may arrive in the wrong location. In a group, each member can adjust its heading according to the movement of the others. So, an average direction is produced and each member is more likely to arrive at the correct place. 

Increasing group size decreases the time taken to reach a navigational target when the group is moving as a social unit. Non-social groups take longer with increasing size because of the need to avoid others in the group. 

In SCHOOLING fish, individuals in the centre of the school uses less effort. FLOCKING and schooling also provide feeding benefits and reduce the risk of predation along the migration route. 

Flocking birds increase aerodynamic efficiency to each other, saving energy.

What are some examples of Migration?

Migrations come in many forms. Often they are over long distances and involve a return journey. However, migrations do not have to be long distances or seasonal. Many marine animals migrate from the deep ocean to the surface daily to feed, this may only be a distance of a few hundred metres or less. 

For example: Migratory locusts are found in desert regions of northern and eastern Africa, the Middle East and Australia. Their migration is in response to an expanding population with limited food. The lack of food triggers development of the more voracious (wanting large amounts of food), migratory form.

For example: European eels migrate across the Northern Atlantic ocean to spawn in the Sargasso Sea off the coast of Florida. The larvae that hatch from the eggs gradually drift back across to Europe, a migration that takes several years. Eventually they enter estuaries and move upriver where they feed, grow, and mature. 

For example: A number of whale species, including humpback and grey whales, follow an annual migration. In summer, they feed in the krill-rich waters of polar regions. In winter, they move closer to the equator to give birth to young conceived the previous year and to mate again. They seldom feed in transit.

For example: Green turtles migrate between coastal foraging areas and nesting grounds. They return from the coasts of South Americal to the beach of their spawning on Ascension Island to lay eggs. 

For example: Monarch butterflies have one of the longest of all insect migrations. Five or more generations are needed to complete one migration cycle. In North America, the insects overwinter in mass roosts in southern California or near Mexico City. In spring they migrate north, with some even reaching Canada by late summer, then return south for winter.