GOALS:

To develop an understanding of the interdependence of all organisms and the need for conserving natural resources

Organisms adapt to their environment.

Ecology I2.00 To understand that behavior is the pattern of activities an organism develops in response to its environment and that innate and learned behavior differ

2.01 define behavior

2.02 define innate behavior.

2.03 define learned behavior.

2.04 explain what is meant by alternating periods of activity.

2.05 compare and contrast daily rhythms, seasonal rhythms, migration, lunar rhythms, annual rhythms, and migration.

I. Behavior
A. Innate (instinctive or unlearned)
1. Reflexes
2. Instincts
B. Learned
1. Conditioned response
2. Intelligent behavior
II. Alternating period of activity
A. Daily rhythms (circadian)
1. Nocturnal
2. Diurnal
B. Seasonal rhythms
1. Hibernation
2. Estimation
3. Migration
C. Annual rhythms
D. Tidal rhythms

COMPONENT OF SCIENCE: Unifying Concepts Of Science

GOAL:

To enable students to acquire scientific knowledge by applying concepts, theories, principles and laws from life/environmental, physical and earth/space sciences.

2.5 CHANGE - Interactions within and among systems may result in changes in the properties, position, movement, form, or function of systems.

2.5a Everything is constantly changing; rates of change vary over a wide scale with a great variety in patterns of change.

BENCHMARK: The degrees of change possible in a system relate to its function, form, properties, position, and movement.

2.5b Cycles of change can be extended in scales of time, space and material.

BENCHMARK: Interdependence conveys a need for all organisms within the environment to develop a natural, uninhibited, rate of change.

TIME REQUIRED:

Two classes of fifty-five (55) minutes each

Chalkboard, chalk, piece of rotten wood, terrarium, live animal

Anthropomorphism, annual rhythms, circadian rhythm, diurnal rhythm, estivation, hibernation, innate behavior, learned behavior, migration, nocturnal rhythms, rhythms, tidal rhythms.

This classroom connector addresses Instructional Objectives 3.01, 3.02, and 3.03.

A baby bird opens its mouth for the big juicy worm from the mother bird. Who taught it to open wide? (response) Why did it open at all? (response) Today we will learn about the types of behavior for living organisms. These are innate and learned.

Behavior includes all the responses of an organism to its environment. This is one aspect of adaptation that improves an organism's chances to survive and reproduce.

Behavior is the way that an organism acts. There are two types of behavior: innate and learned.

Innate is described as the behavior present at birth; the instinctive, fixed, unchanging behavior that is inherited. It might involve reflexes and instinct. Can you name a reflex? Write these on your paper. (Eye blinks when touched, knee jerk) these are simple, automatic reactions to stimuli. A more complex innate behavior is instinct. Name examples of animal instincts. Write these on your paper. (Nest building, migratory fish, spiders spinning webs, self-preservation). Who teaches a bird to build a nest? (response) How does a spider learn to make intricate designs in a web? (response) How does a tiny kitten know to spit, claw, and bite to escape? (Instinct or self preservation) Think for just a moment. Choose the example of innate behavior that you think would be most important to the survival of the species. Write this down and tell why. (Probably species preservation)

All behavior is not innate. What will you do when the bell rings? (Leave) Why? (response) Is this instinctive behavior? (pause) What kind? (Learned) Learned behavior is not inherited but is flexible and can be changed. Name something that you can teach an animal. (Dog to roll over or beg, fish to swim to area to be fed) This learning is called a conditioned response. Animals respond to stimuli a certain way. If every time you raise your hand, I tell you "Bad, bad! Now you have to be punished!" What will you stop doing? (Raising your hand)

Another type of learned behavior is intelligent behavior. Can you think of anything you have done that requires intelligence today? List two things. (Problem solving, judgments like what to eat, decision making like what to wear) Animals must also use intelligence to find food, a safe habitat or a mate. Often they must communicate and use cognitive skills.

Sometimes we tend to give human qualities and traits to animals. This is called anthropomorphism. An example of this might be when a baby jackal is observed burying his dead mother. What is he probably doing instead of burying out of respect? (Preserving his food supply)

What have we learned today? (response) Once more, please write on your papers the two types of behavior.

Take out a piece of paper. Answer this question. "Name the type of behavior that plants use. Tell why in a short paragraph."

This classroom connector addresses Instructional Objectives 3.04, and 3.05.

A hawk and an owl live in the same area. They are both predators that might eat the same food. Their homes may be less than 100 feet apart. In today's lesson we will learn how these two dwell in harmony because they have alternating periods of activity. This is important for us to understand because humans also are involved in this behavior. Who sat in your chair last class period? (response) You do not really care because they are not using it

The habitat of an organism is the place where it lives. Many organisms may occupy the same habitat because of their lifestyle or rhythm variations. A rhythm is an alternating period of activity. I will write three types of rhythms on the board. (Circadian, seasonal, annual) What does circadian mean? (response) Your circadian rhythm involves three meals, school session, recreation, homework, and sleep. Now what is circadian? (A pattern of activity that occurs over twenty-four hours) Write as many examples as possible on your paper. (Mimosa closes each night and opens in the morning, people go to work each day or night, cows get milked twice a day) As you have listed examples, you may see that you have some nocturnal (active at night) and some diurnal (active during the day) animals and activities listed. Others may be active at dawn and dusk. These are called crepuscular. Name several nocturnal animals. (Some people, owls, bats, some insects, opossums, mink, cats) Name several diurnal animals. (Some people, hawks, eagles, dogs, monkeys)

Some rhythms are described as seasonal. This means that a pattern of activity occurs during a particular season. Name some examples and list them on your paper. (Hibernation, estivation, mating, migration, shedding leaves, flowers blooming, shedding antlers)

What is hibernation? (A period of deep sleep) Many warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals have this reaction to cold. Metabolism slows to a point near death, the heart beats slowly, body temperature drops, breathing is slow, neither urination or defecation occurs. Let's list some animals that hibernate. (Chipmunks, brown bats, Arctic squirrels, ground squirrels, and woodchucks)

Some animals do not truly hibernate but are in a state of torpor. They may sleep most of the winter but awaken often. Name some animals that engage in this behavior. (bear, skunk, opossum, reptiles, amphibians)

Some animals go through a period of inactivity during extreme heat called estivation. Can you think of any advantages of estivation? (response) Name some animals that estivate. (Frogs stay in cool mud, box turtles say in cool mud or leaves) How long would estivation last? (As long as hot period - several day up to several weeks)

Migration is a seasonal movement of organisms from one environment to another. Why do some animals migrate? (Find food, climate, breeding grounds) Name some examples of animals that migrate. (Bighorn sheep in the Rockies, fur seal, monarch butterflies, many birds) How would migration affect the gene pool? (Enlarge the pool for a given population)

Annual rhythms include those cycles which take place on a yearly basis. Can you think of any of these cycles? (Bears giving birth during winter, birds nest and lay eggs in the spring, wild flowers bloom and produce seeds once a year)

The last type of rhythm is tidal. Many marine organisms along the coastline are affected by the rhythmic rise and fall of tidal water. Grunions that lay eggs at night tide are one example of an animal affected by the tide. Can you name others? (Crustaceans, sea birds, many small fish)

What have we learned today? (pause) Name one type of rhythm and tell your neighbor. (Ask several students what they were told.)

The following activities can be used with each lesson in Content Objective 3.00.

1. "Migration Headache." Project Wild, (Aquatic)

(The students will role play migrating water birds traveling between nesting habitats and wintering grounds. the birds are subject to hazards at either end of the migration path as well as along the way.)

2. Choose whether the behavior is learned or inherited.

___a. A cat getting excited at hearing a can opener

___b. A human jumping at a noise

___c. A salamander courting a female

___d. A horse stopping on command

___e. A bird building a nest

___f. A child getting his homework

___g. A baby crying when hungry

3. (The teacher will bring in a terrarium set up with a habitat and a live animal camouflaged within the habitat. Discuss the animal's camouflage techniques and how successful they are.) (From Project Wild, (Elementary)

4. Organisms within a species vary with their traits. As the environment changes, these variations aid in survival of individuals. Because of his survival, these traits are able to be passed on to offspring. Organisms are now adapted to the new environment.

Below are several adaptations. Tell how each might help the species survive.

a. Eyesight of a eagle

b. Hearing of a bat

c. The speed of cheetah

d. Chlorophyll in a plant

e. Thorns in a rose bush

f. Gills in a fish

g. Spines on a cactus

h. Large number of eggs laid by insects.

i. Pouch of marsupials

j. Strong sense of smell for wolf.

k. Crying for a baby

5. (Teacher needs to make mimeograph copies.) Write the letter of the rhythm that matches the activity.

1. frog staying in the mud to stay cool 2. tulips blooming 3. owl hunting for mouse at night 4. eagles leaving Reelfoot Lake to nest elsewhere 5. a day lily bloom (lasts one day) 6. sand crab burying in sand 7 Robins returning in the spring 8. a bird plucking a worm in the warm sunshine 9. a woodchuck sleeping for the whole long winter

A. Circadian B. Nocturnal C. Diurnal D. Seasonal E. Hibernation F. Estivation G. Migration H. Annual I. Tidal



6. Why can a large number of different species of organisms live in a rotten log? (Show a piece of rotten wood.)

7. Why is there a continual, gradual change in the kinds of organisms in a rotting log?

anthropomorphism - the tendency to interpret behavior of organisms other than humans is a way that suggests, without evidence, human-like motives

annual rhythms - an alternating period of activity occurring yearly

circadian rhythm - alternating period of activity occurring daily diurnal rhythm - an organism that is active in the daylight

estivation - A period of dormancy brought on by high temperatures

hibernation - a special inactive state entered into by some animals in the winter

innate behavior - behavior that is present from birth, not learned

learned behavior - behavior patterns that are not inherited but learned, enabling an animal to alter behavior to cope with changes

migration - seasonal movements of organisms from one environment to another

nocturnal rhythms - an organism that is active during the night

rhythms - Alternating periods of behavior

tidal rhythms - alternating periods of behavior depending on the tides coming in and going out

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