Fixed action pattern: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:09, 20 November 2024

Revision as of 04:10, 20 November 2024

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This term is often associated with [[Konrad Lorenz]], who is the founder of the concept.<ref name=":03"/> Lorenz identified six characteristics of fixed action patterns.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |title=Studying animal behavior : autobiographies of the founders |date=1989 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |others=Dewsbury, Donald A. |isbn=0226144100 |___location=Chicago |oclc=19670401}}</ref> These characteristics state that fixed action patterns are stereotyped, complex, species-characteristic, released, triggered, and independent of experience.<ref name=":22" />

Fixed action patterns have been observed in many species, but most notably in fish and birds.<ref name=":03"/><ref name=":15" /> Classic studies by Konrad Lorenz and [[Nikolaas Tinbergen|Niko Tinbergen]] involve male stickleback mating behavior and greylag goose egg-retrieval behavior.<ref name=":82">{{cite journal |last1=Tinbergen |first1=N. |title=The Curious Behavior of the Stickleback |journal=Scientific American |date=1952 |volume=187 |issue=6 |pages=22–27 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1252-22 |jstor=24944080 |bibcode=1952SciAm.187f..22T }}</ref><ref name=":92">{{cite journalbook |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674430389.c6 |chapter=Taxis and instinctive behaviour pattern in egg-rolling by the Greylag goose (1938) |title=Studies in Animal and Human Behaviour. Volume I |date=1970 |isbn=978-0-674-43038-9 }}</ref>

Fixed action patterns have been shown to be evolutionarily advantageous, as they increase both fitness and speed.<ref name=":112">{{Cite web |url=https://www.jove.com/science-education/10919/fixed-action-patterns |title=Fixed Action Patterns {{!}} Protocol |website=www.jove.com |access-date=2019-10-24}}</ref> However, as a result of their predictability, they may also be used as a means of exploitation. An example of this exploitation would be brood parasitism.<ref name=":132">{{cite journal |last1=Peer |first1=Brian D. |last2=Robinson |first2=Scott K. |last3=Herkert |first3=James R. |title=Egg Rejection by Cowbird Hosts in Grasslands |journal=The Auk |date=October 2000 |volume=117 |issue=4 |pages=892–901 |doi=10.1093/auk/117.4.892 |doi-access=free }}</ref>