Fixed Action Pattern - Significance

Significance

A FAP is significant in animal behavior because it represents the simplest type of behavior, in which a readily defined stimulus nearly always results in an invariable behavioral response. A FAP can truly be said to be "hard-wired." FAPs are also unusual, in that most behaviors are modulated by the environment; a fixed response can lead to maladaptive results, whereas flexible behaviors are generally more useful. Because of this, most behaviors which are both FAPs and occur in more complex animals are usually essential to the animal's fitness or in which speed is a factor. For instance, the Greylag Goose's egg rolling behavior is so essential to the survival of its chicks that its fitness is increased by this behavior being hard-wired. A stickleback will attack any male fish who enters his territory while the female is in heat, reacting to their red colour, while the female stickleback triggers conduct in the male resulting in the fertilization of her eggs. A chick which cannot consistently feed will die. A moth's response to encountering echolocation needs to be immediate in order to avoid predation. However, because these behaviors are hard-wired, they are also predictable. This can lead to their exploitation by humans or other animals.