Animal Behavior - 1St Exam - Part 2

Front 1

Structural colors: Scattering

Back 1

Light reflects off wax/keratin. Color scatters

Front 2

Temporal modulation

Back 2

Color flashing and color change

Front 3

What is necessary for light perception?

Back 3

1. Receptor pigment that is light-sensitive

2. Receptive organ that produces nerve impulse and transmits it to the brains

Front 4

Do flies view objects like a kaleidoscope?

TRUE or FALSE

Back 4

FALSE

Front 5

What determines color differentiation?

Back 5

1. Spectral sensitivity of cone pigments
2. Discrimination ability
3. Maximum

Front 6

How do animals use electric communication?

Back 6

Strongly electric - stun prey
Weakly electric - navigation, communication

Front 7

How do animals generate electric signals?

Back 7

Using electrocytes: modified muscles (or nerve cells) that are arranged in columns inside an electric organ.

Each column is surrounded by insulating material and supplied with nerves

When they get message from brain they produce action potential at the same time

Front 8

Perception of electric fields:

Ampullary receptor organ

Back 8

- Tube opening to the outside, filled with conductive jelly
- Receptor cells that serve as voltmeters; measure the current difference across the skin
- Passive reception
- Found in most fish & sharks

Front 9

Perception of electric fields:

Tuberous recepetor organ

Back 9

- Short canal opened to the surface, leading to a cavity with receptor cells.
- Epithelial plug in the canal to increase resistance
- Can only respond to HIGH freq.
- Tuned to specific range
- Found in weakily electric fish

Front 10

Pheromones

Back 10

intraspecific, benefits sender and receiver on average (used for individuals within a species to communicate - such as marking the territory, mating, or to alter behavior of colony in ants and bees)

Front 11

Allomone

Back 11

interspecific, benefits only sender (Ebola spider releases pheromones to lure moth)

Front 12

Kairomone

Back 12

interspecific, benefits only receiver

(ex: a plant scent that makes the plant more easily identifiable to pests)

Front 13

Pheromones in aquatic habitats:

Important property to remember:

Back 13

Solubility (no relation to molecule size!)

Front 14

Olfactory pathways ---->

Insect senses host-odour : where does it go?

Back 14

main antennal lobe --> mushroom ---> lateral horn of protocerebrum

Front 15

Olfactory pathways in the brain

Insect senses pheromone: where does it go?

Back 15

--->MCG--->Bodies--->Inferior lateral protocerebrum

or! ---->MCG---->Inferior lateral protocerebrum

Front 16

Ritualization involves:

Back 16

- Simplification or reduction in the components
- Exaggeration of the remaining components
- Repetition of the signal
- Stereotypy, or reduction in the variance of signal form during repeated
renditions of the signal

Front 17

Signal evolution:

Example - female water mites

Back 17

Female water mites prey on small water invertebrates by ambush. They wait in a "net stance" by holding up the forelegs. Males imitate prey, get grabbed, released, and then they deposit spermatophores.

Front 18

How does female predatory behavior relate to courtship behavior? How can you test this?

Back 18

TEST: Hungry females should be more likely to respond to male courtship than fed females, when males imitate prey. Hungry females are more likely to respond to male courtship in these water mites

Front 19

Why do females prefer orange coloration in guppies?

Back 19

Males receive carotinoids from their diet only. Females prefer orange food (represents foraging preference)

Front 20

How can it be beneficial for an animal to take flight before a fight happens?

Back 20

If an individual can extract from the signal of its rival that it has a high chance to lose the contest, it should avoid the fight.

Front 21

How is male size in toads correlated with frequency of its croak?

Back 21

The larger the snout-vent length, the low frequency of calls

Male toads can tell the opponents size from its croak

Front 22

What is the benefit of signaling one's own physical condition in animal contests?

For Receiver:

Back 22

A. animal that fighs with others
B. animal that only fights w/others that appear weaker

Type A: could get injured from superior fighters
Type B: reduces costs, avoids superior fighters

It pays to pay attention

Front 23

What is the benefit of signaling one’s own physical condition in animal contests?

Benefit for SENDER:

Back 23

A sender may avoid fights with inferior individuals. Although the chances are high to win these fights, they are still costly (time lost, energy lost, potential risk of injury)

Front 24

Host signaling:

What about cheaters?
(weak imitating the strong)

Back 24

Since it is no more reliable, nobody would pay attention to it --->disappears.

Signals MUST be reliable and honest

Front 25

Cost of signaling:

Why should weak individuals not be able to cheat?

Back 25

TEST: The side blotched lizard shows push-up threat displays. Stronger will do more --->costly, good physical condition

Front 26

How can deception evolve? Why can we have illegitimate signalers?

Example: Fireflies

Back 26

Males find females by signaling with light

Photuris females lure males from other firefly species by imitating signals of the females of that species. Once the male approaches, he's eaten

Front 27

How can deception evolve? Why can we have illegitimate signalers?

2 Reasons:

Back 27

i) Because if it is on average beneficial to respond to a signal that is honest most
of the time, deceptive signals can exist
ii) Because the receiver cannot differentiate between true and deceptive signal

Front 28

How does eavesdropping work?

Example: FROG

Back 28

A frog that does not call will have a
low risk of being attacked by the
bat. But frogs that do not call will have a low mating success.

overall benefit ---> make the call

Front 29

Eavesdropping

Example: Female black-capped chickadee

Back 29

These birds eavesdrop on song contests of intruders as indicated by playback experiments

Front 30

Fitness

Back 30

The average capacity of a phenotype of producing mature offspring
relative to other individuals in the same population at the same time

Front 31

Adaptation

Back 31

1) A phenotypic trait that has become fixed or stable within a
population through the process of natural selection.
2) The gradual process of adjustment of a species’ characteristics to
the conditions of its environment under the effect of natural selection

Front 32

What is an example of a maladaptation?

DUCKS?

Back 32

Brood parasitism in wood ducks and the effect of human interference

Front 33

Maladaptation

Back 33

a trait that is (or has become) more harmful than helpful

Front 34

Which of the examples is a maladaptation?

I) The inability to discriminate between a deceptive and an honest signal
II) The eating of plastic trash by sea birds

Back 34

II)

Front 35

How is building a bower show an adaptive significance for the MALE?

Back 35

Hypoth: Bower may be an indicator of the quality of the male

Prediction: Some features of the bower should correlate with male mating success

Mating success varied very much

Front 36

What does the bower tell the female bird about the male?

Bower quality?
Number of decorations?

Back 36

Ectoparasitic load
Blood parasites
Body size

Front 37

Intrasexual Selection:

Back 37

traits are the consequence of competition within a sex for the access to the opposite sex

Front 38

Intersexual Selection

Back 38

Traits are a consequence of mate choice

Front 39

Potential costs of sexual selection

Back 39

1. time and energy reuired to perform demanding displays or overblown feathers

2. Heightened vulnerability to predators

3. Developmental trade-offs

Front 40

Explain Dominance hierarchy:

Back 40

Individuals in a group interact aggressively resulting in a hierarchy, with the individual at the top (usually the alpha) winning the most or all of the contests

Front 41

Does the rank in heirarchy positively correlate with reproductive success?

Test: Savanna Baboons

Back 41

Alpha secures highest access to females

Front 42

How is size-dimorphism related to polygyny and why?

Back 42

Often attributed to sexual selection favoring large males. Thought to be related to the potential for some males to monopolize access to estrous females.

Front 43

What is the conditional mating strategies for scorpionflies and how does each one work out for them?

Back 43

large males-->give gift or nuptial gift--> most successful mating

Intermediate males---> nuptial gift or secretion (less nutritious than gift)--->Interm. success

Small males--->rape---> least reproductive success

Front 44

What happens when largest males is removed?

Back 44

smaller individuals adjusted their behavior---> conditional strategy

Front 45

Hereditary strategy

Back 45

- Differences between them should be traceable to genetic differences
- Mean reproductive success of the morphs should be equal

Front 46

Conditional strategy -

Back 46

- Behavioral differences should be induced by different environments not genes
- Mean reproductive success of males using alternative tactics need not to be the same.

Front 47

What determines male fitness and what are the requirements for high fitness?

Back 47

- Successfully find/compete for mate
----> Successfully fertilize egg
- Produce viable offspring
- Get adult healthy and competitive offspring

Front 48

TRUE OR FALSE:

Sneakers produce more sperm than parentals relative to their body weight

Back 48

TRUE

Front 49

How can males prevent sperm competition?

Back 49

Mate guarding (ex. damselflies, goby)

Mating plugs