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106 Cards in this Set

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How does the optimality hypothesis apply to beachcombing northwestern crow spots?
It cannot use its beak to crack oen the extremely hard shells of certain mollusks. It breaks them open by dropping them on rocks. When a hungry crow is searching for food, it has to decide which mollusk to select, how high to fly before dropping the prey, and how many times to keep trying if the mollusk not break on the first try.
What are the three optimality factors a beachcombing northwestern crow has to decide?
1. Which mollusk to select
2. How high to fly before dropping the prey
3. How many times to drop the prey if it does not break on the first try
What was a central assumption of the crow-whelk optimality study?
Crows would achieve maximum reproductive success by maximizing the number of calories ingested per unit time.
Why don't oystercatchers focus primarily on the largest mussles, even though they provide more calories per minute of opening time?
Many large mussles are covered with barnacles

(It is not due to the fact that some cannot be opened, because that would cause oystercathers to concentrate on mussels 50 mm in lengths, when they actually prefer mussels in the 30-45 mm length
For most foragers, does behavior have consequences above and beyond the acquisition of calories?
Yes, such as analyzing the presence of barnacles.
If foraging exposes an animal to the risk of sudden death, then when the risk is high, what would we expect?
We would expect foragers to sacrifice short-term caloric gain for long-term survival.
Why are ant workers primarily nocturnal, despite an increased availability of food during the day?
Large foragers that work during the day are hard-hit by a parasitic fly, which lays its eggs on them.
Under what condition is game theory especially useful?
Cases in which individuals are in competition with one another for a valuable resources. This approach can be applied, for example, to cases in which two or more foraging techniques exist within the same species.
Whenever two or more distinctive foraging phenotypes are found within a species, why hasn't te type associated with higher fitness replaced its rival over evolutionary time?
Because of the ecological diversity present over the large geographic ranges of these animals. With respect to garter snakes, for example, some fruit fly larvae occur at high density in some places which favors the rover form; in other locations, larvae are scarce, which selects for the sitter phenotype
What happens if one strategy convers higher fitnes than the other,?
Eventually, only the superior strategy will persist.
How can two strategies coexist indefinitely?
Frequency-dependent selection.
What is frequency-dependent selection?
This kind fo selection occurs when the fitness of one phenotype is a function of its frequency relative to the other phenotype. When the fitness of one increases as that type becomes rare, then that hpenotype will eventually increase in frequency in the population. Frequency-dependent selection acts against either type if it becomes still more common, pushing the proportion of that form back toward the equilibrium point at which both types have equal fitness.
In a population in which right-jawed predators predominated, would right-jawed or left-jawed predators have an advantage?
Left-jawed predators, because its victims would be less vigilant with respect to scale-snatchers darting in on the right flank.
If certain predators are not committed to just one foraging method, what can be inferred?
Differences between the types are not caused by genetic differences, but instead reflect an environmental difference of some sort.
What is a conditional strategy?
An inherited mechanism that gives the individual the ability to alter its behavior adaptively in light of the conditions it confronts, such as having high or low status in its social environment.
Do genetic or environmental differences provide a proximate explanation for why alternative behavior phenotypes occur within a population?
Either genetic or environmental
What is the information center hypothesis?
Unsupported hypotehsis that the costs of grouping together are overcome by information gained by observing others, (such as spying on where others have found good food).
What is the exception that supports the information center hypothesis/
In ospreys, birds that see a successful hunter with prey are able to capture the same prey much more quickly than are osprey that hung without the benefit of observing a successful forager. Ravens also demonstrate similar tendencies.
Describe the Darwininan puzzles of the orb-weaving spiders?
Orb-weaving spiders incorporate striking zigzag lines of white ultraviolet silk into their webs, which would seem to make the trap more obvious to the prey that the spider needs to catch.
What are the 4 hypothesis that still lack definite evidence, regarding the Darwinian puzzle of the orb-weaving spiders?
1. Ultraviolet-detecting bees will bee attracted to the web
2. Spiders have been catching many prey, because their webs are in a good spot, so they tend to add decorations with their surplus of energy
3. When passing birds see the bright decorations, they swerve to avoid colliding with the web
4. Another benefit of web decorations might come from having the added silk camouflage the body of the web builder, making the spider less vulnerable to attack from its predators
Describe the evidence, regarding the ultraviolet-seeing bee-attracting hypothesis of the orb-weaving spiders.
Bees constitute the large majority of prey of some spider with ornamented webs; those webs in which only a single line of decorative silk have been laid are more likely to be trapped in the half of the web where the decorative silk resides than in the other half
Describe the evidence surrounding the hypothesis that the webs of orb-weaving spiders spin decorations, because they are in a good location?
Females that received more food mad esignificantly larger deocrations; well-fed females in one species were more likley to add decorations to their webs than were food-deprived individuals. However, the decorated web catches about a third less prey than the undecorated one, so a foraging cost, not a benefit, applies to the web decorations under some conditions.
Describe the evidence surrounding the hypothesis that the webs of orb-weaving spiders avert birds?
Webs with decorations are less often damaged by birds than webs without any "keep away" signals.
Describe the evidence surrounding the hypothesis that web decorations of orb-weaving spiders makes the spider less vulnerable to attack.
In some cases, the spiders were camouflaged; in others, however, spiders with decorated webs were more likely to disappear, suggesting that at least some predators may target the occupants of more conspicuous webs.
Describe a hypothesis for the origin of alcohol consumption?
Since our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, derive most of their calories and nutrients from ripe fruits, it is likely that the ancestral species that gave rise eventually to modern chimpanzees and humans was also a frugivore. Fruit-eating hchimpanzees, and primates in general, prefer ripe fruits because these fruits have the highest concentrations of sugars. Ripe fruits also happen to contain a certain amount of ethanol.
Describe a hypothesis for the origin of the use of spices.
Spices kill the dangerous bacteria that sometimes contaminate our food, especially meats held under imperfect refrigeration. The extent to which spices are used should be a function not of their local cultivation , but of the risk of dangerous microbial contamination, which is related to local climate and the nature of the food being prepared for consumption. As expected, traditional recipes in hot, tropical countries call for more bactericidal spices than do Scandinavian recipes.
What is the pathology hypothesis for the consumption of clay?
Relatively few, possibly somewhat deranged individuals will eat clay
Is the pathology hypothesis of clay-eating supported?
No, since clay eating is, or was, common practice in a diverse set of cultures. What the people in these cultures have in common is a dietary reliance on bitter tannin-rich acorns or bitter alkaloid-laden varieties of potatoes.
What do societies, such as the Aymara, Hopi, and Sardinian natives, in which clay-eating is relatively common practice, having in common?
A dietary reliance on bitter tannin-rich acorns or bitter alkaloid-laden varieties of potatoes; clay renders the food more palatable and less toxic.
Why type of clay was selected by parrots?
Clay that has negatively charged cation exchange sites that bind with positively charged alkaloids and other toxic chemicals found in unripe fruit and certain seeds
What does the round dance of honey bees indicate?
The worker has found food fairly close to the hive, (within 50 m)
What does the waggle dance of honey bees indicate?
She has found a nectar or pollen source more than 50 m away from the hive.
What does measuring the angle of the waggle dance indicate?
The direction to the food source.
What does the worker bee transpose the angle to the food source onto?
The vertical surface of the comb; if the bee walks directly up the comb while waggling, the flowers will be found by flying directly toward the sun. If the bee waggles straight down the comb, the flower patch is located directly away from the sun
Who decoded the dances of honey bees?
Karl von Frisch
What is the proximate mechanism by which bees determine distance they have flown?
The total amount of image motion their visual system has recorded as they fly to a foraging site.
Describe the sex and reproductive capacity of works honey bees?
They are always sterile females; their activities cannot promote their own reproductive success
What happens to bee dancers' movements under diffuse light conditions?
Their movements were disoriented, since they had no one reference point against which to orient their dances.
What happens to dancers' movements under unidirectional light conditions?
Dancing recruiters used the light bulb as a substitute for the sun
WHat happened to the weight of the colonies during the winter season?
Colonies gained mass during the oriented dancing periods and lost mass during the disoriented dancing periods
Does the ability of recruits to secure directional information about food location from others in the colony always have an effect on the mass of the hive?
No; it has an effect during some times of the year and no effect at other times
Give an example of the type of dance that may have preceded the complex dance of certain honey bees.
To indicate the direction of the food sources, the Apis mellifera honey bee simply orients her waggle run directly at it.
What are the three different communication systems used by different stingless bees?
1. Possible first stage: workers run around excitedly, producing a high-pitched buzzing sound with their wings; behavior arouses hivemates, which detect odor of the flowers and leave in search of similar odors
2. POssible intermediate state: workers convey information about the location of the food source; mark the area with a pheromone produced by their mandibular glands
3. Separate distance and directional information
What do the sounds made while unloading food inform recuirts about?
Where the resoruces is in the vertical plane
How do Melipona panamica bees convey information of direction?
The scout leaves the nest to guide recruits in the right direction.
What does the diversity of communication systems among sitngless bees suggest?
Communication about distance to a food source by an ancestor of the honey bee probably first involved only agitated movements by a food-laden worker.
How did communication about the direction to a food source originated?
Originated with personal leading, with a worker guiding a group of recruits directly to the source
On what premise is habitat management based?
Based on the premise that particular species are matched to particular environments.
Describe how habitat preference applies to great tits.
Some individuals occupy source habitats , where the population grows, while others are relegated to sink habitats, where the population eclines. Poor-quality sink habitats are generally utilized by competitors who are unable to insert themselves into superior source habitats, because they are excluded by more accomplished orbits.
In addition to the nature of vegetation and insect productivity, how do nesting blackcap birds select habitats?
Intensity of the competition from others of their species
How did male lizards that lost valuable rocks compensate for the lower density of their rock perches?
Expand the size of their less valuable territory
When happens when a honey bee colony splits in two?
One half which contains the old quen and half of her owrker force fly off in a swarm, leaving the old hive and the remaining workers to a duaghter queen. Departing sqarm settles temporarily in a tree, where the workers hang rom the limb in a mass around their queen. Over the next few days, scout workesr search for chambers. Of the sites within range of the qaiting swarm, only those with a volume of 30-60 liters cause returning scouts to perform a dance back at the swarm. Other works may be sufficiently stimulated to fly to the spot; if they are inspired, send more workers to the region
What happens when a new scout encounters several dozen other works at a new site when establishing a colony at a new location?
She may return to the swarm and begin "piping," which is to say that she produces a vibrational signal that others in the swarm can sense. If enough scouts switch to the piping mode, all of their sisters in the swarm begin shivering; muscle contractions raise the bees' internal temperature to the level necessary for flight
Which nest did bees chose when they were offered two identical high quality nest sites at different distances from the home hive?
Chose the more distant of the two, so they didn't compete for flower patches with the original colony
WHat did the readiness to fly the extra distance when establishing new colonies also correlate with?
The intensity of the potential competition between mother and daughter hives; for example, N. EUropean bee colonies are much larger and would be more likely to compete for food than those in S. Europe; large honey bee colonies, in cold Germany move farther when finding new hive sites than do the much smaller swarms in warmer Italy
Describe a fitness cost on the flight-capable honey bee individuals.
The calories and materials that go into flight muscle development and maintenance presumably have to come out of general energy budget for the development of ovaries; likewise, in some cricket species, flight muscles deteriorate while resources are directed to their ovaries

Dispersing individuals not only have to pay energetic developmental and travel costs, but are also more often exposed to predators
In species that have BB and Bb queens, what is one proximate basis for the behavior difference between the two kinds of queens?
Genetic makeup; if BB queens try to join a colony where several queens are already present, many of hte workers will have a Bb genotype and systematically dismember any new queen that lacks the b allele; thus, BB queens generally avoid established colonies and do the best they can to found colonies of their own.
What is the dispersal by juvenile animals in many species an adaptation against?
Inbreeding depression; the risk of associated genetic problems should in theory reduce the average fitness of inbred offspring, and high juvenile mortality does indeed occur in inbred populations of many animals.
If dispersal helps avoid inbreeding, why do certain ground squirrels remain at or near their natal territories.
Their reproductive success depends on possession of a territory in which to rear their young; female ground squirrels that remain near their birthplace enjoy assistance from their mothers in the defense of their burrows against rivals females.
What happens if young males are not evicted after a pride takeover?
They often leave anyway, without any coercion from adult males and without ever having attempted to mate with their female relatives. Mature males that have claimed a pride sometimes disperse again, expanding their range to annex a second pride of females, at the time when their daughters in pride number one are becoming sexually mature. Proximate inhibition against inbreeding apparently exist in lions and cause males to leave home.
In which birds does short-range migration occur?
nine families of songbirds believed to have originated in the tropics. Of these nine families, seven also include long-distance migrants that move thousands of kilometers from tropical to temperate regions
What does the co-occurrence of short-range and long-distance migrants in these seven families suggest?
Short-range migration preceded long-distance migration, setting the stage for the further refinements needed for the hugely impression migratory trips of some species
What is the most parsimonious interpretation of a phylogeny, regarding migration?
The migratory behavior evolved three times, with subtropical or tropical resident species giving rise to migratory lineages each time
What type of prediction does an optimality approach to migration generate?
Migrants will evolve tactics that reduce the costs of the trip, which obviously include the energy expended in flight
How do pelicans save energy?
They utilize updrafts
How do we know that saving energy the overriding goal of migrating birds?
We would not expect to find so many European songbirds traveling from all across the continent in the fall to cross the Mediterranean.
Why do blackpoll warblers make overwater trips, rather than along the coast?
The se route is about half as long as a land-based trek; second, there are very few predators lying in wait; third, the westerly breezes typical of the southern Atlantic help them reach an island landfall
Is migration solely due to the abundance of food supplies in the areas they travel to?
No, because migrants often abandon areas where food is still plentiful in order to winter elsewhere
What is the most important factor sending wildebeest, zebra, and gazelles north?
A decline in water supplies and an increase in the saltiness of the water in drying rivers and shrinking waterholes. If one knows the salinity of the water available to the great herds, one can predict when they will leave on their march north.
Is food the definitely is not the primary factor causing the monarch butterfly to migrate from the eastern half of N. American to central Mexico.
No; killing freezes occur regulary at night throughout eastern N. America during winter; the risk of freezing to death could be completely avoided in many lower-elevation locations in Mexico.
What type of stands do monarchs flock to in Mexico?
Stands of Oyamel fir
What is interesting about the migratory patterns of European blackbirds?
Some individuals migrate in the fall, leaving the area to others that overwinter on the breeding grounds
What is the two-strategies hypothesis for blackbird migratory behavior correctly predict?
1. The lifetime fitness of the two types should be the same on average
2. The differences between migratory and nonmigratory individuals are caused by differences in their genetic constitution
Is the migratory pattern of different European blackbirds hereditary?
No; an individual bird can switch from the migrant strategy to the resident strategy
What are three predictions supported by the fact that Europeans exhibit different migratory pattern?
1. Blackbirrds should have the ability to switch between tactics
2. Socially dominant birds should adopt the suprior tactic
3. When choosing freely between tactics, individuals should choose the option with the higher reproductive payoff
What is one hypothesis that different members of the same species have different migratory patterns?
Individuals in the different populations achieve equivalent fitness by adopting the optimal migration pattern for their particular breeding site.
What are some risks of territorial aggression?
Risks of injury or exhaustion; in species in which testosterone promotes territorial defense, the effects of the hormone may exact a toll via a reduction in parental care or loss of immune function
Do unusually aggressive territorial males of the side-blotched lizard die at a faster or slower rate than males that invest less in territorial behavior?
They die at a faster rate
Because territoriality is exceedingly costly, when can we predict that peaceful coexistence on an undefended home range should evolve?
When the benefits of owning a valuable resource do not outweigh the costs associated with its monopolization.
When are pseudoscropions territorial?
When they occupy the small and economically defensible patches on a beetle's back, (as opposed to the trees where they also mate)
What is an evolutionary stable strategy?
One that cannot be replaced by an alternative strategy. One simple arbitrary rule might be, "the resident always wins." A mutant with a different behavioral strategy could not spread its special allele ~ the "resident always wins" strategy would persist indefinitely
Are there any species that have been found to employ an arbitrary "resident always wins" rule?
No, but it was thought that the speckled wood butterfly did until they trapped a resident, allowed a new butterfly to settle on his territory, and then released him. Both thought the territory was their home, and they fought.
Is migration solely due to the abundance of food supplies in the areas they travel to?
No, because migrants often abandon areas where food is still plentiful in order to winter elsewhere
What is the most important factor sending wildebeest, zebra, and gazelles north?
A decline in water supplies and an increase in the saltiness of the water in drying rivers and shrinking waterholes. If one knows the salinity of the water available to the great herds, one can predict when they will leave on their march north.
Is food the definitely is not the primary factor causing the monarch butterfly to migrate from the eastern half of N. American to central Mexico.
No; killing freezes occur regulary at night throughout eastern N. America during winter; the risk of freezing to death could be completely avoided in many lower-elevation locations in Mexico.
What type of stands do monarchs flock to in Mexico?
Stands of Oyamel fir
What is interesting about the migratory patterns of European blackbirds?
Some individuals migrate in the fall, leaving the area to others that overwinter on the breeding grounds
What is the two-strategies hypothesis for blackbird migratory behavior correctly predict?
1. The lifetime fitness of the two types should be the same on average
2. The differences between migratory and nonmigratory individuals are caused by differences in their genetic constitution
Is the migratory pattern of different European blackbirds hereditary?
No; an individual bird can switch from the migrant strategy to the resident strategy
What are three predictions supported by the fact that Europeans exhibit different migratory pattern?
1. Blackbirrds should have the ability to switch between tactics
2. Socially dominant birds should adopt the suprior tactic
3. When choosing freely between tactics, individuals should choose the option with the higher reproductive payoff
What is one hypothesis that different members of the same species have different migratory patterns?
Individuals in the different populations achieve equivalent fitness by adopting the optimal migration pattern for their particular breeding site.
What are some risks of territorial aggression?
Risks of injury or exhaustion; in species in which testosterone promotes territorial defense, the effects of the hormone may exact a toll via a reduction in parental care or loss of immune function
Do unusually aggressive territorial males of the side-blotched lizard die at a faster or slower rate than males that invest less in territorial behavior?
They die at a faster rate
Because territoriality is exceedingly costly, when can we predict that peaceful coexistence on an undefended home range should evolve?
When the benefits of owning a valuable resource do not outweigh the costs associated with its monopolization.
When are pseudoscropions territorial?
When they occupy the small and economically defensible patches on a beetle's back, (as opposed to the trees where they also mate)
What is an evolutionary stable strategy?
One that cannot be replaced by an alternative strategy. One simple arbitrary rule might be, "the resident always wins." A mutant with a different behavioral strategy could not spread its special allele ~ the "resident always wins" strategy would persist indefinitely
Are there any species that have been found to employ an arbitrary "resident always wins" rule?
No, but it was thought that the speckled wood butterfly did until they trapped a resident, allowed a new butterfly to settle on his territory, and then released him. Both thought the territory was their home, and they fought.
What is resource-holding power?
Males that succeed in acquiring territories have some sort of nonarbitrary advantage over others
Give an example of a resource-holding power.
Large body size
Is body weight always the resource-holding power factor?
No, as seen in male red-shouldered widobirds; it is advertized by teh size and color of their epaulets, but can be expressed in the absence of this signal
Why might older individuals be more willing to fight?
As territory holders age, their opportunities for future reproductive success falls and as a result, the costs of engaging in energetically expensive or risky contests also decrease; the benefits of territorial possession may also grow over time
What is the "dear enemy" effect?
An aggressive newcomer initially has to spend a lot of time dealing with boundary disputes with neighbors, but once territorial borders have been agreed upon, everyone calms own
Describe how the "dear enemy" effect is illustrated by African lizards.
African lizards will charge at a familiar neighbor at 1/5 the distance it will charge at strangers. Likewise, when chasing a neighbor, the resident pursues him for only a few cm, whereas he keeps after an unfamiliar intruder for a meter and a half on average
What is one purpose of cooperating with the "dear neighbor effect?"
Neighbors may find it advantageous to combine forces to repel an intruder that might otherwise displace one of them
What is the payoff asymmetry hypothesis of territoriality?
Contests between an ex-resident and his replacement will become more intense as the tenure of the replacement increases because longer tenure boosts the value on a site to the current holder and thus his motivation to defend it. This prediction has been supported by tarantula hawk wasps and songbirds
What does the payoff asymmetry hypothesis help explain?
Why the resident almost always wins