Animal Final Exam Part 1

Front 1

Infanticidal behavior in house mice

Behavior, what it depends on, timeline,

Back 1

the amount of time the mouse is infanticidal is the amount of time that the female is pregnant pups born so he is protective of young, once they grow up he is infanticidal again.

What is important for this circadian rhythm is the number of light dark cycles, not the amount of hours.

timeline: infanticide until week 3, protective from 3 to week 7, infanticide from week 7-10

Front 2

three classes of steroids

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androgens (generates male characteristics (testosterone)), progestin (promotes gestation (progesterone)), estrogen (estradiol)

Front 3

testosterone and progesterone in inexperienced, experienced without pups, experienced with pups

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males that mated but didn't have pups had significantly more testosterone; progesterone was highest with inexperienced, second highest with experienced (no pups), and lowest with fathers. suggests that progesterone increases infanticide.

What increases progesterone: testosterone is aromatized to estradiol which alters how genes are transcribed (binds to promotor to increase transcription). More testosterone leads to more progesterone.

Front 4

what are steroid hormones derived from

Back 4

cholesterol

Front 5

testosterone and the japanese quail

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japanese quail have little interest in the female before copulation, but will creepily stare at it for hours afterwards (in hopes to copulate again). this is because they got a huge surge in testosterone which is controlling the sexual behavior

Front 6

test to prove that testosterone controls sexual motivation in japanese quail

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castrated the males than gave them testosterone or T+aromatase inhibitor (only activate testosterone and isn't aromatized to estrogen). just testosterone would lead them to stare at female. aromatase inhibitor would make them stop looking at female. says that it is estrogen receptors that are active.

Front 7

what controls territorial behavior in song sparrows

Back 7

estrogen.

Front 8

ground nesting gulls

Back 8

build nest on ground so it is easy to get to them. If they see their nest is at risk, they will mob at the threat and sometimes defecate on them. Goal of this is to distract predators. Don't do this all the time becasue evolution isn't 100% perfect because prey/ predators have to contend with a constantly evolving environment

Front 9

arctic moth

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highly sensitive to ultrasonic stimuli even though there aren't any bats around. arctic squirrels are also extremely afraid of snakes and will give alarm call even though there aren't any snakes.

Front 10

constraint #1 in evolution

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failure of appropriate mutations to occur; selection may not keep up with the environmental change (arctic moth/ squirrel) (moths going towards light even though bats are more likely there) sometimes this is the result of man-made things that resemble things that are normally found in their environment

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constraint #2 in evolution

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pleiotropy (need to know how to spell). 1 gene having many effects.

a gene can have a benefit for one aspect of behavior, but cause a negative effect overall. Or it can increase reproductive fitness, but have negative effects

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constraint #3 in evolution

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coevolution: species interact, affecting the fitness of each other's members, so evolutionary stability does not occur

cheetah speed and antelope speed keep increasing

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cost- benefit approach

Back 13

analyze phenotypes in terms of fitness

Front 14

predator Distraction Hypothesis

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Predicts that mobbing makes predators expend more searching effort and that the benefit of mobbing will be proportional to the extent that predators are actually mobbed.

Tested by placing eggs around gull colony and counted how many eggs were eaten relative to the amount of mobbing. found that crows were mobbed a lot more when they were inside the colony and mobbed less when they were farther away. They also found less eggs, the more the mobbing occurred.

Front 15

The comparative method for testing hypotheses about adaptations

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test predictions about the evolution of a trait by comparing animals to other species that face similar selection pressure.

Nesting gulls in cliffs don't mob because they don't need to. the cliffs serve as their protection so they don't need to develop mobbing

Front 16

convergent evolution

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same adaptive solution to environmental obstacle, even though animals come from different ancestral species.

Mobbing behavior in gulls is also found in ground squirrels who gather together around snakes and kick sand and bark.

Front 17

Dilution hypothesis

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dilute the risk of a single individual being attacked and captured.

Why butterflies group together even though they are pretty territorial

also why bees sleep in clusters on stocks so they are proportionally killed less at night.

Mayflies only come out of water a few days a year and sink this with each other. whey they all come out together, only a few will get eaten and it will throw off predators since they aren't coming out everyday so they won't be waiting for them.

Front 18

swarming and aggregating attack as a defense

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african honey bees will attack beekeepers that distub the hive. this makes it so the bee keepers won't keep them. wasps also swarm as a defense tactic.

Front 19

sawfly larvae defensive atttack

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larvae feed on eucalyptus leaves which have toxic oils. they regurgitate these toxins onto attacking ants or birds as a defense strategy

Front 20

camouflage & orientation

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moths come in a dark variant and a light variant and camouflage in with birch wood. blue jays have an easier time detecting them when it is turned heads up (therefore moths prefer to be oriented heads down)

Front 21

active camouflage

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African assassin bugs cover their body in anything they can find and pile it on their backs (especially dried corpses). Hard for predatos to tell what it is looking at

Front 22

skipper butterfly larva antipredation

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frass-flinging. throw their pellets so they can't be found by smell

Front 23

Side blotched lizards- who's the most fit

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survival to the next offspring decreases with testosterone so the ultra dominant have the least success. Success also depends on who is the most prevelant. (more orange means that sneaker is more fit).

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cephalopods include the

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squid, cuttlefish, and octopus

Front 25

why is group selection unpopular

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what looks like group selection is possibly kin selection supporting similar & shared genes get passed on

Front 26

multilevel selection

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selection on the level of genes, individual, and the group is constantly occurring all the time, just one may be more predominant for a certain trait

Front 27

octopus predator avoidance

Why and How (4 ways)

Back 27

frequently preyed upon by sting rays, sharks, and aggressive fish.

Don't have a way to fight back so they need to camouflage which they can do because they are:

boneless (ability to change shape),

can tighten different muscles to transform a different texture, and

have chromatophores (sacs of yellow, red, brown, & black pigment that can change their shapes to blend in with their surroundings)

have iridophores which are skin reflection and give them an iridescent effect (shimmering)

leucophores (light scattering effect)

Front 28

how do chromatophores work

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a chromatophore unit is one chromatophore cell plus all the muscles, nerve, glial & sheath cells. the pigment granules are in an elastic sac (cytoelastic sacculus), they can distort this sac to change the color and translucency and reflectivity. They do this through radial muscles that contract under stimulation (similar to pupil in eye)

Front 29

why are blue-ringed octopi dangerous

Back 29

they can bite and give people tetrodotoxin which blocks sodium channels and causes paralysis

Front 30

Otto the octopus

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juggled hermit crabs for attention, rearranged tank, throws rocks at lights, crawls above the tank and shoots water at people.

could also open jars

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mimic octopus

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habitat: oceans near indonesia/ malaysia which have very few hiding spots. mimics other animals in the environment (leaf-shaped sole, lionfish, sea snake) to avoid predation

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aposematism

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antipredator adaptation that works by using a warning coloration instead of blending in with the environment

Front 33

batesian mimicry

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mimic to avoid confrontation (like other poisonous animals)

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aggressive mimicry

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mimic profits from interaction with the signal receiver (mimic an animal to attract another animal nearby so you can eat it)

Front 35

what governs camouflage decisions

Back 35

how much light is available- they are translucent at ambient dim light, but will become colored when bioluminescent-like blue light is shown on them

and predation risk- some animals look for shadows so if they are transparent they can't be seen, but some look for bioluminescence so they can be seen if they are transparent. cephalopods have developed to have the best of both worlds by being transparent when light is dim (no shimmering from light) but have some speckles when light shines on them

Front 36

monarch butterflies conspicious camouflage

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don't camouflage, but instead show bright colors to warn of their toxins to predators. have toxins because larvae feed on poisonous milkweed and retain these toxins. naive bluejays will sometimes eat them and get sick

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tephritid fly

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waves its banded wings as if trying to catch predators. this is actually because they have markings on wings that when they wave them around look like the legs of a jumping spider which is the predator of the tephritid fly's predator

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Honest signal

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for example, push up displays of lizards tell snake how physically fit they are so they won't want to have to chase after them.

Stotting is another example of this

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stotting

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repeatedly jumping into the air with all four legs held stiff and back arched. works as an anti-ambush approach. This is an example of pursuit deterrence because it tells the cat they won't want to have to chase them.

Front 40

rabbit screaming

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rabbits scream when caught. This is to call other predators to the scene to provide competition where the animals fight and they can get away

Front 41

optimality theory

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cost and benefit of trait compared to determine which confers the greatest net benefit. Optimal trait is adapted to replace the alternative.

Northern Bobwhite quail

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northern bobwhite quail

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covey size has an optimal number. 1-10 quails have a pretty high chance of death, but 10-15 quails have a lower chance. this is probably due to competition for food resources.

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game theory

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costs and benefits of behavioral decisions considered under the assumption that all animals in group are trying to benefit their own reproductive success. Supports selfish gene hypothesis

Penguins "selfish herd" policy

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Penguins "selfish herd" policy

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jumping into the ocean is risky because of predation so they wait until a group has assembled and then jump in all at once. Competition for safest position (in the middle of the herd) occurs

Front 45

optimal foraging behavior for crows

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drop crows when they are facing downward part of dive so they can see where they drop it, choose whelks that are a certain weight, drop whelk when it is at a certain height (6 meters) that has optimal net energy

Front 46

Leaf cutter ants

Back 46

show optimal timing to avoid predation. collect leaf material to grow fungus garden in their nest. some animals ride on leaf (tiny guard). susceptible to parasitic insects that try to lay their eggs in them. guard aggressively waves limbs around if they are being attacked. Foraging occurs at night even though it is harder to find food. this is because the parasitioid phorid flies aren't out at this time

Front 47

roseate terns

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they are in competition for the resources so some of the birds specialize to different phenotypes to become more competitive. Some roseate terns get food from stealing prey from other terns. there is a hunting phenotype and another phenotype that steals. There is an equilibrium point (35%) between these two terns.

Front 48

kleptoparasite

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phenotype of roseate terns that steals food

Front 49

African Cichlid

Back 49

specialization between two phenotypes is important for their success. the cichlid gets food by stealing scales off of other fish so they have a slight curve to either the right or the left of their mouth. They coexist with the other fish through frequency-dependent selection.

Front 50

frequency dependent selection

Back 50

as the frequency of one phenotype changes, it causes the frequency of the other phenotype to change. eventually they will come to an equilibrium point where they can coexist

Front 51

Learning in orcas and hunting behavior

Back 51

in captivity, it was found they would regurgitate fish onto the surface, attract gulls and then eat the birds. what's important is that others watched this and then copied it.

Other hunting behavior includes splashing seals off ice, beaching themselves to catch seals, round up prey into tight balls near the surface; tail-slap the ball to stun/ kill (called carousel feeding), tonic immobility- immobilize prey by physically inverting species to immobilize and suffocate it. they can even do this with a great white shark

Front 52

How are large nesting colonies advantageous

Back 52

because neighbors can tell you where the food is (only in ospreys)

Front 53

why do some spiders build thick UV reflecting conspicious webs

Back 53

Insects are more likely to be trapped in more decorated webs (could be because well-fed spiders can build bigger and better webs). Possibly this is a signal for other animals not to disturb their webs.

Front 54

why do some animals consume alcohol

Back 54

because they have evolved to consume fruits which have a strong ethanol concentration which they can smell when ripe.