• Shuffle
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Alphabetize
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Front First
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Both Sides
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Read
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
Reading...
Front

Card Range To Study

through

image

Play button

image

Play button

image

Progress

1/55

Click to flip

Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;

Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;

H to show hint;

A reads text to speech;

55 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Psychology
Study of mental processes and behavior. Emphasizes lab experiments and focuses on the role of experience (especially learning). Major goal to understand human behavior
Ethology
The study of animal behavior. Especially in the natural environment.Emphasizes field observations, naturalistic experiments, and innate behavior.
Sociobiology
Studies social behavior, the interactions two or more animals in the context of evolution
Tinbergen's four questions (plus one more) for ethology
1. How is behavior controlled?
2. How does behavior develop in an individual?
3. What is the ecological role of behavior?
4. How has behavior evolved?
5. What are the private experiences of animals?
Appetive Behavior
Seeking to satisfy some physiological need of hunger, thirst, hormonal factors
Consumatory Behavior
Actually satisfying a need, sign stimulus, supernormal sign stimuli, pheromones
Sign Stimulus
In animal behavior, a stimulus that triggers a fixed action pattern
Supernormal Stimulus
Any stimulus that elicits a response more strongly than the stimulus for which it evolved.
Hybrid Behavior
??
Associative Learning
Animals learn to associate external stimuli or their own behavior with positive or negative effects
Imprinting
Irreversible learning limited to a sensitive period. Important in captive breeding programs.
Critical Period
Limited time period in an animal's development when it can learn certain behaviors.
Habituation
Learning not to respond to a repeated stimulus that conveys little or no information
Social Learning
Modification of behavior through the observation of other individuals
Agnostic Behavior
A variety of threats or actual combat that settles disputes between individuals in a population. Violent combat is rare because it reduces a species reproductive species. Conflicts can be over food, mates, or territories.
Optimal Foraging Theory
An animal's feeding behavior should provide maximal energy gain with minimal energy expense and minimal risk of being eaten while foraging.
Territoriality
An area, usually fixed in location, that individulas defend and from which other members of the same species are usually excluded. Provides benefits like exclusive access to food supply, breeding areas, places to raise young, helps individuals avoid predators, and forage more efficiently. Most individuals proclaim their territorial rights continually through song, odor, etc
Dominance Hierarchy
A ranking of individuals based on social interactions
Promiscuous
No strong pair-bonds or lasting relationships exist in mating between males and females
Monogamous
One male and one female mating relationship forms
Polygamous
An individual of one sex mates with multiple individuals of the other sex.
Courtship Ritual
Elaborate ritual where prospective mates confirms that individuals are of the same species, of the opposite sex, physically primed for mating, and not threats to each other
Altruism
Behavior that reduces an individuals fitness while increasing the fitness of others in the population
Inclusive fitness
An individual's sucess at perpetuating its genes by producing its own offspring and by helping close relatives who likely share many of those genes to produce offspring
Dispersion Pattern
The way individuals are spaced within their area.
Life Table
Determines on average how long an individual of a given age could be expected to live
Survivorship Curves
Plot the proportion of individuals alive at each age.
Exponential Growth Curve Model
Gives an idealized picture of unregulated population growth. J-shaped curve. G=rN
Logistic Growth Model
Idealized population growth that is slowed by limiting factors as the population increases in size. S-shaped curve. G=rN((K-N)/K)
Limiting factor
Environmental factors that limit population growth. Ex: food, territory, shelters
Carrying Capacity
Maximum population size that a particular environment can support. It is represented by the symbol K
Boom and bust population cycle
Some populations of animals flutate in density with remarkable regularity
Age-structure diagrams
Reveals population growth trends, indicate social trends
Density Dependent
Increasing population density results in a decrease in birth rate, an increase in death rate, or both.This works in reverse for a decreasing popoulation. Many factors limit population growth
Human Population Growth Curve
Until about 1650 the Earth's human population increased only slightly because on average only 1 to 2 children survived to reproductive age, but as medicine, food, etc. more people survived to reproductive age and the population has increased almost exponentially. 2003 was the first year that growth rate decreased
Ecological Footprint
An estimate of the amount of land needed to support our multiple demands on Earth's resources
Species Diversity
Variety of different kinds of organisms that make up a community
Ecological Niche
The sum total of its use of the biotic and abiotic resources of a habitat
Interspecific Competition
Two different species are competing for the same resource
Disturbance
Events such as storms, fire, floods, droughts, overgrazing, or human activity that damage biological communities, remove organisms from them, and alter the availability of resources
Succession
The disturbed area may be gradually colonized by species which are gradually replaced by a succession of other species
Competitive Exclusion Principle
Two similar species compete for the same resource, so they cannot coexist in the same habitat because one will use the resource more efficiently and thus reproduce more rapidly
Resource Partioning
Differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist in a community.
Batesian Mimicry
A palatable or harmless species mimics an unpalatable or harmful model. Can involve behavior. This allows a species to gain significant protection from prey
Mullerian Mimicry
Two species within a community mimic each other.
Camouflage
A defense against predators in which an organism blends into their enviroment.
Keystone Species
A species that exterts strong control on community structure because of its ecological role or niche.
Coevolution
A series of reciprocal evolutionary adaptations within two species
Parasitism
Lives on or in its host and obtains nourishment from its host.
Pathogen
Disease-causing bacteria, viruses, or protists that could be thought of as microscopic parasites
Commensalism
One partner benefits without significantly affecting the other as opposed to parasitism
Mutualism
Benefits both partners in the relationship. Ex: mycorhaaze
Symbiosis
An interaction between two species or more species that live together in direct contact
Food Chain
Sequence of food transfer up the trophic levels.
Food Web
A network of interconnecting food chains.