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55 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Psychology
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Study of mental processes and behavior. Emphasizes lab experiments and focuses on the role of experience (especially learning). Major goal to understand human behavior
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Ethology
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The study of animal behavior. Especially in the natural environment.Emphasizes field observations, naturalistic experiments, and innate behavior.
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Sociobiology
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Studies social behavior, the interactions two or more animals in the context of evolution
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Tinbergen's four questions (plus one more) for ethology
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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? |
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Appetive Behavior
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Seeking to satisfy some physiological need of hunger, thirst, hormonal factors
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Consumatory Behavior
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Actually satisfying a need, sign stimulus, supernormal sign stimuli, pheromones
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Sign Stimulus
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In animal behavior, a stimulus that triggers a fixed action pattern
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Supernormal Stimulus
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Any stimulus that elicits a response more strongly than the stimulus for which it evolved.
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Hybrid Behavior
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??
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Associative Learning
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Animals learn to associate external stimuli or their own behavior with positive or negative effects
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Imprinting
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Irreversible learning limited to a sensitive period. Important in captive breeding programs.
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Critical Period
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Limited time period in an animal's development when it can learn certain behaviors.
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Habituation
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Learning not to respond to a repeated stimulus that conveys little or no information
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Social Learning
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Modification of behavior through the observation of other individuals
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Agnostic Behavior
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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.
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Optimal Foraging Theory
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An animal's feeding behavior should provide maximal energy gain with minimal energy expense and minimal risk of being eaten while foraging.
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Territoriality
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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
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Dominance Hierarchy
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A ranking of individuals based on social interactions
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Promiscuous
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No strong pair-bonds or lasting relationships exist in mating between males and females
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Monogamous
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One male and one female mating relationship forms
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Polygamous
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An individual of one sex mates with multiple individuals of the other sex.
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Courtship Ritual
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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
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Altruism
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Behavior that reduces an individuals fitness while increasing the fitness of others in the population
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Inclusive fitness
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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
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Dispersion Pattern
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The way individuals are spaced within their area.
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Life Table
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Determines on average how long an individual of a given age could be expected to live
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Survivorship Curves
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Plot the proportion of individuals alive at each age.
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Exponential Growth Curve Model
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Gives an idealized picture of unregulated population growth. J-shaped curve. G=rN
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Logistic Growth Model
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Idealized population growth that is slowed by limiting factors as the population increases in size. S-shaped curve. G=rN((K-N)/K)
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Limiting factor
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Environmental factors that limit population growth. Ex: food, territory, shelters
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Carrying Capacity
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Maximum population size that a particular environment can support. It is represented by the symbol K
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Boom and bust population cycle
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Some populations of animals flutate in density with remarkable regularity
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Age-structure diagrams
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Reveals population growth trends, indicate social trends
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Density Dependent
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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
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Human Population Growth Curve
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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
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Ecological Footprint
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An estimate of the amount of land needed to support our multiple demands on Earth's resources
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Species Diversity
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Variety of different kinds of organisms that make up a community
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Ecological Niche
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The sum total of its use of the biotic and abiotic resources of a habitat
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Interspecific Competition
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Two different species are competing for the same resource
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Disturbance
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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
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Succession
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The disturbed area may be gradually colonized by species which are gradually replaced by a succession of other species
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Competitive Exclusion Principle
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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
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Resource Partioning
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Differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist in a community.
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Batesian Mimicry
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A palatable or harmless species mimics an unpalatable or harmful model. Can involve behavior. This allows a species to gain significant protection from prey
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Mullerian Mimicry
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Two species within a community mimic each other.
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Camouflage
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A defense against predators in which an organism blends into their enviroment.
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Keystone Species
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A species that exterts strong control on community structure because of its ecological role or niche.
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Coevolution
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A series of reciprocal evolutionary adaptations within two species
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Parasitism
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Lives on or in its host and obtains nourishment from its host.
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Pathogen
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Disease-causing bacteria, viruses, or protists that could be thought of as microscopic parasites
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Commensalism
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One partner benefits without significantly affecting the other as opposed to parasitism
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Mutualism
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Benefits both partners in the relationship. Ex: mycorhaaze
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Symbiosis
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An interaction between two species or more species that live together in direct contact
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Food Chain
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Sequence of food transfer up the trophic levels.
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Food Web
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A network of interconnecting food chains.
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