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104 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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When the bees were dancing what 2 aspects of their dance indicated distance and direction?
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Duration = distance
Angle from the sun = direction |
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Who were the 3 scientists who jointly received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973 for "for their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns"
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Karl von Frisch
Konrad Lorenz Niko Tinbergen |
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What are Tinbergen's 4 questions?
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Function, causation, development, evolution.
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Explain "function" of Tinbergen's 4 questions.
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Why do they have a certain behaviour; adaptation, ultimate cause
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Explain "causation" of Tinbergen's 4 questions.
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What lead to the behaviour; stimuli; how does it work; has it been modified by recent learning experience?
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Explain "development" of Tinbergen's 4 questions.
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How does the behaviour change with age; which developmental steps or environmental factors play roles in the behaviour?
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Explain "evolution" of Tinbergen's 4 questions.
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How does behaviour compare to related species; how might it have arisen thru phylogeny?
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Behavioural ecology emerged from ____(1)____, pioneered by ____(2)_____ who studied behaviour in the context of ____(3)_____.
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1 = ethology
2 = Tinbergen 3 = evolution |
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3 conditions that must be met for evolution to occur
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1. variation in traits among a population
2. heritability of those traits 3. fitness differences due to those traits |
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What is the basis of Game Theory?
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The success of one animal's chosen strategy depends on the strategies of the other individuals involved
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Based on the conclusions of Game Theory, what 2 things govern behaviour?
This means that success is therefore ____(3)____ dependent. |
1. optimality
2. what strategies are found in the population 3. frequency |
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How does "the Lottery Principle" help explain why organisms use sexual reproduction?
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Buying many tickets all with the same number (asexual reproduction) does not increase your chances of winning (surviving). Buying fewer tickets with different numbers gives you better odds.
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What does "Muller's ratchet" say about asexual populations?
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That they will accumulation deleterious mutations irreversibly - each mutation moves the ratchet one notch forward and it cannot move back
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What do "Red Queen Dynamics" refer to? - "it takes all the running to stay in the same place"
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Sexual reproduction allows for better adaptation to stay in the same ecological niche. Sexual hosts are continually adapting to stay ahead of their parasites
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What is a disadvantage of sex?
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Males are costly because sexual females will have 1/2 the grandchildren as asexual females
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Why do sexes have a conflict of interest in maximizing fitness?
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Anisogamy (gametes sizes differ); males benefit from mating with as many females as possible but females do other things to maximize fitness
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What is Bateman's Principle? What does it result in?
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The sex that invests the most in producing offspring will become the limiting resource over which the other sex will compete. Results in sexual selection, where the males compete and the females become choosy.
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What are inter- and intrasexual selection?
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Intersexual = female preference
Intrasexual = male-male competition for access to females |
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What are three forms of intrasexual selection?
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1. male-male combat
2. sperm competition 3. infanticide |
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What are 4 hypotheses that explain female preference of males in sexual selection?
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1. good genes
2. handicap principle 3. sexy sons 4. good at acquiring resources |
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What is the good genes hypothesis?
What must be true for this theory to be correct? |
Displays/traits by males are indicators of their genetic quality.
Conditions: only males of the highest genetic quality can develop the trait, the trait must be an honest signal (cannot be cheated). |
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What is the handicap principle?
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Says that developing a trait is costly to produce, an honest signal, and a handicap. If it could be cheated then it is not a trait relied upon by females
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What is the sexy sons hypothesis? What does it say of daughters?
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If sexiness is heritable then sons of sexy males will be sexy too, and they'll have a higher mating success.
Daughters will have a higher preference for males having the same sexy trait as their fathers. |
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What is one trait that can indicate disease resistance
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Symmetry
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What is runaway sexual selection, and what stops it?
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It is the back and forth of females selecting for extreme males and males become more extreme in a trait. It stops because the trait can be too costly to make (antlers too big = death haha). Once that happens too-choosy females will be selected against because they will not find a mate
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What are some risks of sexual reproduction?
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Disease transmission, external/internal injury, increased risk of predation while mating or looking for a mate
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How can males chemically manipulate females during sexual reproduction?
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Male ejaculate contains accessory proteins that:
- mimic female hormones causing increased fertility after mating - encourage sperm binding - disable, kill, dislodge sperm present already - change pheramones to make her less attractive to other males |
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What are the best reproductive strategies for males and females?
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Males: polygyny
Females: polyandry |
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What are 3 reasons that females might choose to have multiple matings?
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1. don't want to invest in just one male
2. choice can have benefits for offspring performance ('good genes) and attractiveness of sons ('sexy sons) 3. they have post-copulatory mechanisms - males whose sperm is "better" will win |
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What is one way males can limit female mate choice?
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Mate guarding
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What mechanisms can fully explain patterns of paternity?
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Mechanisms of male-mediated sperm competition
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What is one way females play a direct role in determining paternity?
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Cryptic female choice.
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What is cryptic female choice?
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Eggs can directly select sperm based on haplotype, she can selectively abort defective zygotes, preferentially allocate nutrients to more viable zygotes or she can vary egg size prior to fertilization
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What are some benefits to females mating with multiple males?
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- increased parental care
- greater access to breeding resources - direct protection from male harassment - anti-aphrodisiacs = indirect protection from male harassment |
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What is the war of attrition?
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Males benefit from mating with as many females in as short a time as possible while females benefit from 1 male staying to fertilizer all of her eggs
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War of attrition is found primarily in what kind of mating system?
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polygynandry - when males and females have multiple matings
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When mating in the presence of 0, 1 or 3 other males, how did the sperm production of dominant vs. subdominant cockerals compare?
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Dominant: increased competition = increased sperm production
Subdominant: sperm production increased for 1 competitor, but decreased beyond that |
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What does the receptiveness of females have to do with mating systems?
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Monogamy can result in all females becoming sexually receptive at the same time
If receptiveness is spread over weeks/months then polygyny will develop |
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What is resource-based polygyny?
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Males control resources and only allow 1 female at a time to share with them. the more females there are, the less success they will each have
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What is non-resource-based polygyny?
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Large range size can lead to harems or lekking behaviour where the males must look for females
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What is a lek?
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a communal courting area where the male shows his sexiness and the female chooses who to mate with
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What are the two alternative-male type strategies?
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condition-dependent
genetically-based |
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What causes males to choose either hooknose or jack strategy in Coho salmon? What does their fitness depend on?
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Not sure what facilitates the decision. Fitness depends on the proportion of each strategy in the population.
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What proportion of each male strategy should we find in a population?
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The proportion which maximizes the fitness (fecundity) of each strategy
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What are the 3 strategies of male-types in Bluegill sunfish?
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Parental: territory holder, rears eggs
Sneaker: medium, mimics females Satellite: tiny, dives in between male and female to squirt ejaculate at her |
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How do male bluegill sunfish choose their strategy?
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depends on conditions; good = larger parental male, poor = small sneaker or satellite males
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What are the 3 mating tactics in Bighorn sheep? How do they choose which to use?
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Tending, blocking, coursing
They will switch tactics depending on the situation (who is doing what) |
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Which organism uses a genetically-based male-type strategy? meaning what?
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Marine isopods
They are born in 3 sizes - do not get to choose |
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What are the 3 groups that Blue Headed Wrasse are made of?
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1. primary males
2. females 3. secondary males that used to be female |
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What are protogynous vs. protandric hermaphrodites? Examples of each?
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Protogynous = female first - Blue Headed Wrasse
Protandric = male first - Anemone fish / clown fish |
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(M/F) have higher fecundity at large age/size in protogynous species and (M/F) do in protandric species.
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Males in protogynous
Females in protandric |
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Which of the following show parental care commonly, sometimes, or uncommonly: terrestrial bugs, reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, mammals
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Common: Birds and mammals
Sometimes: Fish (25%), Amphibians (6-18%) Uncommon: bugs and reptiles |
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What are the 4 hypotheses about why female care of young is more common?
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1. investment: she has already invested more
2. paternity uncertainty 3. order of gamete release: difference in opportunity to desert offspring 4. association: female more likely to be around during egg laying or birth |
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If fertilization is external, which sex is more likely to parent? Internal?
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External: there is either no care or more male care
Internal: mostly female care |
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What is the female dilemma in House finches? The outcome?
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whether to go for the sexy red jerk male, or the plain nice male (or an intermediate). First time breeders go for the sexy guy, but they learn and next time will usually choose an intermediate
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What 3 costs are associated with parental investment?
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opportunity costs (to mate)
direct costs (physical) indirect costs (increased mortality/lower future fecundity) |
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What makes lactation so costly?
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- increase energy requirements 3-fold
- delayed future fecundity (hormones) |
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In terms of length of parental care, what behaviours might be selected for?
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parents: able to detect and resist manipulation
offspring: to manipulate the shit out of parents |
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To what does an "asymmetrical interest of parents and siblings" refer? To what can it lead?
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To the offspring, his sibling is 1/2 as important as him (fitness) but to the parent they are equally important. Can lead to sibling rivalry/competition or siblicide.
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As parents get older, should their level of investment change?
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Yes, they should invest more with age because they may not survive for another breeding season
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What is the conflict had between fetus and mother? How is it worsened?
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Fetus wants more investment than is optimal for mom - it tries to increase nutrient transfer. Worsened by genomic imprinting = fathers' genes code for excess nutrient extraction (sexual conflict)
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Describe the 2 types of brood parasites and why they occur.
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1. facultative - occasional deposition of eggs in other nests by species that normally rear their own young. Consequence of nest-loss.
2. obligate - species always deposit eggs into a host nest because they do not have nest-building and parental behaviour. |
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Which type of brood parasitism is primarily intraspecific?
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Facultative - same species
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T or F
1. in facultative brood parasitism females generally disperse while males do not 2. females parasitize nests of mothers and sisters more than expected by chance |
F - females are in natal area
T |
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Which type of brood parasitism is interspecific?
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Obligate
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How did brood parasitism evolve in cowbirds?
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Loss of nest-building ability with move from forests to open habitats
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Describe the 2 types of obligatory brood parasites. Examples?
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1. generalist - will parasitize any/every species. Brown-headed cowbird, black-head duck
2. specialist - only will parasitize specific species and can evolve in order to dupe the host species. Cuckoos, widow birds, honeyguides |
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What are examples of ways that specialist parasitic brood species will dupe host species?
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- egg mimicry (cuckoos)
- parasite young mimic plumage, begging calls and marking of host young (widowbirds) - males learn courtship song of host (widowbirds) |
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How do parasitic birds ensure success (parents and offspring)? Specifically for cuckoos?
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Parents: time laying of eggs right, have rapid laying of eggs, remove host egg prior to laying, have slightly shorter incubation time than host
Chicks: because they hatch before they out-compete host young or kill host young Cuckoos: chicks a few days old will eject host eggs/young from nest, they have a high rate of gaping and begging calls which is irresistible to host mom |
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What influences a host birds' ability to reject or likelihood to accept?
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Ability to recognize parasitic eggs (some species can tell), ability to remove the egg (based on size; larger = more frequently reject), and small birds will abandon a parasitized nest
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what has evolved in parasitic birds to make sure their egg is accepted?
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avian mafia! birds whose eggs are rejected will destroy the birds nest who rejected their egg.
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When is it best to reject and to accept parasitic eggs for a host? Why?
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Best to be a rejector at the egg stage, best to be an acceptor at the chick stage. Because of imprinting! (1st breeding vs. later breeding)
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What is the selfish herd effect?
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When individuals in a group will try to gain the most central position to avoid predation risk
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What are 4 ways that group living decreases predation?
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1. detection - larger groups detect predators better
2. confusion - prey scatter so predator cannot focus on any individual 3. dilution - only have a 1/N chance of being targeted 4. defense - physical or chemical |
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What does vigilance time per individual do as group size increases?
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decreases - more to watch out means less time each must spend watching
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What position to dominant individuals take - central or edge?
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Depends - central can be worse for foraging but better for predator avoidance
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What is predator swamping-synchrony?
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Cicada have 13 or 17 year cycles so that no predators can be in synchrony with them so they emerge all at once (victory in numbers)
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What 2 factors determine how large a hunting group will be? (trade-off)
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% capture rate and food per individual - the combination of these factors will be optimized depending on habitat
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What are expansionists? Contractors?
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As group size increases so does territory (same density)
Group size increases but territory size does not (density increases, resources are limited) |
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How do you determine optimal group size? Is it realistic?
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A Graph of fitness vs. group size is humped, showing that after a certain point (the peak) each individual is a detriment to the group. No - in reality individuals will keep joining and it will not be worth the effort for members to kick them out so group sizes tend to be larger than optimal.
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What is the oddity effect?
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Any individual who is odd will be targeted by predators (decreased confusion effect). Result = synchrony of looks, shape and behaviour
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T or F
When a species is sexually dimorphic they are likely to be sexually segregated |
True - if they are not dimorphic they will be segregated by another factor like size
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What does inclusive fitness have to do with kin selection?
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Kin selection is propagating one's own genes by helping relatives propagate theirs - can increase fitness by helping relatives increase their fitness!
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What factor has a huge impact on the occurrence of altruism? What quantifies this idea?
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Degree of relatedness - Hamilton's rule
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What kind of altruism isn't affected by relatedness?
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Reciprocal - one provides benefit expecting the favor to be returned in the future
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How can cheaters be deterred from defecting?
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Cheating can be limited by punishment or they can be punished by limited access to a group
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Prisoner's dilemma best strategy = tit-for-tat eventual outcome = tragedy of the commons = ???
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Defection
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Cooperative breeding is most common among which taxa?
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Invertebrates
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What is pay-to-stay?
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It is when non-breeding individuals help rear young of breeding pair in order to stay with them
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What does it mean for a species to have a high reproductive skew?
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Very few breeding pair(s) compared to many helpers
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Helpers are more likely to help when (2 things)
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1. they are related to who they are helping
2. it is a good territory |
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What are 4 features of eusociality?
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1. reproductive division of labour
2. overlap of generations 3. cooperative young care 4. sterile castes (not always) |
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What are 2 causes of eusociality?
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kin-selected altruism
high inbreeding |
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In haplo-diploid hymenonptera, to whom are females more and less related to? What, then, is the best way to gain inclusive fitness?
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Most = Sisters (0.75)
mothers and their own offspring (0.5) brothers (0.25) Help raise sisters!! (ie. become workers) |
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Why are termites eusocial?
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because of their very specific castes that don't allow them to venture out of their roles (workers are blind, soldiers cannot feed themselves)
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Is there a sterile caste in naked molerats?
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Nope, but the queen can pee on individuals to make them sterile, forcing them to be helpers
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What is optimization theory?
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what offers the highest return given all the factors and constraints?
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What is the currency of optimal foraging? What are 3 constraints?
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RATE of delivery of food to offspring
Search time(density of prey), travel time (flight speed), load |
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In optimal foraging how does load change with travel time?
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load decreases as travel time becomes shorter
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Why do oystercatchers appear to show non-optimal foraging behaviour and do not go for the largest oysters?
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An additional constraint = handling time = large oysters are difficult to open making it not worth the time and effort to break them open
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Although not included in our optimal foraging model, what factors plays a major role in determining foraging behaviour?
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predators!!
risk of starving (riskiness of food source) |
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What is ideal free distribution?
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If a food source is concentrated in one area compared to another, you should see the same proportion of predators as food in both areas.
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What factor in a habitat can cause sex change to be more important?
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It is important in species that are bound to their territories
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In sex change, why does the largest individual change their sex?
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Big individuals will always change into the sex that has the higher fecundity
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