Ecology: Species And Their Interactions (Social Behaviour)

Front 1

Define social behaviours.

Back 1

Interactions with members of one's own species, including mates, offspring, other relatives and unrelated individuals.

Front 2

Define dilution effect.

Back 2

The reduced, or diluted, probability of predation to a single animal when it is a group.

Front 3

Define a lek.

Back 3

The location of an animal aggregation to put on a display to attract the opposite sex.

Front 4

Define a dominance hierarchy.

Back 4

A social ranking among individuals in a group typically determined through contests such as fighting, strength or skill.

Front 5

What are the differences between a donor and a recipient?

Back 5

A _______ directs behaviour toward another individual as part of a social interaction whereas a _________ receives the behaviour through the _____ social interaction.

Front 6

Define cooperation.

Back 6

When the donor and the recipient of a social behaviour both benefit from an interaction i.e a lion sharing it kill.

Front 7

Define altruism.

Back 7

A social interaction that increases recipient fitness and decreases the fitness of the donor.

Front 8

What is the difference between indirect fitness and inclusive fitness?

Back 8

_________ is the fitness an individual gains by helping relatives pass on their genes whereas _________ is the sum of direct fitness and indirect fitness.

Front 9

What is the difference between direct and indirect selection?

Back 9

__________ selection favours direct fitness while __________ selection favours indirect fitness.

Front 10

What is the formula for indirect fitness?

Back 10

Indirect fitness benefit = B x r

Where:

B = benefit given to a recipient relative.

r = coefficient of relatedness between donor and recipient.

Front 11

What are the characteristics of eusocial animals?

Back 11

1) Several adults living together in a group.

2) Overlapping generation of parents and offspring living in the same group.

3) Cooperation in nest building and brood care.

4) Reproductive dominance by one or a few individuals and the presence of sterile individuals.

i.e naked mole rats

Front 12

Define a caste.

Back 12

Individuals within a social group sharing a specialized form of behaviour.

Front 13

Define spatial structure.

Back 13

The pattern of density and spacing of individuals in a population.

Front 14

What are the differences between a fundamental niche and a realized niche?

Back 14

____________ the range of abiotic conditions under which a species can persist whereas a ___________ is the range of a abiotic and biotic conditions a species can persist.

Front 15

What is ecological niche modelling?

Back 15

The process of determining the suitable habitat for a species.

Front 16

What is an ecological enevelope?

Back 16

The range of ecological conditions that are predicted to be suitable for a species.

Front 17

Define endemic.

Back 17

Species that lives in a single isolated location.

Front 18

Define cosmopolitan.

Back 18

Species with very large geographical ranges that can span several continents.

Front 19

Define density.

Back 19

The number of individuals per unit area of a population.

Front 20

What are the four types of dispersion?

Back 20

-The spacing of individuals with respect to one another within their geographical range.

-Clustered is when individuals are aggregated in discrete groups e.g., social groups.

-Evenly spaced is when each individual maintains a uniform distance from its neighbours.

-Random is when the position of each individual is independent of others.

Front 21

Define dispersal.

Back 21

The movement of individuals from one area to another.

Front 22

Define dispersal limitation.

Back 22

The absence of a population from a suitable habitat because of barriers to dispersal.

Front 23

What is a habitat corridor?

Back 23

A strip of favourable habitat located between two large pieces of habitat that facilitates dispersal.

Front 24

What is ideal free distribution?

Back 24

When individuals distribute themselves among different habitats in a way that allows them to have the same per capita benefit.

Front 25

What is the basic metapopulation model?

Back 25

A model that describes the scenario in which there are patches of suitable habitat embedded within a matrix of unsuitable habitat, all suitable habitat are assumed to be of equal quality.

Front 26

What is the source sink metapopulation model?

Back 26

A population model that accounts for the fact that all patches of suitable habitat are not of equal quality.

Front 27

What are the differences between source subpopulation and sink subpopulation?

Back 27

_______ is in high-quality habitats where populations serve as a source of dispersers within metapopulations whereas _____ is in low-quality habitats that rely on outside disperser to maintain populations within a meta population.

Front 28

What is the landscape metapopulation model?

Back 28

A population model that considers both differences in the quality of the suitable patches and the quality of the surrounding matrix e.g,. habitat patches.