Behavioral ecology

it drives human nature and has to be actively controlled or directed. Human nature still controls many common behaviors, for example: Competitive, Dominant, Territorial, Matting Rituals for men and women, Racist, Cooperative, Communicative, Herding and Instinctual behaviors. What are instincts? Well it’s an innate, typically fixed pattern of behavior in animals in response to certain stimuli. (Webster’s) Some may say that humans can stop the instinctual behavior before it starts. However, this is not accurate. How can you stop doing something that you are not even aware that you are doing? Neil Campbell describes it as “The term fixed action pattern (FAP), or modal action pattern, is sometimes used in ethology to denote an instinctive behavioral sequence that is relatively invariant within the species and almost inevitably runs to completion” in the 1996 Biology text book. “We find consistent evidence that genetic risk for adolescent delinquency and violence is largely context dependent: genetic risk is amplified among individuals under low-social-control (LSC) conditions, but suppressed among those under high/moderate-social-control (HMSC) conditions.” (Liu 882) First let’s talk about competition. Dominant individual obtain access to limited resources at the expense of the submissive individual. Competition over natural resources such as food, energy and water is something that will never go way no matter how hard society tries to suppress it. It’s called survival of the…

Behavioral ecology usage patterns such as site fidelity, residency, and distribution are known to be reliant on ecological factors (Campbell, Bilgre, & Defran, 2002). The ways in which ecological factors affect such usage patterns are based on the ratio of costs, like competition for food or other resources, to benefits, like protection from predators, and this ratio as a whole is greatly affected by the predictability of resources in the area both temporally and spatially (Lusseau et al., 2004;…

The Red Lionfish, or Pterois volitans, is a subtropical fish species originating from Asia that has distinctive red, white, brown, and maroon stripes. Adult lionfish can grow up to around 17 inches long, with fan-like pectoral fins and many dorsal spines along their body, all of which are venomous (Raloff J. 2006). This peculiar fish is considered one of the most successful fish invader in the western Atlantic Ocean as it consumes a wide variety of prey. Several life history and behavioral…

Influence of Abiotic Factors like pH, Temperature, and Light on Habitat Selection of Artemia franciscana Introduction Habitat selection is a behavioral decision concerning abiotic (non-living) factors in an environment, such as light, temperature, or pH. A species is known to prefer a set of specific factors in their environment that allow them to have maximum capability of reproduction and survival. Artemia franciscana are usually considered to be generalists, because they are able to live in…

Hull Crew’s points and expand on my belief that those changes within the Yellowstone Park will not only be limited to the Park itself but far beyond borders (Hull-Crew, Clayton, The Reintroduction of Wolves in Yellowstone: A Cascade of Events. May 2015. US Represented Web. http://www.usrepresented.com/2015/05/08/the-reintroduction-of-wolves-in-yellowstone-a-cascade-of-events/). First, in order for one to understand the Trophic Cascade of events, it would be useful to understand Charles Darwin’s…

TOLERANCE OF LIVING ORGANISMS TO LIMITING FACTORS Marjorie Villareal INTRODUCTION It is a recognized principle of Ecology that the interactions of organisms and environment are reciprocal. The environment not only determines the conditions under which life exists, but the organisms influence the conditions prevailing in their environment as well (Brett, 1969). When organisms encounter harsh abiotic conditions, they may have one of two responses. Evolutionary adaptations in their morphology,…

Invasive species, also called nature’s invaders, are a species that is not native to the environment it now lives in and is harmful to the ecosystem of that environment. They can be there due to a natural phenomenon, such as a flood, but more likely they were brought there by humans. Therefore, humans play a huge role in creating and controlling invasive species. An invasive species is able to cause the extinction of the native plants and animals, they multiply quickly and take a lot of the…

The worst development outcomes are found in the countries with the majority of natural resource endowments. “There are twenty-three countries in the world that derive at least sixty percent of their exports from oil and gas and not a single one is a real democracy” (Patrick). In developing countries, an increasingly important part of economic growth is the management of natural resources. This allows governments to deliver services to their citizens and it also creates jobs (“Creating Jobs”).…

There are two major reasons of this movement, the first one is the baby boom that came after the World War II. The rapid growth of the population distorts the age structure of America. From 1940 to 1950, there were almost 27 million people aged from 14 to 24, and this number increased to 40 million in the 1960s. Thus, in the 1960s, the Unite States was full of youth groups, and made government a huge rush. Setting up schools for children to study, and making them blend in the dominant value…

future. Seattle is the most northerly major city in the U.S where summer days are long and winter nights are dark and cold. The weather is often overcast and some periodic sun breaks. As the “Emerald City,” it is a city of elegance, space, and magic. In the book “Emerald City,” Matthew Klingle gives an argument that "nature and culture are inseparable, and sometimes the best of intentions to split the two have produced the worst sort of evils," resulting in steep environmental and social costs…