Animal Behavior Flashcards
What are the four levels of animal behavior analysis?
- physiology
- ontogeny
- phylogeny
- adaptive significance
What two levels of animal behavior analysis deal with the individual animal?
- physiology
- ontogeny
What are the two levels of animal behavior analysis deal with a group of animals (or species)?
- phylogeny
- adaptive significance
What is physiology?
current internal processes
What is ontogeny?
development over time (something that organisms gain over time)
What is phylogeny?
identifying organisms that have a trait and ones that don’t
What is adaptive significance?
identifying why a trait is being developed
What is associative learning?
that learner associates a certain response to an object or a stimulus resulting in a positive or negative outcome
What are the two types of associative learning?
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
association of two unrelated stimuli
What is operant conditioning?
association of behavior and reward
What is the definition of communication?
the process in which actors use specifically designed signals or displays to modify behavior of reactors
What are some examples of signal modalities of communication?
- acoustic
- visual
- chemical
- electric
- vibrational
- tactile
Why is reproductive isolation mutually benefitial?
- increases speciation
- male and female benefit when they can find each other
What is competition?
interaction between organisms or species in which both require a resource that is in limited supply
In parenting and reproduction, who invests the most amount of energy?
females invest more energy than males
Why are females more interested in quality of offspring, rather than quantity?
because they invest more energy towards raising their young, so they would much rather have fewer high quality offspring
Why are males more interested in quantity of offspring, rather than quality?
because males invest less energy in raising the offspring, so they would rather have more offspring
What is intrasexual competition?
competition between the same sex (usually over members of the other sex)
What is intersexual competition?
competition between different sexes (usually to find a mating partners)
What does altricial mean?
offspring requires long term care
What is altruism?
one organism helps another at a cost (VERY RARE)
What is mutualism?
both individuals derive benefit from interaction
What is manipulation?
recipient manipulates donor
What is “accidental altruism” called?
manipulation
What is reciprocity?
helpful behavior based on repayment (give back what you got, and if they don’t give back, don’t give back)
What is “delayed mutualism”?
reciprocity
What is kin selection?
helping because it will benefit relatives
Why is kin selection coined “phenotypically altruistic, genotypically selfish”?
because kin selection is based on that fact, that an organism can help relatives conceive and raise offspring because the organisms genes will technically get passed down
What is evolutionary fitness?
Individual survives to pass on genes
What is direct fitness?
fitness gained by your own survival/reproduction
What is indirect fitness?
fitness gained by aiding survival of kin (kin selection)
What is inclusive fitness?
direct fitness + indirect fitness
What is hamilton’s rule?
a rule that states that altruism is favored if c<rb
What is c in hamilton’s rule?
cost to donor (number of offspring you could have had)
What is r in hamilton’s rule?
relatedness of donor and receiver
What is the value of r of immediate family?
0.5
What is b in hamilton’s rule?
benefit to receiver (how many babies you helped take care of)
What is polygyny?
reproduction which involves one male mating with many females
What is polygandry?
reproduction which involves one female mating with many males
What is monogamy?
one male mates with one female
What is promiscuity?
many males mate with many females
What behavior would males that participate in polygyny exhibit?
aggressive behavior with other males for females
What would the body size of females that participate on polyandry be?
bigger body size
In what type of community would promiscuity be favorable?
where everyone in the community takes care of all offspring
