Animal Behaviour Flashcards
Phenotype and evolution.
Natural selection acts on phenotypes, the extended phenotype.
Asking questions about behaviour= Tinbergen’s four questions.
Give an overview of evolutionary biology
Population genetics
Changes in gene frequencies in populations.
molecular evolution
History of life recorded in DNA sequences.
Systematics
Evolutionary relationships between species.
(an attempt to understand real tree of life)
Palaeontology
Macroevolution.
Evolutionary ecology
Phenotypes and reproductive success.
Describe phenotype and reproductive success
We inherit genes, nothing else.
Natural selection can “select for” a gene, but the gene itself is not the object of selection.
Genes themselves are “invisible” to selection, but the proteins coded by the genes influence the phenotype of the individual.
In turn, the phenotype influences reproductive success and thus fitness.
Name phenotypes that influence reproductive success?
(Life history strategy)
Age and size at maturity
Number and size of offspring
Sex-allocation
Life-span
(Behavioural ecology)
Mate choice
Parental care
Foraging
Competition for resources
What properties are included in the phenotype?
Physiology
morphology
behaviour
life history
the extended phenotype e.g spider webs
What is behaviour?
The sum of the responses of an organism to internal and external stimuli.
The behaviour of an organism can either be instinctive or learned.
Tinbergen’s four questions
Niko Tinbergen won the Nobel prize in 1973 for his contributions to behavioural research.
Control – How does it work?
Ontogeny – How did it develop?
Function – What is it for?
Evolution – How did it evolve?
Example of Control of behaviour
Aggression in male three-spined sticklebacks is triggered by a simple visual cue – a red underside.
Ontogeny of behaviour
Blue Jay ate a monarch butterfly then vomited therefore it has learnt to avoid any butterflies that even resemble the monarch butterfly.
Function of behaviour
A male sedge warbler’s song influences its reproductive success?
there is a correlation between pairing date and repertoire size
males with a small repertoire take a long time to pair
Males with a large repertoire (more songs) mate with females much earlier giving them more time to prepare for migration
The way these learns more repertoires is they learn the songs of Africans birds due to migration and females are using this as an index of male quality (more experience male has migrated for more years)
Give an example of birds and their behavious in the Galapagos islands
galapagos woodpecker finch and mangrove finch uses tools such as sticks to bait beetles out of rotting wood
Explain the evolution of male parental care in Nepoidea water bugs.
Brood care is very widespread in Belostomatid bugs but not found in Nepids. They gard the eggs instead of having them on their backs
Why do male fiddler crabs wave their claws?
What are the advantages for the male crabs to do this?
They wave that one huge claw
control= approach by a male into the territory where the female is in the burrow so this triggers the signal for them to wave their claw.
the control of this is linked to seasons over the year
It is also linked to tidal cyles e.g female maturing eggs for 24 days and then releases them in high tide and lunar cycles.
Temperature, age and Hormone levels are also linked
Defence of burrow against rival males.
Species recognition.
Mate attraction.
All factors that relate to reproductive success.
What do Ghost crabs have
These crabs also have asymetrical claws but not necessarily for signalling, more common use is for foraging.
