Animal Behaviour Flashcards
Why do animal’s communicate?
Aggression Sex Identity Status Need Social info
What is communication?
Passing of info from sender to receiver
What is a signal?
Feature of an animal that has evolved specifically to alter the behaviour of receivers
What are cues?
Any feature that can be used by an animal as a guide to future action
What are animal senses?
Methods by which animals perceive their environment
How do signals evolve?
Cues revealing autonomic stimulation
Ritualisation of uses revealing changes in behaviour
What are Tinbergen’s 4 why questions?
- Causation (mechanisms)
- Ontogeny (development)
- Function (adaptive advantage)
- Phylogeny (evolutionary history)
What does evolution of behaviour depend on?
The heritability of behaviour
What is calling rate influenced by? In crickets
Genetics
Ambient temp
Presence of females
Whether there are other males around (tend to chirp more with more males around)
How do genes influence behaviour?
Controlling hormones and senses impacts how an animal may act
How do genes influence behaviour of birds in migration?
Control corticosterone: foraging activity, migratory fuelling rate, departure fuel load
Control melatonin: migratory restlessness, departure decisions, duration of migratory flights
Control orientation in relation to visual/ magnetic cues: migration route
In mutualism, what is the effect on self and effect on others?
Effect on self: Positive
Effect on others: Positive
In altruism, what is the effect on self and effect on others?
Effect on self: Negative
Effect on others: Positive
In selfish behaviour, what is the effect on self and effect on others?
Effect on self: Positive
Effect on others: Negative
In spiteful behaviour. what is the effect on self and effect on others?
Effect on self: Negative
Effect on others: Negative
What are some examples of cooperation?
Parental care
Helping siblings
What is the coefficient of relatedness?
Genetic similarity of 2 individuals relative to the population as a whole
What is the coefficient of relatedness of identical twins?
1.0
What is the coefficient of relatedness of a parent and their offspring?
0.5
What is the coefficient of relatedness of siblings?
0.5
What is the coefficient of relatedness of a grandparent and their grandchild?
0.25
What is the coefficient of relatedness of an aunt/ uncle to their nephew/ niece?
0.25
What is the coefficient of relatedness of a great-grandparent and their great-grandchild?
0.125
What is the coefficient of relatedness of 1st cousins?
0.125
What is inclusive fitness?
The ability of a individual organism to pass on its genes to the next generation, taking into account the shared genes passed on by the organism’s close relatives
Direct fitness and indirect fitness
What is direct fitness?
A gene can maximise its transmission into the next generation by maximising the reproductive success of the individual it is in
What is indirect fitness?
A gene can maximise its transmission into the next generation by maximising reproductive success of other individuals who are likely to share copies of that gene
What is kin selection?
The process by which traits are favoured due to their effects on the fitness of relatives
What does Hamilton’s rule do?
Identifies the conditions under which altruism will spread due to kin selection
When will altruism be favoured (e.g. what is Hamilton’s rule)?
r*B - C > 0
r=coefficient of relatedness between actor and recipient
B= benefit to recipient
C= cost to actor
What is an example of extreme altruism?
Suicide and sterility in the social insects
Bee stings fatal to worker bee= suicide
Workers rarely reproduce, help their mother (the queen) to produce offspring= sterility
Describe the genetics of male bees.
Develop from unfertilised eggs so are haploid
Describe the genetics of female bees.
Develop from fertilised eggs so are diploid
half genes from mother and half from father
Describe the population dynamics and altruism in Naked mole rats.
Reproductive division of labour Lots of close relations High coefficients of relatedness Cooperative brood care Overlap of generations Cooperative foraging
How does cooperative courtship work in wild turkeys?
Male turkeys form coalitions to court and defend females One dominant male, gets the matings One subordinate male, gets no matings Brother-brother Father-son
What are some reasons to cooperate?
Kin selection By-product benefits Reciprocity Enforcement Deception
Why are there by-product benefits for cooperation?
Cooperation is the best option in these cases from a selfish perspective, but it also happens to help others too
Cooperative hunting increases net food intake
What is reciprocity in terms of cooperation?
Net benefits in longer term
Favoured by repeated interactions between individuals
What is enforcement in terms of cooperation?
Costs of defecting are high
Punishment in human and primate societies
What is deception in terms of cooperation?
Animals may cooperate by mistake
Manipulation of receivers by signallers
What is an example of selfish behaviour in reproduction?
Parasitoid wasp
Sterile soldiers, don’t become adult
Soldiers harm relatively unrelated individuals
Strong competition for limited resources
When does defection pay?
If your opponent cooperates
When does cooperation pay?
If your opponent also cooperates
What does the choice of cooperation of defection depend on?
Relative payoffs of each strategy
Behaviour of opponent
Reputation
Whether you anticipate future interactions
