Animal behaviour Flashcards
define signal
a behaviour or atribute that alters the behaviour of a receiver
define communication
reception of and response to signals, beneficial to both parties
define a cue
a receiver gains information but it was not the signallers intention to do so.
what are tinbergens four questions
mechanistic - to understand the mechanisms that underly the trait
ontogenetic - the genetic and environmental factors that guide the development of a trait
functional - looking at a trait in terms of its effects on survival and reproduction
phylogeneitc - unraveling the evo history of the species so that the structure the trait can be evaluated in light of ancestral featrues
describe how the call of a male tungara frog may get lower
normal chuck is 2550 hertz
female inner ear responds to 2100 hertz the best
some males happened to chuck lower
more succsessful at obtaining mates
prefernce for low frequency in neuro physiology
give an example of signal modulation
birds use a different call when mobbing a predator
a …… will only make a signal when it increases their fitness, and the reciever will only ……. when the signal will increase their fitness
sender
respond
the interest of communicatoin can be different for the individuals involved in three ways, what are they
overlapping - begging or alarm calls
seperate but not opposing - mate attraction e.g. exagerration of a signal
oppsing - disputes over territory
describe Zahavis Handicap principle
the honesty of a signal is mainatined by its cost
i. e. males with an exaggerated trait will be better males since they are adapted enough that they can overcome the costs
e. g. natural selection favours crypsis but sexual selectoin goes against this
why must communication be honest on average
communcation would fail otherwise, it is no longer adaptive to repsond to a dishonest signal
describe the stalk eyed flies example of communication with eye stalks and territory
females prefer males with root hairs controlled by males with larger eyespans
long eye stalks in absence of prior residency will always win the fight for territory
acts as an honest communicator of ability to win a fight
describe communcaition of jumping spiders using UV light
males have a uv peak that females dont have
in absence of uv light males will try to court other males and male male fighting is less likely
uv peak acts as communicator for the sex of the species
what is the dear enemy effect. why is it adaptive
dont fight those you know, boundaries settle so only respond to unfamiliar signals
it is adaptive because it saves energy in fighting and reduces the chance of death during fighting
define eavesdropping
use of a signal by an uninteneded receiver
define audience
individuals present but not participiating
describe eavesdropping in siamese fighting fish
2 males in same cage will fight
if a third male is present but cant see the fight it is equally likely to fight either fish
if the third male is an audience member then it will fight the loser
where no female audience the males will bite but in an audeince of females they wont bite
females prefer none biting fish
describe the audicence effects in cleaner fish
cleaner fish have small territories where they eat ectoparasites off of other fish
sometimes they bite the fish as well as the ectoparasites
if there is an audience of other fish the frequency of biting decreases
define referential signalling
a specific distinctive signal external to body or emotions a preset agreed upon by the population
describe the referential signalling systems used in velvet monkeys and how we know they are learnt
have three alarm calls
eagle - hide
leopard - run to trees
snake - stand up
young will often respond inccorectly to the calls or make the wrong calls. takes up to 3 years until they stop making mistakes
how can you tell the diference between a juveinle and adult kea
fledglings have a yellow nostril and mandible
juvelines lose their lower mandible
adult has no yellow
how many different calls do kea exhibit
at least 7
give 3 examples of how kea communication is complex
there is an age dimorphism
males and females answer to calls differently
individual dialects e.g. moutn cook kea sound different to mount cook variety
why is a high frequency call adaptive for the kea
in the alpine habitat they have to compete with other noises e.g. water and wind
these noise are a low frequency
desribe how a bird call might change from a city to a native forest. How can this cause a problem for birds
in the city the song is likely to be faster and higher frequency
as a habitat degrades and becomes urbaniised if the syrinx of the bird cannot change frequency they will be unable to communicate
what is the posh name for hiding as an antipredator adaptation
anachoresis
describe the difference between masquerade and background matching and how their is a blured line between the two
masquerade involves altering looks to seem more like another organism whilst background matching tends to be looking like the abiotic environment
leafy sea dragon matches its background which is seaweed which is background matching but to do so it masquerades itself as seaweed which is living
describe how breaking symmetry can improve an organisms ability to be cryptic
most organisms are symmetrical e.g. if a moth sits with one wing up and one wing down it looks less symmetircal and thus less alive
describe the use of chromatophores in active background matching
contain pigments that change the colour of the skin. allow them to match their current background
secondary defence can be either p or a
passive or active
describe the use of eye spots on moth wings
confuses the predator to attack the wing rather than the head
although still bad for the moth it is non lethal so the omoth can go on living
what is a broken wing display
bird preteneds it is injured
lures predator away from its nest
then flies away just before it is attacked
define autotomy
a species removes its own body parts e.g. tails in a lizard
then can be enzymes within the removed obody part that mean it keeps twitiching after removal
what is tonic immobility
feigning death
predator releases the organisms
gives it some time to escape
what is the term for animals trying to mak themseleves look large as a defence mechanism
the size maxximisation principle
give an example of a chemical defence in frogs
teteradoxin in goldern arrow frogs
enough in one frog to kill 200 people
how do monarch butterfies make themseleves toxic
eat milk weed
causes birds to vomit
what is stotting
when an antelopoe jumps up when it sees a predator to show the predator it has seen them
give a group of species where interspecies communication occurs
between different species of tamarin in south ameruca
describe th emethod of retreat in anchorites
anchorites such as hermit crabs will retreat to their shell if they think they are going to lose a fight
the opercula is a method of blocking shells
but this is limited because they cannot feed when hiding
define batesian micmicry
the model is unpalatable and this is advertised by aposamtism
the mimic ispalatable
aposematic organisms are likely to be ………….
monomorphic
why are rare species unlikely to be aposematic
becuase there needs to be a large enough population to recognise the signal as toxic
what four things are needed for aposematism to work
neophobia - fear of new items
avoidance learnt
memory retention
recognition process
define mullarian mimics
all have a secondary defence and look like one and other
how do mimics, mimic ants when ants are not at all visually aposematic
with movement
a mimic must be …….. with the model
sympatric
honest on avergae applies to mimciry
how can mimic species have large populations by getting around this honesty
emerge after the model
drive a polymorphism evolution - i.e. one species mimics several models+
sometimes when the model is very dangerous they will have enough of a deterent effect it doesnt need to be honest on avergae
desccribe how portia spiders are a ´´jack of trades´
they are a detritus mimic so are cryptic but also uses this to attack their prey hence are aggresive mimics
describe the relatoinship of communication between death adders and jacky dragons
death adder has two movement types in its tail fast and slow
its tail is a lure for jacky dragons
jacky dragons respond to the same two types of movement in their prey - bimodal distribution
the snake has learnt the two behavipurs that lure the jacky dragons.
dishonest communication could suggest the animals have a complex understanding of their surrondings, as they need to intentionally decieve. how is this shown to not be true. give an example
evolution could favour those that decieve they dont have to be making a consious decision.
species of orchid dishinestly communicate by looking like female bees which gets them pollintated
give some examples of dishinest communication
birds that cry wolf in feeding stations
transvestie lizards
stomatopods
describe the dishonest communication and why it is adaptive in mantis shrimps
mantis shrimps can smash at 23 meters per second
they molt
before molting the chance of them actually hitting anothermantis shrimp in defence is 36% (higher than normal)
makes others think they are aggresive so they wont get attacked when they are molting
describe how topi use false alarm calls. what % of matings occur after a call
to prevent females leaving territory
lone male makes no calls
male with only other males makes calls only whenpredator around, same when with females not in estrus
when females in estrus are present they will make far more calls
10% of all matings occur after a flase call
describe the action of assain bugs on a spider web
pluck the web with low frequency to mimic spider prey
spider approaches and assain bug eats it
dendrites move signals …. the cell body, axons move signals …. from the cell body
dendrites to
axons from
describe the two types of cell in the eye
rods - sensitive but black and white found in the outer eye
cones - not very light sensitive but see in colour found in the fovea i.e. the centre of the eye
what is a tetra chromatic cone cell
a cone cell or system that determines differences between 4 different colours. usually includes UV light
desccribe how the cockroach responds to the vibrations caused by a frog
cercus on the front of the filaform hairs are mechano receptors
has electrical synapses so very quick
can detect the frog is going to attack before its tounge comes out but stays still until the tounge is out
then moves. the frog cant ajust its attack once the tounge is out so it can then easily escape
describe how the ganglian cells filter out information that is not biologically relevant
there are excitatory cells and inhibitory cells
these are in different areas that represent either prey or predators
e.g. the inner circle is excitatory - the mroe of these cells that are triggered the harder the response, then there is a circle of inhibitory, these reduce the strength of the repsonse because they represent an non bioloigically infomative signal
desccribe the excitatory fields in frogs and what does this tell us about the brain
3
2-4 degrees bug detectors
6-8 is inhibitory
10-15 is a predator detector
can actually know if the singal is prey or predator before the info reaches the brain
why do barn owls have asymmetric ears
amplifies the time difference between sound getting to each ear from above and below
helps locate teh sound
describe how neurones are different in detecting noise from above and below
above are few and wide to hear predators
below are many and small to locate prey
when are organisms most neurally plastic
as infants
describe how you can demonstrate the establishment of synapses in infant owls
vision used to direct learning
put prisim goggles on an owl
neural pathwayis built
hearing is 20 degrees off
what are the two types of hormone
peptide -hydrophiliic and water soluable, have short and long term effects, act on plasma membranes
steroids - hydrophobic and are lipid soluble, long lasting effects e.g. puberty and enter cells directly
what are the two types of effect a hormone can have
activational effects - short term and occur in full developed organisms that trigger behaviours
and organisation effects long term irreversible on tissue differencetaion
describe the effects of the pre natal environment on rat babies
pink males surronded by two ssisters had more estraduol and less testosterone
they were worse dads and caused more infanticide
how can parental hormone levels effect an offsprings chance of survival
female mice injected with testosterone
male offspring had a shorter life span and where more prone to lupus
describe the test on rats for stress utility
train a rat to to find a platform in water
shock 2 mins before test, 30 mins after and 4 hours after.
only imparied gorup was 30 mins because stress is cortiscosterone hormone hence needed time to set in 2 mins didnt have any effect and stress had warned off by 4 hours
how do we know that kea are alpine dispersers
fly long distnces
eat berries - 70% of feeding on snow totora
95% of seeds eaten are intact
fly for 2 hours before pooing
describe the karearea (falcon) for grape program
take falcons from the wild allow them to colonise the vineyards
falcons are a bird predator can take predators 6 times their size
they are threatened due to introduced mammals (ground nestin etc)
they reduced grape removal by 95% and pecked grapes by 55% which meant savings of 234-326$ per hectare
chicks were not underfed and total biomass of food eaten was higher than just the supplemented food. fewer eggs were predated
the falcons also predated on introduced species more than native species so another sucsess
give some costs of group living
pathogen transmission cuckoldry cospecific compeition cannabalism infanticide increased predation
in belding ground squirrels and naked mole rats the ……. size was the main preidictor of …….. load
colony size
parasite load
why is conspecific competition often stronger than intraspecific competition
because the niche is so similar
what are some advantages to group living
dilution advantage
predator defence
other than advantages of group living why may species chose to live in a group
aggregation due to common resourcrs e.g. habitat is good enough food need a paticular place to give birth lek mating species
patchy food resources will favour a group because
it imporves sucsess collectively
reduces variation in efficiency
how does group behaviour effect unsuccsessful foraging individuals
they can follow the lead of others and get food
how do groups act as infomation centres
unsuccsessful follow sucsessful
sucsessfujl communicate
kin selection, youngs fitness increased
how does being in a group reduce predation
many eyes
dilution
confusion e.g. zebras stripes
with an increased group size …… vigilance can be lower which means their is more time for ………..
individual
feeding and reproducing
give an example of one species being vigilant for another
hawk tailed drongo lives near mongoose
mongoose uses drongos call to detect prey
the advantage of group protection must be greater than …..
the risk of increased predation
what is the selfish herd hypothesis
every individual wants to be in the safest position with the most food
how do musk oxon group to portect young
form a circle around young with heads faccing out
giraffes are not paticulalrly vulnerable to predation but they still live in groups, why?
reduces male (bull) harrassment of females
what would be the most optimal group
where individual fitness is maximised
i.e. where time feeding is increased but they still get a larger share
the optimal group of a lion is 2 based on foraging efficency alone. why then do they move in larger groups
male lions crimitc infanticide - groups of females prevent this
need to defend teritory
define eusociality
pre determined castes - bees and mole rats
define unconditional and conditional alturism
unconditoinal - driven by kin selection ecological constrainsts and life histroy
conditional alturism - reciporcity, mutualism, social control or manipulation
cooperation occurs in what percentage ofb birds and mammals
96% of birds and 90% of mammals
what is hamiltons rule
rB is greater than C
i.e. the benefit to your offsprings fitness is greater than than the cost to you
other than kin selection why would alturistic behaviour occur
get punished for not behaving in that way
cannot find another habitat - ecological constraints
do it for own benefit - its the best option
life histroy constraints - caste animals cant have their own offspring
describe the game theory approach
hawking will always escalate to fight until it wins or loses
doveing never escalates
hawk vs hawk both lose on avergae
hawk beats dove
more dives and better to be hawk and vice versa
therefore behaviour is dependant on the make up of a population
describe the prisoners dilema
behaviour changes dependant on knowledge of previous behaviour
where the effect of one animals behaviour will change anothers based on what they did before
if the indiviual reciprocates then you should cooperate if not dont
give an example of the prisoners dilema
vampire bats
30% share food with offspring that arent their own
relatedness explains little of the sharing
bats share with those who have shared with them previously
describe selfish sentinels
sentinle in meercats will always right above the bolthole and will only go on guard once fully sasiated
give the reasoning for cooperative offspring care in giraffes and elephants
giraffes is reciprocal - have creches only work with those they have worked with before
elephants do communal suckling, is kin selection, they work with aunties and grandparents etc
how is milk sharing in bats selfish
the extra milk carried decreases foraging efficency
why do warthogs raise offspring cooperatively?
ecological constraints - need to be in a birthing burrow but there is not enough for everyone
high predation - dont want to lose the only mother
what % of birds are obligate cooperative breeders and name some other animals that are
10%
mongooses
mole rats
wild dogs
where will cooperative breeding evolve?
in unpredictable environments
why do helpers help
if inclusive fitness outweighs direct fitness i.e. if they cant have own kids e.g. caste better to raise relatives best chance og increasing fitness could be to inherit the group
how is turtle sex determined
by temperture in the egg stage
sexual conflict can only occur in …….
sexually reproducing speceis
why does sexual conflict occur?
anisogamy - difference in gametes - females have large immbobile gametes and males have small mobile
the larger the a……… the larger the s…… c……
anisogamy
sexual conflict
what are the conseuences of anisogamy
female is more choosy
female invests more after gamete production
why is male male competion usually greater than female female compeition
becuase female are more choosy so male compete to be the best
give some examples of cryptic female choice
pre fertilsiatoin egg choice genital tract embryonic growth selective abortion
describe the arms race in bed bug mating
to inseminate females males pentrate the skin to ejaculate
females build thinker plates to prevent this
give functions of the proteins in seminal fluid
protection against competitors induce refractory period enhance egg production increase egg maturation make females less attractive shorten female life span
describe some counter stratagies from females against infanticide
mate a lot to confuse paternity
leave group with the infant until the infant is no longer vulnerable
form alliances with other females
describe sex deterination in different vertebrates
mammals are xx female
birds are the oppsite
reptiles are both some have no sex chromosomes
fish and amphibians do both
which branches of verts can deterine sex with tempertre
reptiles fish and amphibains
why are the ratios of male to females in a population often the same
every individual has a mother and a fther
whhich contribute equally in genetic material. if the ratio changes then thefitness changes
the minority sex is favoured in fitness
therefore it balances
this is fishers hypithesis
what are the assumptions of fisherian sex ratios
outbreed population random mating equal costs of mating male and female mortality monogamous sex ratios have gen basis sex ratio from parent is independant of offspring
what is condition dependant sex allocation
where the body condition of the mother determines the parental investment
trivers and willard hypothesis
when is sex ratio adjustment favoured
high levelsin polygyny or polyandry - high var in reproductive succsess in one sex
success in mate competition is influenced by resourcs during developement
physical condion of mothers influences offspring
female deer in higher quality will produce more ….
sons
define migration
the persistent and directed movement caused by animals own movement
describe the migration of the bar tailed godwit
11500Km
8 days
breeds in alaska and overwinters in nz
describe the migration of the monarch butterfly
9000km in a multigeneration
over winter in mexico
give an examples of a partial migration ad a irruptive migration
irruptive - budgies in Oz, where the weather is variable, they will appear when the conditions are good
partial - banded dottrels in Nz, some will migrate but not all
how was migratation discovered how else can they be traced.
international bird bands
isotopes tracing
trackers
what was the eariest study into migration
aububon 1803
tied string to a phoebe found the same returned each year
describe ways an animal can navigate
learnt behaviour e.g. diggger wasps circles round nearby rocks to the nest uses them as landmarks
path intergration - desert ant keeps track of all turns in outward directoin then goes back in a straight line
celestrial compass - emlen funnel, learn geometric patterns of the stars. if they see sky as child cant navigate as adult
odour cues - smolt stage salmon learn odour of their stream and follow it as adults
sun compass - starlings
genetic basis -
how can you alternate what time of day a squirrel thinks it is
artificially jet lag it
6 hour jet flag meant a 90 degree clockwise movement away from the real sun
how can you show there is a genetic basis too migration
artifically select those that dont migrate and create a population that no longer migrates
e.g. done in blackcap warblers
after 7 generations no migration
why does the bar tailed godwit go to nz to overwinter from alaska rather than the troics which are closer
the further from the tropics you move the lower the amount of compeition
use blackpoll as an example to show the energy cost of migratoin
86hour migration from canada to south america
loses 10g of fat is only an 11 g bird
why can migration be risky
many different predators along the migratory path
- cant be adapted to them all
e.g. warblers hatch in spring
elonoris flacon breeds in autumn so it can pret on the warblers in spring
define dispersal
permanent one way movement away from hathcing locationn
which gender disperses more in mammals and in birds, why the differnce
in mammals males disperse more hence females are (philopatric - breed near where they were born)
the opposite is true in birds, males are philopatric
likely due to mating systems
mongomous birds will want to defend a territory favours male pilopatry
but mammals are more polygnous so male needs to move to get new mates
define the following
polygyny
polyandry
polygyny - 1 male many females
poplyandry - 1 female many males
what is another term for promisuity
polygynandrous
describe how food distribution alters sexual mating system
male Reproductive sucsess limited by acsess to females
female reproductive sucsess limtied by resources
females distriute themselves dependant on resource distribution
the distribution of food effects the distribution of females
where resources are clumped females will be clumped. can lead to one male holding the territory, and hence polygny arrises
if resources are evenely distributed then male can only defened the territory containg one female so is social monogamous
describe an experiment to demonstrate the effect of food distribution on social mating sytems
swedish islands - lms 1988
voles
- distributed females in cages relative to the distribution of food
- males distributed themselves relative to the female distribution
describe female enforced monogamy, how do we know its female enforced
e.g. burrying bettles prevent advertising to females physically prevent male from adverstiing
tied females down and the males were polygyny
why disperse
avoid inbreeding e.g. inbreeding in moturar island robins - 5 birds in 1973, over 30% of eggs now fail to hatch 2008
intraspecific competition reduction
desccribe the mate guarding hypothesis for monogamy
e.g. suicidal spiders
males have little change of finding a second female
male rs is highest with monogamy
describe the male assitancce hypothesis to explain monogamy
the young will only survive if the male helps
therefore increases fitness if male helps
e.g. gannets that lay single eggs - polygny is impossible
give an example where the male assistance hypothesis does not explain why males are monogampuos
dark eyed junco - 1988
widowed female can rear 3 quaters of young so would make sense for the junco to reproduce with two
wolf et al 1988
explained herer by female aggression or strong male male competition
what are four types of polygynous mating systems
harem defence polygyny - male directly defends multiple females
resource defence polygyny - male defends resourcres females require
scrable competitoin - male roams widely
lek - male attracts multiple females to a dispalay area
why do females accept polygyny?
females are forced or deceived e.g. pied flycatcher
is in the best intrest - polygyny threshold model
describe the polygyny threshold model
female success increases with territory quality
the secondary female will have a lower reproductive succsess than the primary
but if the male already paired has a territory that is sufficeintly better then the fitness advantage to the territory may outweigh the poor quality of the male himself
what is the evidecne for the polygny threshold model
great weed warbler - visited 3 - 11 males and some settled with a paired male even though they had visited an unpaired male
what is evidence against the polygyny threshold model
red winged blackbirds
- some do worse in plygnous good territory than bad monogamous territory
what is the sexy son hypothesis
females mate in a polygynous manner to allow sons to inherit high quality genes from the father. The sons will also be polygnous therefore very high reproductive sucsess
why may a male use scramble competition polygny
high cost in defending a territory limits the ability of a male to guard the territory
how many species of bird mate in leks?
100
when will a male lek
lek species have much larger home ranges. and females are to unpredictable in time
how can lek mating be disadvantegous to some males
some males will not get picked by the females
e.g. wiley 1973
one male got 50% of all the copulatiions
why dont leking males defend a large territory
the population density is too high to make defence of territories economic
what are the reasons for leks being clustered together
hotspot hypothesis - locate where females are e.g. where resources are
hotshot hypothesis - locate around very popular males hope to get an overflow
females prefer larger leks because it reduces there cost of them choosing
kin selection - white banded manakin, leks near relatives so gives fitness advantage to to others even if subordinate
what percentage of species are polyandrous
1%
describe the polyandrous mating system in pukeko
2-6 males with one female
breeding habitat is patchy and limited
several males requried to defened a territroy
describe the advantage of simultaneous polyandry
galapagos hawk
all defened a territory
male survival is increased by joining a polyandrous gorup
increases a life span
describe sequenctial polyandry
female mates several males lays a clutch for each
male incubates and cares for young alone
spotted sandpiper
what factors favour female desertion in polyandrous waders
young precocial so can be cared for by one parent
clutch size is limited by incubation requirements
large eggs females can increase RS by laying additional clutches
food is abundant
what are reasons why a male would accept polyandry
shortage of females sex ratio bias e.g. female female compeition causing high mortality
curel bind - no reproductive succsess if males desert the clutch
define polygynandry
males and females have multiple mates
describe the mating of the dunnock
males prevent other males in the territory but try to attract more females vice versa in females
they are polygynandrous
how is the ratio of males to females determined in dunnocks
food abundance and individual domiance
where food is abundant females have a smaller range and so male can defend more than one female and vice versa
this was shown by davies and lundberg 1984 , increased food abundance and induced polygyny
give types of parental care
egg incubation defence against predators feed young sanitation teach skills no care
what are the costs of parental care
energetic costs - need to feed more chick
increased predation on adults
loss of future matings
describe the loss of future matings in st peters fish
mouth brooding parental care
can be either male or female
when the sex ratio is female biased it is better for male to desert and hence allow the female to take care of the young
if the sex ratio is male bias females will desert. makes more sence for males to care as this increases their fitness the most
why is the reason for females being the predominant careres of young not to do with inital investment
investing due to past investment is not evolutionariliy stable. should only continue to invrst if reproductive sucsesss is increased
describe the argument for cost benefit ratio in parental care being more female
females are more sure of maternirty -benefit is lower for males since they can be less sure of paternity
lost mating opportunityies are usually higher for males as they need less time between mating
describe the parental care in mammals, male and female care
universal lactation from females
mostly female only care 97%
male care
- defend against predators
- carry young - pirmates
- feed young - carnivores
describe the parental care of birds and reptiles and amphibians
biparental care is most common
90% of species
often females invest more
in reptiles it is absent other than female care of eggs in crocs
amphibians it occurs in some frogs, very low biparental care, male and female care is equally common
describe paretnal care in fish
absent in 80%
mostly male only care
what speceis of insect is the only one to show male care ]and biparental care
water bugs male only
necrophorus bettles show biparental care
there is a difference in the male female distribution of care in internal and external fertilising fish describe this and give reasons why
males more care in external fertiisatoin than internal
paternity certainty hypothesis
- internal male is less sure due tosperm competition
gamete order hypothesis
- internal fertilisation the male can desert aftet inseminatoin
- external male must wait until legs are laid female can desert
assocaition hypothesis
- internal female is closely assocaited with the embryo but vice versa with males
describe how hihi birds detect quality of offspirng and hencce determine how much food to give them. and the experiment to test this
mouth lining in nestlings is bright orange red colour
the more red the better the health of the adults
fed young with carotenoids made more red
these young got more food
describe how parental care increases with offspirng age ( whilst still needing care)
red winged black birds defened nests more vigoursly as young age not because of prior investment but the cost of parental care e.g. feeding elsewhere have decreased
far less costly to keep these ones alive than start again not b
describe the relationship between the number feeds by a dunnock and the percent paternity
higher percent paternity the higher the percent of feeds
why may a cuckholded male still care for the offspirng
male care is essential
- if chance of extra mating is low then the cost of care is also low
- but the benefit if they are its offspirng
or the male is unaware of cuckoldry
describe intrabrood conflict
e.g. of blue ffooted boobies
each offspirng should demand more than its fair share from the parents point of view
clutch of two eggs
hatch different times
eldest will kill the other if food is scarce
describe interbrood conflict
e.g. of galapagos fur seals
current broods should demand more at the exoense of future broods
can have a new pup when older pup is nursing
- older sibling attacks it and younger pup usually dies within a few months
describe how promsicuity effects intrabrood compeition
more promiscuity and then less kin selection amoung the brood. hence cost of siblicide is lesser so more likely to see conflict
describe an evolutionary trap
human induced changes, animal behaviour cannot get around them e.g. for robbins in nz new exotic plants brought in and lack of native mean they nest in new plants. these plants dont provide good protection
describe the effects of artifical lights on animals behaviour
4 species of song bird males started to sing much earlier than in forest
effects the time of egg laying in females, may breed earlier but temeprture may not be right for eggs
describe the effects of endocrine disrupting compunds are having on fish
chemicals in plastics
male guppies are less risk taking but vice versa in female
fish behaviour is altered
describe the effect urbainsation is having on bull finch behaviour
urban bull finches will approach a feeding tray much faster than a rural one also quicker to solve problems
describe the effect lion poaching has on behaviour in herds
trophy hunters prefer larger domniat males
removal of these males increases the number of incomng males
this in turn increases the amount of infanticide
deferentiate between theoetical and atheoretical behaviour concepts in conservation
theoretical uses understanding to solve specific problems whilst atheortical uses behaviour as a tool to solve a problem
describe how a theoeritcal behaviour approach can be cause problems and give an example where the problem was averted
1980s canadaian whooping cranes were rare
stole eggs and put into nests of non endangered sandhill crane
fosetereed whopping cranes thought they were sand cranes and hence their migratory patterns were messed up
same was done to black robbins with tomtits by doc, but they found when imprinting occured
so they moved robbins back to robbin nests just before fledging
describe how sex allocation theory can have an impact on behaviour conservation - with the e.g. of kakapo
in kakapo males weigh 30-40% more than females
- more costly to raise a male
- therefore in poor conditions more females are produced and vice versa
conservation efforts are feeding the kakapo this creates an artificially good set of conditions
67% of offspirng from fed kakapo were male
29% male in an unfed populatoin
caused a male bias population
describe an atheoertical approach to prevent kakapo from dispersing from their release site after translocation and how dialect effects this
kakapo often disperse from the release site after translocation
play kakapo sounds to keep them from disperisng
needed to be same dialect from females to breed
because they know the conditions of the others around them
describe how in black robins doing nothing has stopped a problem
rim laying of eggs outside the nest
all diverged from one female
doc paid for eggs to be put back but probem persited
funding removed and evo took charge now only 10% of eggs are laid on the rims of nests
describe how the austrlain black snake was evo rescued from human caused change
cane toad introduced to eat sugar cane
toads poisionous to black snake
look like native frogs so were eaten
23 generations later and black snakes dont eat the cane toads
describe the effect introduced predators have had on bellbirds
aorangi island - no pests, very low predations, very frequent visits to nest
kowhai bush on mainland kaikoura - high predation rate, lots of introduced mammals very low nest visits
waiman bush mammals afe trapped and the rates of nest visiting are retunred to the same as aorangi
tasmianian honey eaters v similar bird, have evolved with predators and behaviour is most similat to kowhai bush
with increased predations risk comes a reduced rate of vistis to the nest
when will evolution be enough to help conservation
negative effect is not v severe
gen var or behav plast is high
population is large enough to persits throuh hard times
how can management be used to increase the rate of evo
create conditions were slection is strongerbut not enough for extinction
inoculate native populations with experinced individuals
describe the increased risk of predation when dispersing
ruffled goose
some stay sedentry some disperse
those that disperse have 3 fold greater risk of predation
describe the inbreeding avoidancce hypothesis and give some evidence
dispersal is an adaptation to prevent inbeeding which prevevnts the spread of deleterious alleles
domiant male lions will leave the pack before daughters become sexual active
describe the negative impact inbreeding can have on a population
1973 motuara island black robbins only 5
inbreeding
2008 30% of the eggs failed to hatch
describe the intraspecific competition hypothesis
polygymous mammals dispers to reduce competition with relatives - kin selection or against experinced males
describe the test on hawianain manni fish for habitat selection
they want shallow water with lots of cover
put them in tanks with differing conditions
shallow water with no cover deep no cover deep cover shallow with cover they moved most in the shallow with no cover as this is the worst habitat for them, their movement reduced down the list as the habitat got better
describe how habitat selection can determine lifetime reproductive sucsess in aphids
forms a gall on the base of large leaves, the larger the leaf the more offspirng the aphid can poduce
