Appendix C Flashcards
Natural Selection
The evolutionary process where individuals with traits better suited to their environment have higher survival and reproduction rates, leading to the proliferation of those traits in future generations.
Optimal Foraging Theory
A model that predicts how an organism behaves when searching for food, suggesting that individuals maximize their net energy intake per unit of foraging time.
Reciprocal Altruism
A behavior where an individual provides a benefit to another with the expectation that the favor will be returned in the future.
Kin Selection
The evolutionary strategy that favors behaviors increasing the reproductive success of an organism’s relatives, even at a cost to the organism’s own survival and reproduction.
Cooperative Breeding
A system where individuals other than the parents assist in raising offspring, common in some human societies and animal species.
Resource Distribution
The way resources such as food, shelter, and mates are spread across an environment, influencing social structures and behaviors.
Risk Management Strategies
Behavioral adaptations developed to mitigate risks associated with resource scarcity or unpredictability, such as food sharing or forming alliances.
Cultural Transmission
The process by which knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors are passed from one generation to the next through learning.
Ecological Constraints Model
A theory suggesting that environmental factors limit the size and structure of social groups, influencing behaviors like dispersal and cooperation.
Reproductive Strategies
Behavioral patterns related to reproduction, including mate selection, timing of reproduction, and parental care, shaped by ecological and social factors.
