Behaviour

Question 1

Natural Selection

Answer 1

The process that occurs when individuals differ in their traits and the differences are correlated with differences in reproductive success.

Mechanism by which evolution can occur.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 2

What is the difference between natural selection and theory of descent through modification?

Answer 2

Descent with modification is the process that is used by natural selection. As traits are passed through generations, there is modification. These modifications are the differences that natural selection will either get rid of, or will increase, based on the environment.

https://study.com/learn/lesson/descent-modification-thoery-examples.html#:~:text=Descent%20with%20modification%20is%20the,increase%2C%20based%20on%20the%20environment.

Question 3

What conditions must be met for evolution to occur by natural selection?

Answer 3

1. There must be variation between individuals of a species in some of their characteristics,
2. There must be differences in reproductive success with some individuals having more surviving offspring than others because of their characteristics.
3. The characteristics must be heritable with parents being able to pass it onto their offspring.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 4

What is the difference between adaptation and evolution?

Answer 4

Evolution is the process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms over time.

Adaptation is a trait that improves an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in an environment.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-evolution/hs-evolution-and-natural-selection/a/hs-evolution-and-natural-selection-review

Question 5

Gene

Answer 5

A segment of DNA, typically one that encodes information about the sequence of amino acids that makes up a protein.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 6

Allele

Answer 6

A form of a gene. Different alleles typically code for distinctive variants of the same enzyme.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 7

How are alleles linked to evolution?

Answer 7

An allele that is linked to reproductive success will be linked to an adaptation - other alleles will disappear over time.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 8

Darwinian Puzzle

Answer 8

A trait that reduces fitness (reproductive success) rather than increasing it yet is still present.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 9

Fitness

Answer 9

An organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

(Mac Dictionary)

Question 10

Behavioural Strategy

Answer 10

An inherited behaviour pattern that seems to not actually benefit the individual, e.g., the willingness of individuals to assist close relatives even though their help reduces their direct fitness.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 11

Theory of Descent with Modification

Answer 11

Darwin’s argument that over evolutionary history, changes accumulate gradually in ancestral species, altering them more and more as these ancestral species evolve into more recent forms derived from their predecessors.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 12

Phylogeny

Answer 12

An evolutionary tree of the species that were derived from a common ancestor.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 13

What are Tinbergen’s four questions? What are they based on?

Which are proximate and which are ultimate?

Answer 13

Based on what he deemed to be the 4 fundamental problems raised in biology and that one needs to understand all to understand a behaviour.

Ultimate:
Survival value
Evolution

Proximate:
Mechanism (Tinbergen called causation)
Ontogeny

(Alcock, 2013; Bateson et al, 2013; Tinbergen, 2009)

Question 14

Ontogeny of Behaviours

Answer 14

Aka development; a proximate cause of behaviour.

How did the behaviour come to be?

Looks at how a behaviour developed during the lifetime of the individual including experience and learning.

(Alcock, 2013; Bateson et al, 2013; Tinbergen, 2009)

Question 15

Mechanism of Behaviours

Answer 15

A proximate cause of behaviour.

What causes the behaviour to be performed? Which stimuli elicit or what physiological mechanisms cause the behaviour?

(Alcock, 2013; Bateson et al, 2013; Tinbergen, 2009)

Question 16

Evolution of Behaviours

Answer 16

Aka Phylogeny; an ultimate cause of behaviour.

Looks at how a behaviour evolved over the history of a species.

(Alcock, 2013; Bateson et al, 2013; Tinbergen 2009)

Question 17

Survival Value of Behaviours

Answer 17

Aka Function; an ultimate cause of behaviour.

What does the trait do?

In which way does the behaviour increase the animal’s fitness (i.e. its survival and reproduction)?

(Alcock, 2013; Bateson et al, 2013)

Question 18

Why is it difficult to determine how a characteristic developed?

Answer 18

It’s not just a matter of genes that were inherited; many other factors influence development e.g., cytoplasmic effects, behavioural traditions, etc.

Development is influenced by cultural knowledge and ecological legacies i.e., they were gathered by multiple individuals over multiple generations.

The environment can be crucial for normal development.

(Bateson et al, 2013)

Question 19

Why is it difficult to determine how a characteristic evolved?

Answer 19

Not just genes; chance events (e.g., genetic drift, founder effects) impact what genes are inherited.

Evolution is frequently a result of adapting one characteristic already present into another one (co-option).

Behaviour can impact evolution, e.g., choice (e.g., of mates), how mobile an organism is, ecological and developmental niches, adaptability, learning, social transmission.

(Bateson et al, 2013)

Question 20

How is development and mechanism related?

Answer 20

Development is continuous, so understanding it requires you to understand how it works at all relevant times - so understanding mechanism requires a specified point in time of development.

(Bateson et al, 2013)

Question 21

What are the 3 key behavioural domains for high fitness? Why?

Answer 21

1. Movement and space-use patterns.
2. Foraging and predator-prey related behaviours
3. Social behaviour and reproduction

All impact survival and reproduction.

(Berger-Tal et al, 2011)

Question 22

Behaviour

Answer 22

The way an animal acts in response to a stimulus either internal such as hormones or external such as temperature change.

(Mac Dictionary)

Question 23

Ultimate Causes of Behaviour

List Them

Answer 23

The evolutionary, historical reason why a behaviour is the way it is.

Evolution
Survival Value

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 24

Proximate Causes of Behaviour

List Them

Answer 24

An immediate underlying cause based on the operation of internal mechanisms possessed by an individual.

Mechanism
Ontogeny

Happen within the lifespan of an individual.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 25

How are the proximate and ultimate causes of behaviour related?

Answer 25

Behavioural traits have both ultimate and proximate causes that are complementary, not mutually exclusive.

Because the immediate mechanisms of behaviour have an evolutionary basis, the proximate and ultimate causes of behaviour are related, and both are required for a full explanation of a behavioural trait.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 26

How does a behavioural trait develop?

Answer 26

The development of any trait, including a behavioural ability, is the result of an interaction between the genotype of the developing organism and its environment, which consists of not only the food it receives and the metabolic products produced by its cells (the material environment) but also its sensory experiences (the experiential environment). Genes can respond to signals from the environment by altering their activity leading to changes in the gene products available to the developing organism.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 27

To which of Tinbergen’s questions does my research relate?

Answer 27

I’m looking at the immediate causes of behaviour, specifically the stimuli that elicit the behaviour. The stimuli in the context of my work being the various habitat variables that I’m measuring and comparing to behaviour.

Therefore, I think my work fits best in Tinbergen’s mechanism questions category.

Question 28

Provide an example of each type of behavioural cause.

Answer 28

Proximate

Mechanism - How moths are able to avoid bats at night - Bats use very high frequency sounds to navigate at night and a moth’s ear is structured in such a way that it picks up these frequencies and this triggers neurons in the moth’s brain causing it to move.

Ontogeny - Imprinting in birds - young birds follow around an older individual early and social interactions dictate their behaviours in the future such as how they choose a mate.

Ultimate

Survival Value and Evolution - monogomy in prairie voles - survival value is that it ensures the male fathers all that females offspring (which is not guaranteed if female can mate with any male) and evolutionary as it evolved from an earlier ancestor and remains present today.

(Alcock, 2013)

Question 29

How do fishes and turtles sense their environment?

Answer 29

Both have vision, a sense of touch, and a great sense of smell.

They can also both sense vibrations and pressure changes in their environment that can help them detect prey, predators, and obstacles - fish do this with their lateral line.

They’re also both thought to be able to orient themselves with the earth’s magnetic field using magnetoreception but this is poorly understood in both.

Turtles are also thought to use sun compass orientation but this is also poorly understood.

In a lot of cases these senses are adapted to their environment. For example, walleye have tapetum lucidum in their eye which amplifies ambient light because they’re normally in deeper water.