Behavioural ecology Flashcards
1
Q
Personality
A
Individual consistency in behavioural tendencies across time and contexts
2
Q
Common persoanlity traits
A
aggression, boldness, activity levels
3
Q
Behavioural syndromes
A
- Consistent differences in a suite of correlated behaviours that are carried across contexts
- Consistency in 2 or more traits (as opposed to personality which is consistency in one trait)
4
Q
Limitations to adaptive plasticity in behaviroual syndromes
A
More aggressive females (funnel web spiders) tend to attack prey more quickly, attack conspecific territorial intruders and engage in higher, sometimes maladaptive sexual cannibalism (females eat males before they have a chance to mate)
5
Q
Life histories
A
Personality traits (e.g. boldness, activity, aggressiveness) often positively associated with food intake rates/productivity/ growth/time to reproduction/etc.
6
Q
Example of behaviroul syndrome
A
- great tits
- Fast explorers tend to be more aggressive and less neophobic (‘bolder’)
- Proactive-reactive scale
-Aggressive-boldness syndrome
7
Q
What is the trade-off for funnel web spiders behaviroual syndrome?
A
Trade-off between stopping conspecific intruders (coming into your web eating your food), however, will not be able to reproduce if you kill males spiders before copulating
8
Q
Evolutionary implications for funnel web spiders trade off?
A
- If only less aggressive females mate (don’t eat males) this behavioural syndrome will be favoured in selection – reducing genetic variation
- Implications for growth
9
Q
maladaptive behaviour of funnel web spiders
A
The female funnel web spiders are too aggressive, and so they attack potential mates and reduce their reproductive outcomes
10
Q
when traits are correlated, they should be studied together, as a package, rather than an isolated unit
A
- You miss important behaviours if you only focus on one and ignore behaviours that are correlated with it
- For example, if you only consider mating behaviour in female spiders, and not aggression, you may misinterpret why females attack/kill their mate before copulating
11
Q
genetic basis of inheritance of behaviours
A
Natural selection can only work on genetic differences and so for behavior to evolve there must be behavior alternatives in the population and these differences must be heritable
12
Q
genetic variation in quantitative traits
A
Degree by which individual phenotypes are determined by their genotype – the degree of determination or heritability
13
Q
controlling for the environment to test if differences are genetic
A
- cross-fostering experiment
- common garden
- population crosses - hybrids should be intermediate
14
Q
heritability
A
extent to which phenotypes are determined by the genes transmitted from the parents
15
Q
three key predictions of the sexy sons model of mate choice
A
- Genetic basis– offspring will have increased fitness due to being more attractive
- All females will tend to express the same preference (agree on the most attractive male)
- Over time selection will occur for males enabling these preferred traits even when they do not increase fitness in other ways
16
Q
What is the main difference between the good genes model and the sexy sons model?
A
- The same as the sexy son’s model
- However, it adds one more component – a general viability benefit (increases survival)
17
Q
How do models of genetic compatibility differ from the sexy son and good genes model of mate choice?
A
- Females find different males attractive
- Try to avoid inbreeding
- No matter how attractive a peahen may find a male, or no matter if his tail is the longest, she will not mate with her brother
18
Q
What would constitute good evidence for the genetic compatibility hypothesis?
A
Look at interaction between males and females (do females prefer one male or several)
19
Q
sensory exploitation
A
Tuning into pre-existing biases (e.g. look like a food choice so females are attracted to you)
20
Q
sensory trap
A
Males are able to use sensory exploitation to trap females and mate with them (e.g. sound like a bat, which causes females to freeze, and then males can mate with the female)
21
Q
phenotypic plasticity
A
The property of a given genotype to produce different phenotypes in response to distinct environmental conditions
22
Q
reaction norm
A
describes the relationship between phenotype and the environment
23
Q
genetic basis of phenotypic plasticity
A
Different genotypes respond differently and selection acts on this interaction called the ‘genotype by environmental interaction’
24
Q
example of phenotypic plasticity - discontinuous
A
- alternative male reproductive phenotypes (length of forceps) in European earwig
- There comes a point when the environment favors a shift to the alternative phenotype
- Minor males (short forceps) have a higher fitness than major males (with long forceps) at a smaller body size – where the functions intercept is where the individuals should switch its morph
25
what can phenotypic plasticity do
- Increase niche breadth
- Fuel sexual selection
- Provide a refuge from predators
- Maximize the fitness of sexes
- Divide labor within social groups
- Shape social environments
26
issues in conservation that can be addressed with behavioural studies
- reproductive barrier
- recognition and responses to introduced predators
- effect of population density
- predicting consequence of environmental change
- siblicide (offspring fight and die) in population growth
27
example of how individuals can be more important than others
elephant matriarch
28
How can behavioral ecology inform us about conservation issues?
Understanding what critical tolerance limits are, how long these limits can be tolerated for, and how this affects reproduction and the amount of suitable habitat available is crucial
29
pied babbler and climate change effects
- Due to an increase in heat dissipation and a decline in foraging efficiency, individuals steadily lose body mass at high temperatures
- If the duration and intensity of heatwaves increase, individuals may not be able to maintain sufficient body condition to enable reproduction
- Potential for large population decline due to lack of recruitment during very hot breeding season
30
marginal value theorem
The organism exploits a resource or something about gaining a resource
31
diminishing returns
- The benefit of the resource is affected by the activity of the organism exploiting it – yielding ‘diminishing returns’
- Puffin and sand eels – easy to catch the first sand eel, but hard to catch the 8th sand eel when there are already 7 in your mouth
32
optimal foraging in honeybees
- When they go to a flower, they fill up their crop with nectar which is taken back to the hive
- As the bee gets heavier, the cost of flying increases
- The more flowers they visit, the more their flight uses up the nectar/energy of the last flower
33
prey switching is determined by
- Handling time
- Energy value
- Searching time
34
prey switching predictions
- Predator should always eat the profitable prey when they are available
- When profitable prey are abundant predators should suddenly switch to specialize on this alone
- The abundance of less profitable prey should have no effect on the decision to specialize – should ignore non-profitable prey (no matter how abundant they are, so long as profitable prey is available)
35
sexual dimorphism
Distinct differences in size or appearance between the sexes in addition to the sexual organs themselves
36
mechanisms of sexual selection
- intrasexual (within a given sex)
- intersexual (between sexes)
37
intrasexual selection examples
- pre-mating: male mating competition
- post-mating: sperm competition
38
intersexual selection examples
- pre-mating: female mate choice
- post-mating: cryptic female choice
39
anisogamy
difference in gamete size - female gametes larger than male gametes
40
Can variation in the degree of anisogamy influence the strength of selection?
Sexual selection should be much stronger in species where one sex has a much higher capacity to mate – strong potential for competitive exclusion
41
parental investment
investment in present offspring that increases survival at the cost of investment in future offspring
42
operational sex ratio
Ratio of fertilizable females to sexually active males at any given time
43
sex role reversal in insects
- Males produce food gifts in the ejaculate
- Food abundant: sexual selection acts more strongly on males (females chose males with largest gift)
- Food scarce: females compete for males and their food gifts
- Males are less available to mate, there is not enough food for them to get, they can now afford to be picky
44
intrasexual selection
Competition among members of the same sex for access to mates
45
intersexual selection
Members of one sex choose mating partners among individuals of the other sex
46
direct benefits of evolution of sexually selected traits
Individuals (usually females) benefit by preferentially choosing mates that provide resources that improve the choosing individuals reproductive success
47
Sexy sons model
Females benefit by preferentially mating with attractive males that bestow their (male) offspring with genes that improve attractiveness
48
Good genes model
Differs from sexy son model in that choosy females obtain intrinsically good genes that improve offspring viability
49
Evidence for sexy sons model
In Drosophila, grandsons sired by males that were consistently attractive to females are themselves 30% more successful at securing mates
50
complementary genes
Females benefit by preferentially mating with genetically compatible males
51
sperm competition
Competition between the sperm from two or more males for the fertilization of a given set of ova
52
Sperm expenditure and the ‘risk’ and ‘intensity’ of sperm competition
- As the number of competitors increases above 2, each additional unit of expenditure a male makes yields progressively lower reproductive returns
- Your chances of success will not improve linearly as you invest more
53
cryptic female choice
Non-random fertilization biases resulting from female behavior, morphology or physiology that occur during or after coupling
54
Why exercise post-mating choice?
- Females may not have a choice in coupling
- Mates may be encountered sequentially
55
mechanisms of cryptic female choice
- physiological (e.g. ovarian fluid affects sperm function)
- behavioural (e.g. positioning of eggs)
- morphological (e.g. differential sperm storage)
- mechanical (e.g. muscular control over sperm uptake)
56
example of how to test for cryptic female choice
- flour beetles use 'tarsi' (hair on legs) to stimulate females
- when tarsi are removed, fertilisation success is nil
- when tarsi are unmanipulated, fertilization success increases as rate of rubbing increases
57
sexual conflict
When males and females have conflicting optimal fitness strategies concerning reproduction
58
example of sexual conflict
- Been weevil
- Penis has spines which damage the female during copulation
- Extent of genital damage proportional to copulation duration
59
genetic basis of sexual conflict
- intralocus sexual conflict - Genes at the same locus (or loci) have different fitness optima in males and females
- interlocus sexual conflict - Genes at different locus (or loci) have different fitness optima in males and females
60
example of intralocus sexual conflict
- We assume genes for tail length reside at the same loci for both males and females
- Any further elongation in tail favours males through sexual selection, but is costly to females because natural selection acts against having longer tails without having the compensating benefit
61
sexually antagonistic coevolution theory
Theory says that the outcome of antagonistic male female interaction should remain relatively unchanged in an arms race because any persistence trait is matched perfectly by resistance
62
example of sexually antagonistic coevolution theory
- seed beetles
- male penis causes considerable damage to female
- corresponding differences in resistance of female (protective tissue) to persistence of male (damage)
63
Chase-away model of sexually antagonistic coevolution theory
Males exploit a pre-existing bias for a particular male trait that eventually leads to the elaboration of the trait beyond what is good for the female
64
example of chase-away model
- Godaya fish
- Female exhibit innate sexual preferences for males with terminal yellow bands
- females have reduced foraging efficiency (yellow bands look like prey)
65
game theory
Concerned with theories which claim to identify the selective forces responsible for the evolution of particular traits, or groups of traits
66
types of strategies of game theory
- pure strategy (all members have same strategy)
- alternative strategies ( 2 strategies)
- pure conditional strategy (one strategy performed on the condition that...)
- mixed strategy (two conditions to the tsrategy, same for all members)
- conditional strategy (On the condition of A, do X, and on the condition of B, do Y)
67
fitness
number of offspring an individual recruits to the next generation
68
measuring condition
- Body size
- Residual mass controlling for size
- Lipid content
- Muscle mass
- Performance
69
what is condition
anything that increases the efficiency of traits essential for viability will increase the available expenditure of costly traits for reproduction
70
sex allocation
Sex allocation is the division of parental resources to male versus female reproduction in sexual species
71
what does sex allocation theory explain
Why equal numbers of sons & daughters are produced & highlights situations that select for deviation from this norm
72
primary sex ratio
sex ratio at fertilization
73
secondary sex ratio
sex ratio at time of hatch or birth
74
tertiary sex ratio
sex ratio at a later stage of life, such as at age of first reproduction or "adult" stage
75
population sex ratio
the ratio of males to females in a population
76
offspring sex ratio
no. of sons or daughters / total offspring
77
Fisher's equal sex ratio of 1:1
- The sex ratio will evolve to 1:1 male to female offspring if:
-Males and females are equally good at producing male and female offspring, at all ages and sizes
- Mating is at random
- It is a large population that is thoroughly mixed
78
local mate competition
Should produce female bias so that there is enough males in offspring to inseminate all females (one mother)
79
local resource competition
When individuals of one sex are philopatric and experience competition over access to local resources, the sex that disperses from the natal area will be favoured
80
local resource enhancement
in cooperatively breeding species, the adaptive value of sons vs daughters depends upon the costs and benefits for parents of receiving help
81
primary defences
Operate before a predatory launches an attack and function to prevent pursuit
82
examples of primary defences
- visual crypsis
- warning colouration
- mimicry
83
secondary defences
Operate after an attack is initiated and increase prey’s chance of survival
84
adaptations of predators (coevolutionary arms race)
if prey evolve great ways of defending themselves, predators must equally evolve great traits to overcome these defenses in order to survive
85
predator-prey interaction sequence
- encounter
- detection
- recognition
- approach
- evasion/attack
86
non-lethal effects of predators on prey
- activity patterns
- foraging behaviour
- reproductive behaviour
-dispersal
- anti-predator behaviour
- habitat use
87
Countershading colouration
Animals tend to be darker on top and lighter on the ventral surface (e.g. shark)
88
disruptive colouration
Markings that create the appearance of false edges and boundaries and hinders the detection or recognition of an object, or part of an object’s true outline and shape
89
when is disruptive colouration most effective
- Some patches stand out from the background while others blend in (differential blending)
- Adjacent patch elements are highly contrasting (maximum disruptive contrast)
90
masquerade
Avoid predation by being misidentifies as inedible objects such as twigs, leaves, stones, etc. (e.g. leafy sea dragon)
91
Eyespot function (predator-prey interactions)
deflect attack to other parts of the body
92
selfish herd theory
predators attack closest prey therefore individuals on edges of the group experience highest risk
93
risk dilution theory
the larger the group, the lower the risk to the individuals (being attacked by a predator)
94
why are predators less successful at attacking large groups?
confusion effect: inability of predators to single out and attack individual prey within a group
95
benefits of grouping
- Cooperation
- Collective detection (many eyes)
- Predator swamping
- Communal defense
- Enhanced foraging
- Reduced locomotion
- Transmission of information about detected threat through group
96
costs of grouping
- Competition
- Aggression
- Parasitism
- Increased detectability
97
Illusions
Stimuli that exists at the extremes of what our visual system has evolved to handle’
98
Ebbinghaus illusion
- the importance of context, the central target appears larger when surrounded by smaller inducer objects
- e.g. female fiddler crabs more likely to choose mate with small neighbours
99
navigational strategies
- Beaconing (using landmarks)
- Route following
- Path integration
- Cognitive maps
100
path integration
A running computation of the present location from the past trajectory
101
Navigational cues
- e.g. sun, moon, landmarks, etc.
- animals use multiple cues to solve navigational problems - you must be careful to eliminate all possibilities of animals using alternative cues
102
problem with cooperation
- Natural selection favors genes that increase an individual’s fitness, thus selfish behaviors should dominate
- Soon, everyone will be selfish
103
direct benefits of cooperation
- fitness of actor is increased
- Reciprocal - bat sharing blood tit for tat
- reputational - competitive alturism
104
indirect benefits of cooperation
- When cooperation is directed at individuals who share genes with the actor
- kin selection (hamiltons rule)
105
hamiltons rule
rB > C
r = genetic relatedness
B = reproductive benefit
C = reproductive cost
106
how do animals recognise kin?
- environmental cues (e.g. familiarity/shared environment)
- self-referent phenotype matching
- shared distinct genetic markers
107
parental care
any form of care provided by parents to young
108
forms of parental care
- Preparation of area (e.g. nest, territory, etc.)
- Care of young in utero/eggs
- Provisioning of young
- External care of young
- Assisting in skill development – learning behaviors
109
example of parental care - matriphagy
- Suicidal maternal care increases the survival of young in spiders
110
benefits of parental care
- Increased survival, development and quality of young
- Care provided early on can have long-term benefits
- Ultimately a parents success is defined by the success of its offspring (becoming reproductive adults)
111
costs of parental care
- Parents who invest a lot in one reproductive attempt may be more likely to die or lose condition – limiting their ability to invest in future reproduction
- Investing a lot in one set of young restricts other breeding opportunities
- The physical act of caring for young exposes parents to predation
- Direct mortality
112
example of parental care trade-off
- long tailed skink
- Parental care only present in one population on Orchid island
- Predation and risk to young vs adults
- Predation on breeding females on mainland is strong, but weak on the island
- Predation on eggs is strong on orchid island but weak on the mainland
113
types of parental care
- Single parent
- bi-parental/shared care
- female only care
- male only care
114
polygyny threshold model
When a secondary female on a good territory has higher reproductive success than a primary female on a poor territory monogamy will change to polygyny
115
general rule of parental care
- In species with internal fertilization - female parental care
- In species with external fertilization - male parental care
116
preferential care
When parents preferentially allocate resources to the most valuable offspring
117
reproductive value
the number of children a woman of a given age is likely to produce in the future, relative to the average of the population as a whole
118
Human cooperation
- Reciprocity is much more important
- Cooperation between non-relatives is very common
- Humans engage much more commonly in complex/highly coordinated group-level cooperation
- Humans engage in extremely high-risk cooperation (warfare)
- role of reputation
- enforcement with punishment
119
what is animal cognition
The mechanism by which animals acquire, process , store and act on information from the environment
120
examples of animal cognition
- Spatial memory
- Recognition
- Behavioral inhibition
- Social knowledge
- Communication
- Inequity aversion
121
List at least three criteria needed to demonstrate cryptic female choice
- Need to identify that a trait in a female is the reason this is happening
- Sperm competition must be present
- Need to show the bias in a trait is independent of anything the male is doing
