Behavioural Ecology and Evolution

Question 1

What is behavioural ecology

Answer 1

the study of behavioural phenomena in light of ecological and evolutionary theory

Question 2

What is behavioural ecology NOT?

Answer 2

• about humans
  -biologically deterministic
  -behavioural genetics

Question 3

behavioural ecology is:

Answer 3

adaptationist
selectionist
comparative

Question 4

adaptationist

Answer 4

focus on adaptive traits, the properties of organisms that enhance probability of survival and reproduction

Question 5

selectionist

Answer 5

natural selection is fore that drives adaptations

Question 6

adaptation

Answer 6

evolutionary process where organisms fit better to their environments. a physical or behavioural trait maintained and evolved by natural selection that enhances probability of survival and reproduction

Question 7

comparative

Answer 7

compare across taxa, sexes, etc.

Question 8

why study behavioural ecology?

Answer 8

improve use of animals and pets
animal welfare
ecological conservation
better understand our species

Question 9

what traditions are united in behavioural ecology?

Answer 9

ethology and evolutionary biology

Question 10

ethology

Answer 10

study of behaviour under natural conditions

Question 11

evolutionary biology

Answer 11

study of how organisms have come to be, how their features were designed by natural selection

Question 12

3 ethologists

Answer 12

Tinbergen
Lorenz
von Frisch

Question 13

Fathers of evolution

Answer 13

Darwin + Wallace

Question 14

natural selection occurs because

Answer 14

variation within population (individuals differ in characteristics)

heredity (characteristics are passed onto offspring)

differential reproduction (these characteristics help some individuals survive or reproduce more than others)

Question 15

unusual aspects of Grant finches study

Answer 15

• very long
  -every individual was marked and tracked
  -natural environment perturbations were manipulations that allowed Grants to observe natural selection in real time

Question 16

what trait evolved after the droughts in the Grant study?

Answer 16

beak depth increased in responses to lack of small seeds available- needed bigger beaks to break open smaller seeds

Question 17

what type of selection occurred in grant study?

Answer 17

directional selection

Question 18

adaptation

Answer 18

change of trait that increases reproductive success of individuals that have it

Question 19

natural selection

Answer 19

process by which traits become more or less common in a population due to inherited traits helping or hurting survival/reproduction of individuals

Question 20

evolution

Answer 20

change in genetic composition of population over many generations, driven by natural selection acting on variation within a population

Question 21

fitness

Answer 21

survival and reproductive success

Question 22

difference between evolution and natural selection

Answer 22

evolution is gene frequency change over many generations

Question 23

major causes of evolution

Answer 23

mutation, genetic drift, natural selection

Question 24

natural selection is

Answer 24

differential reproduction

Question 25

differential reproduction is measured as:

Answer 25

fitness

Question 26

generalist

Answer 26

an organisms that does fine with a broader range of conditions (ex. environment, food). Better in unproductive environments (cant be picky)

Question 27

character displacement

Answer 27

divergence in traits caused by competition among species

Question 28

character released

Answer 28

characters begin to overlap as they are released from competition with another species