Ch 52

Question 1

behavioral ecology

Answer 1

the scientific study of behavior in natural environments from an evolutionary perspective

Question 2

behavior

Answer 2

includes: what an animal does, how it does it, and if what they are doing is in response to a stimuli from the environment

Question 3

proximate causes of behavior

Answer 3

immediate causes that permit a specific behavior, genetic, developmental, and physiological processes, answer ‘HOW’ questions, proximate questions are mechanistic: how is this behavior brought about? what stimuli trigger it? what genetic and physiological mechanisms underly it?

Question 4

ultimate causes of behavior

Answer 4

evolutionary explanations for behavior, answer ‘WHY’ questions, ultimate questions address the evolutionary significance for behavior: what value is this behavior to the organism? why has natural selection favored it?

Question 5

ethology

Answer 5

the study of how animals behave in their natural habitat

Question 6

Is behavior environmentally determined (nurture) or genetically determined (nature)?

Answer 6

most behaviors are a mixture of these two components and in fact, individual choice can play a bigger role than nature or nurture

Question 7

How is an animal’s reproductive success measured?

Answer 7

by the number of offspring that reproduce

Question 8

behavior

Answer 8

results from the interaction of innate behavior and environmental factors

Question 9

learned behavior

Answer 9

behavior is modified in response to environmental experience

Question 10

Niko Tinbergen’s wasp experiment

Answer 10

the wasps looked for their nests based on nearby landmarks which they learned when they put the nest there

Question 11

motor programs

Answer 11

coordinated sequences of muscle actions, example: walking

Question 12

fixed action pattern

Answer 12

automatic behavior that, once activated, continues to completion regardless of feedback, can be triggered by sign stimulus, example: the graylag goose rolling it’s eggs even if the egg got taken away, example: male sticklebacks attacking anything with a red underside

Question 13

cognition

Answer 13

the ability of an animal’s nervous system to perceive, store, process, and use information gathered by sensory receptros, we usually relate cognition with awareness

Question 14

habituation

Answer 14

type of learning in which an animal ignores a repeated, irrelevant stimulus, example: we ignore the feeling of clothes on our skin

Question 15

imprinting

Answer 15

establishes a parent-offspring bond, ensures that the offspring recognizes the parent, imprinting is learning limited to a sensitive period, imprinting is the recognition, response, and attachment of young to a particular adult or object, example: Konrad Lorenz’s experiment with graylag geese where he isolate freshly hatched geese so that they imprinted on him and did not recognize their own mother

Question 16

classical conditioning

Answer 16

an association is formed between some normal body function and a new stimulus, example: Pavlov’s dog, unconscious body response

Question 17

operant conditioning

Answer 17

learns a behavior by positive reinforcement or to avoid punishment, reinforced behavior, consciously learning behavior (?), this is sometimes called trial-and-error learning–an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or a punishment

Question 18

insight learning

Answer 18

ability to adapt past experiences to solve a new problem

Question 19

play

Answer 19

gives young animals a chance to learn and practice adulthood behaviors such as hunting, or it may serve to provide exercise and/or social interaction

Question 20

behavioral ecology

Answer 20

is the research field that views behavior as an evolutionary adaptation to the natural ecological conditions of animals, we expect animals to behave in ways that maximize their ‘fitness’ (this idea is only valid if genes influence behavior)

Question 21

optimal foraging behavior

Answer 21

when animals use strategies that optimize the ratio between benefits and costs, states that natural selection will benefit from animals that maximize their energy intake to expenditure ratio

Question 22

habituation

Answer 22

this involves a loss of responsiveness to unimportant stimuli that do not provide appropriate feedback

Question 23

maturation

Answer 23

is the situation in which a behavior may improve because of ongoing developmental changes in neuromuscular systems, for example, flight in birds–as a bird continues to develop its muscles and nervous system, it is now able to fly, this is not ‘true’ learning

Question 24

biological rhythms

Answer 24

circadian rhythms are daily cycles

Question 25

where is the biological clock located in mammals?

Answer 25

hypothalamus

Question 26

diurnal animals

Answer 26

active in the day

Question 27

nocturnal animals

Answer 27

active in the night

Question 28

crepuscular animals

Answer 28

active at dawn and/or dusk

Question 29

migration

Answer 29

periodic long-distance travel due to, for example, seasonal weather changes

Question 30

3 ways migration can happen

Answer 30

piloting, directional orientation, and navigation

Question 31

piloting

Answer 31

doesn't require compass or map, an animal moves from one familiar landmark to another until it reaches its destination

Question 32

directional orientation

Answer 32

travel in a specific direction, which requires compass sense, animals can detect directions and travel in particular paths until reaching destination

Question 33

navigation

Answer 33

requires both compass and map sense, is the most complex, it involves determining one's present location relative to other locations in addition to detecting compass directions, cues for these behaviors include the earth's magnetic field, the sun, and the stars

Question 34

social behavior

Answer 34

adaptive interaction usually among members of the same species

Question 35

animal communication

Answer 35

involves exchange of recognizable signals including pheromones, vocalization, and body language

Question 36

dominance heirarchy

Answer 36

ranking status within group, wolves have a ranking of individuals (a 'pecking' order) that includes alpha, and beta rankings, this allows cooperation among the group, in a hierarchy, the more dominant members are accorded benefits, often without overt aggressive behavior

Question 37

agonistic behavior

Answer 37

agonistic behavior is a contest involving threats, this behavior is ritual and generally one of the animals submits and no harm is done

Question 38

home range vs. territory

Answer 38

a home range is anywhere you might find an animal of a certain species, territory on the other hand is only the part of the home range that the animal marks and is willing to fight for

Question 39

parental investment

Answer 39

refers to the time and resources expended for the raising of offspring, it is generally lower in males because they are capable of producing more gametes (which are also smaller), therefore making each one less valuable, females usually invest more time into parenting because they produce fewer, larger gametes, a process which is energetically more expensive, thus making each gamete more valuable

Question 40

mate selection

Answer 40

in terms of mate choice, females are usually more discriminating in terms of the males with whom they choose to mate

Question 41

helping behavior

Answer 41

cooperative behavior includes reciprocal altruism, in altruistic behavior, an individual behaves in a way that benefits others

Question 42

territorality

Answer 42

when an individual defends a particular area, called the territory, territories are typically used for feeding, mating, and rearing young and are fixed in location, there are cons to territoriality though, it uses a great deal of one's energy and an individual might die defending the territory or miss a reproductive opportunity

Question 43

courtship behavior

Answer 43

consists of patterns that lead to copulation (intercourse) and consists of a series of displays and movements by the male or female

Question 44

inclusive fitness

Answer 44

number of offspring and offspring of kin, kin selection increases inclusive fitness through reproduction of close relatives

Question 45

polygyny

Answer 45

a male mates with many females (polyGYNY=GINNY)

Question 46

polyandry

Answer 46

a female mates with many males (polyANDRY=many ANDRews)

Question 47

monogamy

Answer 47

mating with a single partner

Question 48

pair bond

Answer 48

pair bond is a stable relationship between a male and a female

Question 49

certainty of paternity

Answer 49

can influence mating systems and parental care; if the male is unsure if offspring are his, parental investment is likely to be lower, but exceptions do exist

Question 50

society

Answer 50

group of individuals within the same species that may work together; insect societies tend to be rigid, narrowly defined, and with the division of labor determined by age; vertebrate societies are more flexible, with some species developing culture

Question 51

the dance of the honeybee

Answer 51

bees forage to maximize their food intake and if an individual finds a good food source, it will communicate the location to others in the hive through an elaborate dance