Chapter 1 Flashcards
Ethology
The study of animals in their natural habitat
Why do we need to know how animals behave?
- Commonality
- Understand common underlying principles
- Co habitation
- Protecting and managing
Behavioral ecology
How behavior develops, evolves, and contributes to reproductive success
Foundation of Animal
- Natural Selection
- Individual learning
- Cultural transmission
Natural selection
The frequency of traits that confer reproductive and survival success that are passed on from one gen to the next increases over evolutionary time
For natural selection to occur
- Unequal reproductive success
- Inheritance of the gene
- Individual variation
- Over-reproduction
Xenophobia
Fear of unknown stranger
Natural association
Trial and error learning
Habituation
When an animal learns not to respond to stimulus
Cultural Transmission
The transfer of info by teaching, coping or social learning
Ethology approaches
-Empirical: Gathering of data (Karl F. Niko T. Konrad L.
-Conceptual: Combining of ideas from different subdisciplines in a novel
Theoretical: Use math model to condense a complex topic
Two components fitness
Direct Fitness- Trans of genes
Indirect Fitness- does not require transmission of genes
Total Fitness= Direct + Indirect Fitness
William D Hamilton
- Total fitness is combo of genetic contribution to the next gen, plus benefit received from helping raise related offspring
