Chapter 15

Question 1

Benefits of sociality

Answer 1

1) Decreased time to find food
2) Enhanced foraging success
3) Enhanced resource defense
4) Decreased predation risk
5) Reduced costs of thermoregulation
6) Specialization and division of labor
7) Communal care of young
8) More rapid learning
9) Reduced cost of movement

Question 2

Cost of Sociality

Answer 2

1) Increased aggression
2) Increased competition
3) Increased attraction to predators
4) increased disease transmission
5) Increased infanticide
6) Increased cannibalism

Question 3

What FORAGING BENEFITS are associated with sociality in minnows?

Answer 3

1) Sociality reduces search time for food because multiple individuals simultaneously search
2) As group size increases, the search time for an individual to find hidden food declines

Question 4

Individuals benefit from living in groups by gaining information about distant food sources from others
ex) Vultures

Answer 4

Information center hypothesis

Question 5

Can groups of communal roosting euasian griffon vultures be a source of information about distant food sources?

Answer 5

Uninformed individual will follow informed individual to carcass, remain close together, informed individual will LEAD

Question 6

Do individuals associate with others to obtain anti-predator benefits?

Answer 6

Variation in predation risk should explain variation in group size
1) Sociality reduces predation risk

Question 7

Why do large birds fly in a V-formation?

Answer 7

-Formation REDUCES THE COST OF FLYING
-Birds in formation will have lower wingbeat frequency and heart rate than solitary birds

Question 8

Do fish in any position in a group have a reduced cost of swimming compared to solitary individuals?

Answer 8

Swimming with others REDUCES hydrodynamic drag, reducing cost of movement

Question 9

Individuals in stable groups can benefit when group members specialize on different tasks this is called?

Answer 9

Skill pool Effect (ants)

Question 10

Does individual specialization result in HIGHER fitness for individuals living in groups?

Answer 10

1) Colonies with more behavioral specialization (brood care and exploration of novel objects) have HIGHER fitness
2) Behavioral specialization among workers within a colony enhances productivity

Question 11

Does competition affect the size of social groups in red-tailed guenons?

Answer 11

1) Competition for food limits group size
2) Low-resource environments should have smaller group sizes than high-resource environments

Question 12

How does sociality affect DISEASE TRANSMISSION in guppies?

Answer 12

1) Tighter spacing between individuals enhances disease transmission
2) Disease transmission rates will be higher in tighter social groups

Question 13

Within group variation in _________________

Answer 13

competitive ability

Question 14

Organized social system with dominant/ subordinate members this is called

Answer 14

Dominance Hierarchy

Question 15

Individual dominant to each member below it; subordinate to all above it this is called?

Answer 15

Linear dominance hierarchy

Question 16

Do dominance hierarchies affect aggression in crayfish?

Answer 16

1) Dominance hierarchies reduce aggression between individuals
2) Level of aggression will be high during hierarchy formation but will then decline

Question 17

How do dominance hierarchies affect stress levels in baboons?

Answer 17

1) Aggression level and stress hormones such as glucocorticoid will be lowest when stable dominance hierarchies exist
2) The formation of a dominance hierarchy reduces aggression and stress in individuals

Question 18

How do ecological CONDITIONS influence the evolution of sociality in historicognath rodents?

Answer 18

1) Common ancestor most likely SOCIAL species that lived in open habitats
-evolution of solitary species often in conjunction with closed habitats
-vegetation cover associated with group living
2) Sociality influenced by habitat and phylogeny

Question 19

African antelope

Answer 19

1) Small species = small SOCIAL groups, dense vegetation, hide from predators, dietary specialists
2) Large species= large groups, OPEN habitats, flee from predator attacks, dietary generalists

Question 20

Are these correlations supported when account for evolutionary relatedness?

Answer 20

Ecological conditions can help explain variation in sociality among closely related species

Question 21

What are the social approach behavior and neuropeptides in goldfish?

Answer 21

1) Vasotocin (VT) and isotocin (IT no effect) affect social affiliation
2) Vasotocin (VT) will inhibit social affiliation

Question 22

How do hormones affect sociality in zebra finches?

Answer 22

1) Endogenous MT promotes sociality in zebra finches
2) Individuals with higher MT will spend more time with larger groups

Question 23

How does OXYTOCIN (OXT) modulate female reproductive behavior in gray seals?

Answer 23

Link between OXT plasma concentration and prosocial behavior in these wild seal pups (made the seals more social less aggression)