Chapter 53 Flashcards
lek
display ground where male animals compete for/defend small display areas as a means for demonstrating territorial prowess an winning opportunities to mate
imprinting
rapid form of learning in animal behavior in which animal learns during brief critical period to make a particular response to some object or organism which is maintained for life
individual fitness
component of inclusive fitness resulting from an organism producing its own offspring
conspecifics
individuals of same species
releaser
sensory stimulus that triggers performance of stereotyped behavior pattern
polygyny
mating system in which one male mates w/ multiple females
homing
ability to return over long distances to specific site
Hamilton’s rule
for an apparent alturistic behavior to be adaptive:
C < r*B
energetic cost
difference between energy an animal expends in performing a behavior and energy it would have expended had it resisted
proximate cause
immediate genetic, physiological, neurological and developmental mechanisms responsible for behavior or morphology
habitat
particular environment in which an organism lives
eusocial
pertaining to social group that includes nonreproductive individuals (e.g. honey bees)
polyandry
mating system in which one female mates with multiple males
suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN)
two clusters of neurons just above the optic chiasm that act as the master circadian clock
circannual rhythm
rhythm of growth or activity that recurs on yearly basis
opportunity cost
sum of benefits an animal forfeits by not being able to perform some other behavior during time when it it is performing a given behavior
fixed action pattern
genetically determined behavior performed w/o learning, stereotypic (performed same way every time), and not modifiable by learning
inclusive fitness
sum of individual’s genetic contribution to subsequent generations both via production of its own offspring and via influence on survival of relatives who aren’t direct descendants
communication
signal from one organism/cell that alters the functioning or behavior of another organism/cell
circadian rhythm
rhythm of growth or activity that recurs about every 24 hrs
ultimate cause
evolutionary processes in ethology that produced an animal’s capacity and tendency to behave in particular ways
ethology
approach to study of animal behavior that focuses on studying many species in nat’l environments & addresses ?’s about evolution of behavior
risk cost
increased chance of being injured or killed as a result of performing a behavior, compared to resting
optimal foraging theory
application of a cost-benefit approach to feeding behavior to identify the fitness value of feeding choices
kin selection
component of inclusive fitness resulting from helping survival of relatives containing same alleles by descent from a common ancestor
sensitive period
life stage during which some particualr type of learning must take place or which it occurs much more easily than at other times (e.g. song learning in birds)
cost-benefit analysis
approach to evolutionary studies that assuems an animal has limited amt. of time and energy to devotte to each of its activities, and that each activity has fitness costs & benefits
altruism
pertaining to behavior that benefits other individuals at a cost to individual who performs it
haplodiploidy
sex determination mechanism in which diploid individuals (from fertilized eggs) are female and haploid individuals (from unfertilized eggs) are male
