Day 7

Question 1

What are Tinbergen’s Four Questions?

Answer 1

1. Causation (sensory-motor mechanism):
   How does it function at molecular physiological neural cognitive level?
2. Ontogeny (developmental changes):
   How does it change with age, and what are the developmental steps?
3. Evolution (phylogenetic history):
   How does it compare in closely related species?
4. Function (adaptive significance):
   How does it impact the animal’s chances
   of survival and reproduction?

Question 2

What are proximate questions?

Answer 2

Specific questions (immediate)
- hormones age

Question 3

What are ultimate questions

Answer 3

Big picture questions
(species pop)

Question 4

What are tinbergen’s four questions based on the example of male redbacked spiders sacrificing their lives in order to mate with a female

Answer 4

Causation: Females attract males with pheromones males court females with vibrations

Ontogeny: Males reach sexual maturity in 3 months, females mature in 4

Evolution: Other closely related spiders species exhibit this sexual cannibalism

Function: Males achieve higher reproductive success by sacrificing themselves

Question 5

Trinbergen’s four questions?
When a coalition of males take over a pride, they typically kill all cubs less than a year old

Answer 5

Causation: Adult males smell the unfamiliar odder of cubs, which triggers aggression.
Ontogeny: males reach sexual maturity at 3 females at 4
Evolution: 3 other species of cats don’t do this
Function: females enter esters sooner if they no longer have estrus cubs

Question 6

What is Behavioural ecology?

Answer 6

Explores why organisms behave the way they do.
Focus on how behaviour is evolutionarily adaptive in natural environment

Question 7

What is Fitness?

Answer 7

• Fitness is the contribution an individual’s offspring make to the genetic makeup of subsequent generations
• reproductive success
• It’s an attribute of an individual, not of a specie
• Favourable mutations persist if they improve fitness of a mutant individual

Question 8

What is Natural selection?

Answer 8

Selection that favours traits that maximize an individual’s chances of surviving and reproducing

Question 9

Sexual selection

Answer 9

Maximizes the number of fertilization or matings mating

Question 10

Viability selection

Answer 10

Selection that maximizes survival of the individual.

Question 11

Behavioural ecoology (types)

Answer 11

1. Foraging behaviour
2. Enemies
3. Sexual selection
4. Social behaviours with conspecifcs (kin selection)

Question 12

What is foraging behaviour?

Answer 12

• Food choices have effect on fitness
• Foraging and processing food = costly
• Foraging increases organism’s chance of being killed
• choice of food is a cost-benefit decision, with tradeoff between foraging location and food quality
• when in danger freeze

Question 13

Parasite

Answer 13

• live in symbiosis (1 organism thrives, other suffers)
• Parasite may change host behaviour for own interest
• Brood parasites parasitize parental activity of other species (host rear parasitic offspring)
• high selective pressure for host to recognize parasitic young)

Question 14

What is the equation for photosynthesis?

Answer 14

Sunlight + 6 co2 +6h2o – c6h12+6o2

Question 15

What is ecology energetics?

Answer 15

The study of fixation transfer and storage of energy in ecosystems.

Question 16

Intra vs intersexual selection

Answer 16

intra= same sex (men fight amongst each other for female)
- often involves aggression
inter = opposite sex (women choose a man)
- females show preference
- men waste energy on ornamentation
- females choose superior mates when they are more ornamented

Question 17

Bateman’s principle

Answer 17

In sexual reproduction species variability in reproductive success is greater in males than females
- females reproduction is limited by # of offspring they can bear
- males reproduction is limited by access to females.

Question 18

What is sexual dimorphism

Answer 18

• Males more extravagant sex
• evolved larger body size or “ornamentation”

Question 19

Social behaviour

Answer 19

Advantage of living in group:
- Predator detection
- defence

Disadvantage:
- increased competition
- increased risk of infection

Question 20

eusocial organisms

Answer 20

• some individuals don’t breed (help others instead)
• specialized phenotypes often eveolve

Question 21

Kin selection

Answer 21

Natural selection that favours you helping animals you are related to breed.
- help sibling raise kid - you still get 25% of genes

Question 22

What is a brood parasite?

Answer 22

Lays eggs in another’s nest

Question 23

eusocial

Answer 23

Sterile castes such as “workers” are
developmentally specialized for helping the “queen” reproduce or for defending the nest

Question 24

Kin selection

Answer 24

Kin selection refers to natural selection that favours genetic contributions to future generations through altruism to close relatives.

Question 25

Proximate vs ultimate answers

Answer 25

Proximate answers concern mechanisms, such as the genetic or neural mechanisms underlying a trait.
Ultimate answers address fitness, such as how variation in a trait increases survival or reproductive success

Question 26

Does selection act on individuals or on social groups and populations?

Answer 26

Behavioural ecology investigates the adaptive (fitness) value of traits to individual organisms, because selection acts on individuals, not on social groups or populations