Day 7 Flashcards
What are Tinbergen’s Four Questions?
- Causation (sensory-motor mechanism):
How does it function at molecular physiological neural cognitive level? - Ontogeny (developmental changes):
How does it change with age, and what are the developmental steps? - Evolution (phylogenetic history):
How does it compare in closely related species? - Function (adaptive significance):
How does it impact the animal’s chances
of survival and reproduction?
What are proximate questions?
Specific questions (immediate)
- hormones age
What are ultimate questions
Big picture questions
(species pop)
What are tinbergen’s four questions based on the example of male redbacked spiders sacrificing their lives in order to mate with a female
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
Trinbergen’s four questions?
When a coalition of males take over a pride, they typically kill all cubs less than a year old
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
What is Behavioural ecology?
Explores why organisms behave the way they do.
Focus on how behaviour is evolutionarily adaptive in natural environment
What is Fitness?
- 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
What is Natural selection?
Selection that favours traits that maximize an individual’s chances of surviving and reproducing
Sexual selection
Maximizes the number of fertilization or matings mating
Viability selection
Selection that maximizes survival of the individual.
Behavioural ecoology (types)
- Foraging behaviour
- Enemies
- Sexual selection
- Social behaviours with conspecifcs (kin selection)
What is foraging behaviour?
- 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
Parasite
- 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)
What is the equation for photosynthesis?
Sunlight + 6 co2 +6h2o – c6h12+6o2
What is ecology energetics?
The study of fixation transfer and storage of energy in ecosystems.
Intra vs intersexual selection
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
Bateman’s principle
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.
What is sexual dimorphism
- Males more extravagant sex
- evolved larger body size or “ornamentation”
Social behaviour
Advantage of living in group:
- Predator detection
- defence
Disadvantage:
- increased competition
- increased risk of infection
eusocial organisms
- some individuals don’t breed (help others instead)
- specialized phenotypes often eveolve
Kin selection
Natural selection that favours you helping animals you are related to breed.
- help sibling raise kid - you still get 25% of genes
What is a brood parasite?
Lays eggs in another’s nest
eusocial
Sterile castes such as “workers” are
developmentally specialized for helping the “queen” reproduce or for defending the nest
Kin selection
Kin selection refers to natural selection that favours genetic contributions to future generations through altruism to close relatives.
Proximate vs ultimate answers
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
Does selection act on individuals or on social groups and populations?
Behavioural ecology investigates the adaptive (fitness) value of traits to individual organisms, because selection acts on individuals, not on social groups or populations
