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definitions Flashcards

1
Q

Actor

A

the focal individual performing a behaviour

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2
Q

altruism

A

a behaviour that is costly to the actor and beneficial to the recipient. Cost and benefit are defined on the basis of the lifetime direct fitness consequences of a behaviour.

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3
Q

cheaters

A

individuals who do not cooperate or who cooperate less than their fair share, but are potentially able to gain the benefit of others cooperating.

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4
Q

cooperate

A

a behaviour that provides a benefit to another individual (recipient), and the evolution of which has been dependent on its beneficial effect for the recipient.

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5
Q

direct fitness

A

the component of fitness gained from producing offspring; the component of personal fitness due to one’s own behaviour.

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6
Q

greenbeard

A

a hypothetical gene that causes in carriers both a phenotype that can be recognised by conspecifics (a ‘green beard’) and a cooperative behaviour towards conspecifics who show a green beard.

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7
Q

inclusive fitness

A

the effect of one individual’s actions on everybody’s numbers of offspring […] weighted by the relatedness [10]; the sum of direct and indirect fitness; the quantity maximised by Darwinian individuals.

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8
Q

indirect fitness

A

the component of fitness gained from aiding related individuals.

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9
Q

kin selection

A

process by which traits are favoured because of their beneficial effects on the fitness of relatives.

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10
Q

mutual benefit

A

a benefit to both the actor and the recipient.

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11
Q

mutualism

A

two-way cooperation between species.

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12
Q

recipient

A

an individual who is affected by the behaviour of the focal individual.

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13
Q

relatedness

A

a measure of the genetic similarity of two individuals, relative to the average; the statistical (least-squares) regression of the recipient’s breeding value for a trait on the breeding value of the actor.

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14
Q

biometrician

A

school of thought that proposed that natural selection worked on continuous variation

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15
Q

mendelian

A

thought NS worked only on discrete variation because small changes wouldn’t have enough impact, opposed darwinian evolution

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16
Q

natural selection

A

differential survival and reproduction based on heritable traits- organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce

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17
Q

genetic drift

A

stochastic fluctuations in allele frequencies within a population based on chance

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18
Q

gene flow

A

transfer of alleles among populations through migration/interbreeding

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19
Q

hardy-weinberg equilibrium

A

organisation of genetic diversity in a population where there are no ‘disturbing factors’ e.g. migration, no selective pressures leading to differences in viability, random mating etc

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20
Q

speciation

A

formation of a new, distinct species during the course of evolution- exact point defined differently according to different species concepts

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21
Q

two-fold cost of sex

A

all else being equal, sexual reproduction is half as effective at passing on genes to offspring compared to asexual reproduction

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22
Q

recombination

A

exchange of genetic material between two DNA molecules

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23
Q

phenetic species concept

A

organisms that are phenotypically similar to one another and different to different sets

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24
Q

biological species concept

A

group of actually/potentially interbreeding populations, which are reproductively isolated from other groups

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25
Q

ecological species concept

A

separately evolving lineage which occupies a similar niche to others in the group

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26
Q

phylogenetic species concept

A

distinct group that shares a common ancestor

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27
Q

unified species concept

A

separately evolving metapopulation lineages- all properties under alternate theories are important

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28
Q

allopatry

A

physical isolation which can lead to speciation

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29
Q

parapatry

A

speciation involving reproductive isolation emerging without physical separation- though there is still niche separation

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30
Q

sympatry

A

speciation involving reproductive isolation within organisms occupying the same niche

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31
Q

driver

A

another word for a selfish genetic element

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32
Q

parliament of the genes

A

suggestion that selfish genetic elements will be kept in check by suppressors

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33
Q

K

A

maximum number of individuals the environment can support

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34
Q

r

A

maximum growth rate of a population

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35
Q

environmental stochasticity

A

unpredictable fluctuation in environmental conditions

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36
Q

density-dependence

A

effect of a population size on future changes in population size

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37
Q

K-selected

A

competitive environments, spend a lot of their time around K, but often have low r so are not resilient

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38
Q

r-selected

A

populations often in the recovery phase in a less competitive environment, more resilient and reproduce more/mature earlier etc

39
Q

demographic stochasticity

A

randomness in the birth and death process

40
Q

allee effect

A

positive density dependence- individual fitness, and therefore pop growth, higher at higher populations- pop size can become negative below a critical threshold in some strong cases

41
Q

comparative method

A

comparing independently evolved species to help explain evolutionary mechanisms- often involves observing trends etc

42
Q

major evolutionary transition

A

change in the way information is passed from generation to generation

43
Q

metapopulation

A

‘population of populations’- a population made up of separate subgroups in spatially separated locations- each subgroup is being inhabited/extinction is occurring in a pattern

44
Q

source-sink dynamic

A

population with a source- a net exporter of individuals- and a sink- an area with a small number of inhabitants, a net acceptor of individuals

45
Q

patchy population

A

population which is broken up, but patches are all inhabited

46
Q

natural enemy

A

another organism which impacts the fitness of another organism, e.g. killing/reducing reproductive potential

47
Q

predator

A

organism which kills its prey, and attacks multiple in its lifetime

48
Q

parasite

A

organism which lives on or in its host, only part of the host is consumed and 1 or very few hosts are consumed per parasite

49
Q

parasitoid

A

organism which kills a singular host during its lifetime

50
Q

herbivore

A

consumer which removes tissue (only part of the organism) from a primary producer

51
Q

ecological community

A

group of species that occur together in space/time and compete for the same limiting resources

52
Q

principle of competitive exclusion

A

two species cannot coexist on a single limiting resource if other ecological factors remain constant

53
Q

R* value

A

minimum resource concentration a species requires for positive population growth

54
Q

coevolution

A

change in the genetic composition of one species in response to a genetic change in another- reciprocal evolutionary change

55
Q

adaptation

A

trait that confers a fitness advantage, evolved and maintained by means of NS

56
Q

coadaptation

A

reciprocal adaptations of two interacting species

57
Q

keystone species

A

species whose impacts on a community or ecosystem are larger than would be expected from abundance or biomass

58
Q

escalatory (arms race) dynamic

A

reciprocal selection favours the same type (i.e. increased or decreased) phenotype values in both organisms- leads to fixed alleles at an extreme

59
Q

red queen (cyclical) dynamics

A

reciprocal selection favours exploiters that match the victim phenotype, and victims that mismatch- cyclic allele frequencies

60
Q

molecular clock

A

the ability to track speciation based on random changes in genetic sequence

61
Q

selectionism

A

belief that most fixed evolutionary differences are caused by positive selection on beneficial alleles (aka NS)

62
Q

neutralism

A

belief that most evolutionary change comes from genetic drift rather than beneficial alleles

63
Q

parralelism

A

parallel evolution is evidence of positive selection as an important factor

64
Q

non-synonymous mutation

A

mutation on which selection can act (change the phenotype)

65
Q

neofunctionalism

A

where a duplicated gene switches function, creates fewer negative mutations

66
Q

sub-functionalisation

A

splitting genes that previously had the same function

67
Q

biome

A

large area categorised by vegetation, soil, temperature, and wildlife- distribution can be widely explained by temperature and rainfall (Whittaker biome classification)

68
Q

primary productivity

A

rate at which biomass is produced by photosynthesis per unit area/volume

69
Q

gross primary productivity

A

total fixation of energy by photosynthesis

70
Q

net primary productivity

A

GPP-respiratory loses

71
Q

great ocean conveyor belt

A

system of ocean currents that moves water around global oceans

72
Q

bottom-up forces

A

forces which influence communities starting at low trophic levels, e.g. less plant growth limiting growth at other trophic levels

73
Q

top-down forces

A

forces from higher trophic levels which impact lower trophic levels, e.g. less predators leading to a reduced response to nutrient addition

74
Q

non-trophic interactions

A

interactions between species that do not involve consumption, e.g. habitat-modifying effects

75
Q

species-area curve

A

record of how the number of species recorded increases as the area studied increases- often not linear (10x increase in area leading to doubling of species number)

76
Q

latitudinal gradient

A

trend towards increasing diversity as you move from the poles to the tropics

77
Q

habitat diversity hypothesis

A

if there is a wider range of species can live in that area- species diversity increases with habitat diversity

78
Q

passive sampling hypothesis

A

null model- probability that a species occurs is proportional to its area

79
Q

equilibrium theory of island biogeography

A

the equilibrium point between immigration and extinction will be higher on larger islands

80
Q

biodiversity

A

variation in genes, traits, communities, habitats and ecosystems

81
Q

SIR model

A

model of infection where people are suseptible, infectious, or recovered

82
Q

agroecology

A

application of ecological understanding and principles to agriculture

83
Q

organic farming

A

form of agriculture that relies on ‘natural’ techniques such as manure, crop rotation, compost

84
Q

agroforestry

A

integration of trees into crop farming systems

85
Q

agri-environment scheme

A

incentives to farm in a more wildlife-friendly way, subsidies at different levels depending on how difficult the task is

86
Q

land sparing

A

some land farmed intensively to maximise yield, some protected as a reserve

87
Q

land sharing

A

all the land is farmed, but more wildlife-friendly techniques are used

88
Q

yield-effort curve

A

curve that shows there is a peak harvesting effort for yield, at high or low effort yield drops

89
Q

maximum sustainable yield

A

maximum number of organisms that can be sustainably removed from a population over a long period of time

90
Q

el nino event

A

release of heat from the pacific ocean

91
Q

three main drivers of biodiversity loss

A

land use change, over-exploitation, climate change

92
Q

farming management practices examples

A

using more organic fertilisers, increasing heterogeneity

93
Q

what is tillage

A

clearing land for agriculture

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