Evolution of Social Behavior

Question 1

costs/benefits to group living

Answer 1

one cost is inbreeding

Question 2

dispersal (3)

Answer 2

emigration from a social group
causes gene flow
decreases inbreeding

Question 3

sex biased dispersal

Answer 3

males stay in natal groups

Question 4

behavior influences…

Answer 4

distribution of allele frequencies in a population over time

Question 5

What behaviors have genetic consequences? (2)

Answer 5

mating and offspring care

Question 6

selection should favor ….

Answer 6

individuals who ON AVERAGE make choices that improve their fitness

Question 7

reductionism

Answer 7

reference to the fitness of behavioral traits (or the genetics of behavior) - means it has genetic consequences in terms of the number of offspring it allow the individual to produce

Question 8

behavioral strategies

Answer 8

are flexible, esp. for long lived animals who need to cope with varying environments

Question 9

hormones

Answer 9

influence your physical body and your behavior

Question 10

phenotype

Answer 10

the observed characteristics, reflecting the effects of the environment on genotypic expression

Question 11

phenotypic plasticity

Answer 11

the capacity of a single gene to produce multiple phenotypes in response to the environment

Question 12

reaction norm

Answer 12

the range of phenotypes that will be developed by a genotype over a range of environments

Question 13

types of reaction norms (2)

Answer 13

irreversible developmental plasticity

reversible plasticity

Question 14

plasticity - types of males

Answer 14

change rank (social environment) - change phenotype even though he has the same genes

Question 15

sex as a reaction norm

Answer 15

continuum of effects of genes and environment on the phenotype resulting in a scale of characteristics

Question 16

DNA methylation

Answer 16

turns off genes