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Behavioral Ecology > Exam 1 > Flashcards

Exam 1 Flashcards

1
Q

Charles R. Darwin

A

theory of evolution by means of natural selection

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2
Q

Karl von Frisch

A

studied the senses of bees, identified their mechanisms of communication including their dance

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3
Q

William D. Hamilton

A

genetic basis for kin selection

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4
Q

Konrad Z. Lorenz

A

theory of instinct

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5
Q

C. Lloyd Morgan

A

coined “Morgan’s canon”

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6
Q

Ivan P. Pavlov

A

classical conditioning

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7
Q

Nikolaas Tinbergen

A

individual and social behavior patterns

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8
Q

John B. Watson

A

tabula rasa; mind is initially a blank slate

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9
Q

instinct

A

A behavior pattern that reliably develops in most individuals, promoting a function response to a releaser stimulus the first time the action is performed. Instincts were whole patterns of behavior such as drinking, eating, fighting, courting, literally “driven from within”.

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10
Q

Fixed Action Pattern (FAP)

A

An innate, highly stereotyped response that is triggered by a well-defined, simple stimulus; once the pattern is activated, the response is performed in its entirety.

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11
Q

Sign Stimulus (SS)

A

The effective component of an action or object that triggers a fixed action pattern in an animal.

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12
Q

Innate Releasing Mechanism (IRM)

A

“A special (hypothetical) neurosensory mechanism that releases the reaction and is responsible for its selective susceptibility to a very special combination of sign stimuli” (Tinbergen).

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13
Q

imprinting

A

A form of learning in which individuals exposed to certain key stimuli, usually early in life, form an association with the object and may later show sexual behavior toward similar objects.

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14
Q

ethogram

A

A precise descriptive catalog of all postures and patterns of movement an animal (species) might make in any natural context

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15
Q

morgan’s canon

A

Don’t give a more complicated explanation for a behavior if a simple one exists.

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16
Q

behaviorism

A

A subdiscipline of psychology that studied the sum total of an animal’s responses, reactions, or adjustments to local stimuli and how past events affect future behavior.

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17
Q

tabla rasa

A

A subdiscipline of psychology that studied the sum total of an animal’s responses, reactions, or adjustments to local stimuli and how past events affect future behavior.

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18
Q

Pavlovian (classical) conditioning

A

Associative learning where the pairing of a conditioned and unconditioned stimulus to produce a unconditioned response can lead to a conditioned response in the presence of the unconditioned stimulus alone.

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19
Q

instrumental (operate) conditioning

A

A kind of learning based on trial and error, in which an action or operate becomes more frequently performed if it is rewarded

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20
Q

homeostasis

A

The property of a living system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or pH.

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21
Q

natural selection

A

Also direct selection. The process that occurs when individuals differ in their traits and the differences are correlated with differences in reproductive success. Natural selection can produce evolutionary change when these differences are inherited.

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22
Q

phenotype

A

Any measurable aspect of an individual that arises from an interaction of the individual’s genes with its environment.

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23
Q

genotype

A

The genetic constitution of an individual; may refer to the alleles of one gene possessed by the individual or to its complete set of genes

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24
Q

fitness

A

A measure of the genes contributed to the next generation by an individual, often stated in terms of the number of surviving offspring produced by the individual. Direct fitness is the genes contributed by an individual via personal reproduction in the bodies of surviving offspring

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25
Q

adaptation

A

A characteristic that confers higher inclusive fitness to individuals than any other existing alternative exhibited by other individuals with the population; a trait that has spread or is spreading or is being maintained in a population as a result of natural selection.

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26
Q

evolution

A

A change in gene frequency (proportions) in a population over generations. These changes may be due to selection (natural, sexual, kin) or by chance events (genetic drift, gene flow, mutation).

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27
Q

proximate causation

A

An immediate, underlying cause based on the operation of internal mechanisms possessed by the individual; or how a behavior occurs.

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28
Q

ultimate causation

A

The evolutionary, historical reason why something is the way it is; or why a behavior occurs.

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29
Q

artificial selection

A

A process that is identical with natural selection, except that humans control the reproductive success of alternative types within the selected population.

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30
Q

individual selection

A

The process of natural selection operating on the reproductive success of an individual. Essentially, this is the process of natural selection as Darwin first envisioned it.

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31
Q

group selection

A

The process of natural selection operating on the reproductive success of a group of cooperating individuals. Rarely is group selection strong enough to prevent individual selection from overwhelming it.

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32
Q

heritability

A

The process of natural selection operating on the reproductive success of a group of cooperating individuals. Rarely is group selection strong enough to prevent individual selection from overwhelming it.

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33
Q

adaptation

A

A characteristic that confers higher inclusive fitness to individuals than any other existing alternative exhibited by other individuals with the population; a trait that has spread or is spreading or is being maintained in a population as a result of natural selection or indirect selection.

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34
Q

fitness

A

A measure of the genes contributed to the next generation by an individual, often stated in terms of the number of surviving offspring produced by the individual.

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35
Q

directional selection

A

The result of natural selection when individuals differ in traits and the differences are correlated with differences in reproductive success resulting in a directional change in the mean phenotype of a population.

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36
Q

stabilizing selection

A

The result of natural selection when individuals differ in traits and the differences are correlated with differences in reproductive success resulting in no net change in the mean phenotype of a population, but instead a reduction in the phenotypic variants that differ most from the population mean.

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37
Q

disruptive selection

A

The result of natural selection when individuals differ in traits and the differences are correlated with differences in reproductive success resulting in two (or more) optimal phenotypes that differ from the original population mean.

38
Q

phenotypic plasticity

A

The ability of single genotype to express different phenotypes in different environments.

39
Q

Stephen Jay Gould

A

theory of punctuated equilibrium which he developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972. The theory proposes that most evolution is marked by long periods of evolutionary stability, which is later punctuated by rare instances of branching evolution. The theory was contrasted against phyletic gradualism, the popular idea that evolutionary change is marked by a pattern of smooth and continuous change in the fossil record.

40
Q

Ernst Walter Mayr

A

His work contributed to the conceptual revolution that led to the modern evolutionary synthesis of Mendelian genetics, systematics, and Darwinian evolution, and to the development of the biological species concept.

41
Q

Ronald Aylmer Fisher

A

known as one of the three principal founders of population genetics

42
Q

Sewall Green Wright

A

founder of population genetics

43
Q

Peter Raymond Grant and Barbara Rosemary Grant

A

studied darwin’s finches

44
Q

allele

A

A gene variant; one of two or more alternate forms of a gene. An individual with two identical alleles at the same gene locus is homozygous and an individual with two different alleles at the same gene locus is heterozygous.

45
Q

mendelian inheritance

A

Simple rules of genetic transmission such as segregation and independent assortment that describes the transmission of one or two traits from one generation to the next - based on the discoveries of Gregor Mendel.

46
Q

genotype

A

The genetic make-up of an individual. Usually represented by two letters that indicate the two alleles present at that gene locus (AA, Aa, aa).

47
Q

phenotype

A

The observable characteristics or traits of an individual. Usually the specific trait expressed by a particular phenotype

48
Q

dominant allele

A

An allele that is expressed in heterozygous individuals. Allele A is dominant to allele a if the Aa phenotype is identical to the AA phenotype

49
Q

recessive allele

A

An allele in heterozygous individuals that is not expressed when combined with a dominant allele. Allele a is recessive to allele A if the Aa phenotype is identical to the AA phenotype.

50
Q

polygenic

A

A trait or phenotype that is cause by more than one gene

51
Q

pleiotropy

A

A single gene that affects multiple traits (phenotypes).

52
Q

knockout mutation

A

A procedure that allows for targeted mutagenesis resulting in individuals lacking a normal copy of one specific gene, thus allowing a detailed examination of that gene’s specific influence on development, physiology and behavior.

53
Q

transcriptomics

A

is the study of the transcriptome—the complete set of RNA transcripts that are produced by the genome, under specific circumstances or in a specific cell—using high-throughput methods, such as microarray analysis.

54
Q

pheromone

A

Chemical messengers that travel via fluids outside of the body to specific target receptors in other organisms that causes changes in the activity of the target tissue cells.

55
Q

hormone

A

Chemical messengers that travel via the blood to specific target tissues where they cause changes in the activities of the target tissue cells.

56
Q

neurohormone (NT)

A

Chemical messengers that travel via extracellular fluids to specific receptors on adjacent cell membranes.

57
Q

peptide hormone

A

A small-sized hormone that is composed of a string of amino acids.

58
Q

protein hormone

A

A medium-sized hormone that is composed of one or more interacting protein molecules

59
Q

steroid hormone

A

A large-sized hormone that is composed of complex carbon ring structures with many side groups.

60
Q

HPA axis

A

is a complex set of direct influences and feedback interactions among three endocrine glands: the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands. The interactions among these organs constitute the HPA axis, a major part of the neuroendocrine system that controls reactions to stress and regulates many body processes, including digestion, the immune system, mood and emotions, sexuality, and energy storage and expenditure.

61
Q

neuroethology

A

is the evolutionary and comparative approach to the study of animal behavior and its underlying mechanistic control by the nervous system. This interdisciplinary branch of behavioral neuroscience endeavors to understand how the central nervous system translates biologically relevant stimuli into natural behavior.

62
Q

neuron

A

A individual nerve cell.

63
Q

interneuron

A

A nerve cell that relays messages either from receptor neurons to the central nervous system (a sensory interneuron) or from the central nervous system to neurons commanding muscle cells (a motor interneuron).

64
Q

axons

A

The body of the neuron. Nerve cell fibers that transmit electrical information from one nerve cell to another

65
Q

dendrites

A

The fingers of the neuron. Nerve cell fibers that receive electrical information from other cells.

66
Q

synapse

A

The point of near contact between one nerve cell and another. Neurohormones are released across the synapse to propagate or inhibit the signal in the adjacent nerve cell.

67
Q

action potential

A

A neural signal; a self-regenerating change in membrane electrical charge that travels the length of a nerve cell.

68
Q

circadian rhythm

A

Cycle of activity with an approximate 24 hour period that expresses itself independent of environmental cues.

69
Q

photoperiod

A

The number of light and dark hours in a 24 hour period.

70
Q

biological clock

A

An internal physiological mechanism that enables organisms to time any of a wide assortment of biological processes and activities.

71
Q

period

A

Length of time from the beginning one cycle to the beginning of the next.

72
Q

free-running cycle

A

The cycle of activity of an individual that is expressed in a constant environment.

73
Q

entrainment

A

The re-setting of a biological clock so that an organism’s activities are scheduled in keeping with local conditions.

74
Q

circatidal rhythms

A

Cycle of activity with an approximate 13-18 hour period depending on the location that expresses itself independent of environmental cues.

75
Q

circalunar rhythm

A

Cycle of activity with an approximate 28 day period that expresses itself independent of environmental cues.

76
Q

circannual rhythm

A

Cycle of activity with an approximate 365 day period that expresses itself independent of environmental cues.

77
Q

epigenetics

A

The study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Examples of such changes are DNA demethylation and histone deacetylation, both of which serve to increase gene expression without altering the DNA sequence.

78
Q

learning

A

A relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience

79
Q

reflex

A

A simple stimulus response connection believed to be unlearned and characteristic of a species.

80
Q

taxis

A

The involuntary movement of a motile organism involving a change of place toward (positive) or away (negative) from a source of stimulation. phototaxis = light, phonotaxis = sound, chemotaxis = chemical molecules, geotaxis = gravity, magnetotasis = magnetic fields.

81
Q

habituation

A

Becoming less sensitive to stimuli over time.

82
Q

sensitization

A

Becoming more sensitive to stimuli over time

83
Q

law of effect

A

If a response in the presence of a stimulus is followed by a positive event, the association of the stimulus and response will be strengthened. Conversely, if the response is followed by aversive event, the association will be weakened.

84
Q

imprinting

A

A form of learning in which individuals exposed to certain key stimuli, usually early in life, form an association with the object and may later show sexual behavior toward similar objects.

85
Q

epigenetics

A

The study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Examples of such changes are DNA methylation and histone deacetylation, both of which serve to suppress gene expression without altering the sequence of the silenced genes.

86
Q

public information

A

Inadvertent social information regarding the location of resources or the quality of resources. The use of public information by others may create the selective pressures that transform public information into specific signals via cultural evolution.

87
Q

social facilitation

A

When the presence of a model, regardless of what it does, facilitates learning on the part of the observer.

88
Q

social learning

A

Learning via the observation of others.

89
Q

copying

A

Behavior that occurs when an observer repeats the actions of a demonstrator. Copying usually involves a behavior that has been performed previously.

90
Q

imitation

A

The acquisition of a novel response (never before performed) through observation of a demonstrator making that response.

91
Q

teaching

A

An individual actor A (tutor) can be said to teach if it modifies its behavior only in the presence of naïve observer B (pupil), at some coast or at least without obtaining an immediate benefit for itself. A’s behavior thereby encourages or punishes B’s behavior, or
provides B with experience, or sets and example for B. As a result, B acquires knowledge, or learns a skill earlier in life or more rapidly or efficiently than it might otherwise do so, or would not learn at all.

92
Q

cultural transmission

A

The transfer of information from individual to individual through social learning or teaching.

Behavioral Ecology (2 decks)

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