Exam 3 Flashcards
1
Q
Game Theory
A
- An evolutionary approach to the study of adaptive value in which payoffs to individuals associated with one behavioral tactic are dependent upon what the other members of the group are doing
2
Q
Ideal Free Distribution (IFD)
A
- The distribution of individuals in space that are free to choose where to go in ways that could maximize their fitness
- Individuals should always select the best habitat available
- As more individuals enter habitat quality decreases due to competition for resources
- All individuals have equally reduced quality habitats
- Resources available in each patch are always equal to R/N where..
- > R = # of resources in each patch
- > N = # of individuals in each patch
- > Eventually the value of each patch becomes equal to one another
3
Q
Why do so few animals forage optimally?
A
- usually assume predation risk, patch value and starvation risk are all constants which are not true in the wild
- > Methods will switch given the change in energy reserves, or since you have been last fed
- Risk Sensitive Model shows they will not forage optimally as well
- > because the optimal foraging models assume that everyone is at the same risk of starvation and that is not always true
- Predation-Foraging Trade-off shows they will not forage optimally as well
- > there are also other risks of foraging such as predation
- > assumes that patch value is a constant
- > predation risk is a constant
4
Q
Predation Risk Model: Escaping Attacks
A
- Startle coloration
- Bright flash patches
eyespots - Evasive maneuvers
- Group behaviors
- Vigilance
- Confusion effect
- Mobbing
5
Q
Vertical Waggle Dance Problem Rules
A
- Top = 0
- Bottom = 180
- Sun is always at the top
- Measure clockwise from top
- Top is N, Bottom S Right is E and Left W
- Arrows are vectors and indicate the direction of the waggle dance
- CAN NOT use times it is only the distance between the flower and sun
6
Q
Anti-predatory Behaviors Methods
A
- Evolutionary Arms Race
- Predation Risk Model
- Spiny Lobster Adaptations
7
Q
Situation
A
- a given set of conditions at one point in time
- Different situations could involve different levels along an environmental gradient (different levels of predation risk) or different sets of conditions across time (the breeding season versus the non-breeding season)
8
Q
Categories of Communication: Sexual Intraspecific
A
- Specificity = High
- Elements = Many
- Deception = Low
9
Q
Economic Defendability
A
- When should an individual defend a territory vs. share a territory?
- > When the benefits of extra resources is greater than the cost of territory defense
10
Q
Evolutionary Arms Race
A
- Predators and prey co-evolve adaptations for prey capture and predator avoidance due to their strong evolutionary influence on one another
- > Predators and prey are trying to outdue one another in terms of an optimal strategy
- > Predators are selected for improving foraging and prey are selected for improving defenses
- Red Queen Hypothesis
11
Q
In an Evolutionary Arms Race what traits do predators acquire?
A
- Visual acuity
- Search image
- Search patterns
- Learning ability
- Speed
- Offensive weapons
- Detoxins
12
Q
What is the one assumption that differs between the ideal free and ideal despotic distributions?
A
- In the IFD, Competitors are equal in all respects
- Whereas in the IDD, Competitors are unequal in their ability to exploit resources
13
Q
Habitat Preferences, or how do individuals come to recognize suitable habitats?
A
- Innate settlement cues
- > Environmental cues for example Conch use red algae
- > Reef fish use sounds of waves breaking on the reef - Learn cues from natal habitat
- Butterflies
- Salmon
- Arctic terns - Use conspecifics as settlement cue
- Barnacles
- Lizards
- Song birds
14
Q
Ritualization
A
- The evolutionary process whereby a convenient behavior, anatomic structure, or physiological change becomes molded into a useful signal.
- The original trait is modified by changing either the rate, intensity, orientation, or rhythm of performance until the evolved signal is produced independently from the original trait from which the signal evolved.
15
Q
Landscape Projection Problem Rules
A
- Rules
1. South = 180 - always on top
2. North = 0 - always on bottom
3. East = 90 - always on left
4. West = 270 - always on right
5. Sun moves at 15 degrees/hr - in a clockwise projection
6. Sun always rises at 6 am (0600) and sets at 6 pm (1800) - > sun rises in the east at 90 degrees
- > whatever time is given find the difference of hours passed since 6 am
8. SE is halfway between S and E = 135 degrees
16
Q
Predation Risk Model: Avoiding Detection
A
- Coloration
- Disruptive coloration
- Cryptic
- Polymorphism - Distribution and spacing
- Cryptic behavior
- Remaining motionless
- Swaying rhythmically
17
Q
Predictions of The General Theory of Play
A
- Those individuals with more play experience should do better in loss of control situations
- Dominant individuals should allow subordinates to defeat them during play bouts
- Play behaviors should activate the somatosensory, motor and emotional regions of the brain
- Play should be most common in species that experience the most variable environment
18
Q
Personality
A
- A consistent long-term phenotypic behavioral response of an individual across different situations
- > Behavioral type, or behavioral phenotype
- > Coping styles
- > Personality
- Opposite of behavioral plasticity
- > The ability of an organism to behave differently depending on the environmental conditions
19
Q
In the Prey Selection Model what size prey items should be selected to maximize the net rate of energy intake?
A
- Assumption is that prey items of different sizes will have different profitabilities
- > energy gained / energy expended
- Prediction is that optimal foragers should select prey that maximize their net energy intake
- Another Prediction is that optimal foragers should be choosy about the size of prey they select
20
Q
Coping Style
A
- A set of behavioral and related stress responses that are consistent over time
21
Q
Diet Selection Model Generalist vs Specialist
A
- Answers the question of which prey types should be included in an optimal diet to maximize the net rate of energy intake?
- Important in herbivores because they eat a variety of different plants, etc
- Generalist and Specialist
-> Specialist feeds primarily on a single prey item
-> Generalist feeds more broadly on prey items available - This model tries to predict when you bring more than one item into your diet
-> Aka when is it better to be a generalist vs a specialist?
Ex: If the specialist equation is higher than the generalist equation than the animal should be a specialist and eat one prey item instead of being a generalist and including two or more prey items in their diet and vice versa if generalist equation is higher
22
Q
Spiny Lobster Adaptations for Antipredatory Behavior: How do spiny lobsters reduce predation risk? Is gregariousness an adaptation to reduce predation risk? Which level of the predation process (encounter, detection, capture) does the gregarious behavior of spiny lobsters most likely confer an advantage?
A
- How do spiny lobsters reduce predation risk?
1. Avoid Encounters - emerge from shelters only at night and hide during the day
2. Avoid Detection - transparent, or clear
3. Discourage Attacks - giant spines
4. Escaping Attacks - group defense
5. Avoiding Consumption - shell, spine and will even become aggressive towards conspecifics
- Is gregariousness an adaptation to reduce predation risk?
- > NO, aggregate ONLY because they use the odors to locate limited shelters and when attacked every man for himself
- Which level of the predation process (encounter, detection, capture) does the gregarious behavior of spiny lobsters most likely confer an advantage?
- > Gregariousness begins
1. When crypsis ends
2. When seeking crevice shelters
3. Before group defense is effective - Gregariousness is:
1. Favored by reducing encounters*
2. Not favored by escaping attacks
3. May be decreasing in lobsters today
23
Q
Evolution of Communication: Handicaps
A
- Handicaps are honest signals because they are costly to produce
- Low quality males cannot afford to produce these high cost signals, but high quality males can.
Ex: - If the benefit (B) of producing a costly ornament is equal for all males…
- And the cost (C) of producing the ornament is less in high quality males than in low quality males…
-> The signal is a reliable indicator of male quality because only high quality males are selected to produce the signal
24
Q
Many eyes hypothesis
A
- Safety in numbers that comes from an increased probability of detecting a predator’s approach by a group of vigilant prey.
25
Q
Red Queen Hypothesis
A
- change the way animals look, behave and respond to risk
- An evolutionary hypothesis which proposes that organisms must constantly adapt to survive while pitted against ever-evolving opposing organisms in an ever-changing environment
26
Q
Ideal Despotic Distribution (IDD)
A
- The distribution of individuals in space where those that arrive first, or have the highest RHP take the highest quality territories excluding others
- First individuals in a territory defend the resources and excluding others from using the territory
- > Therefore, later individuals must accept lower quality territories and less resources
- Resources available in each patch are always equal to R/N where..
- > R = # of resources in each patch
- > N = # of individuals in each patch
- > However patches are never shared
- > Thus, patch values are usually never equal
27
Q
Predation Foraging Trade-off
A
- Foragers should forage optimally so long as it does not result in higher risk of predation
- When predators are present, alternative foraging strategies that minimize predation risk are favored
-> trade off foraging optimization for safety
Ex: - Sticklebacks choose high prey density when predator is absent
- But, Sticklebacks choose low prey density when predator is present because it is easier to watch for predators
28
Q
Illegitimate signaler
A
- An individual that produces signals that may deceive others into responding in ways that reduce the fitness of the receiver.
29
Q
Illegitimate receiver
A
- An individual that responds to the signals of others, thereby gaining information that it uses to reduce the fitness of the signaler.
30
Q
Ecological Traps, or what if the cues that used to indicate quality habitat no longer do so?
A
- in an environment that has been altered suddenly by human activities, an organism makes a maladaptive habitat choice based on formerly reliable environmental cues, despite the availability of higher quality habitat
- > An ecological trap is a specific type of evolutionary trap
- Historically, cues (A,B,C) indicate high quality habitat
- > But due to rapid degradation of habitat cues (A,B,C), they are no longer associated with quality habitat
- When habitat preference is high, but habitat quality is low ecological trap
- Conservation biologists might solve this problem by improving habitat or introducing the proper cue
31
Q
Acquisition of Play
A
- Hormones mediate play
- Testosterone stimulates play fighting behaviors
- Dopamine prepares the brain for play bouts - Neural centers for play
- Parafascicular area (PFA) is involved as is the fosC gene.
32
Q
Evolution of Communication: Indices
A
- Indices are honest signals because their production is limited by physical attributes that cannot be faked.
- Sequential assessments make for good indices.
- ritualized contest
Ex Body size - Usually size determines how many assessments are needed to determine a winner.
- Big size differences are usually determined by tail beating.
- Small size difference usually lead through all four assessments and is determined by circling.
Ex Frog Calls - The frequency of a frog call is proportional to its size
- The decision to try and displace a mating male frog was shown to be influenced by whether the call was high or deep.
- However, large males were still challenged less than small males.
Ex Elk Bugle - Frequency of an elk bugle is proportional to body size
- Thus, the bugle can signal size and predict reproductive success
33
Q
Energy Maximizer
A
- An individual that maximizes the rate of energy gained per unit time by choosing prey (or patches) with the highest net energy gain (Eg – Eh).
34
Q
Producer-Scrounger Model
A
- Mixed strategy
- Producer strategy
- > Always seeks food by active hunting
- Scrounger strategy
- > Always steal food discovered by others
- Both strategies fitness declines with density
- ESS is the proportion of scroungers where producer and scrounger fitness is equal
35
Q
Tungara Frogs and Mating Communication Methods
A
- Tungara frogs sometimes add extra syllables to their advertisement calls
- Extra syllables are more attractive to females.
- Extra syllables are also more attractive to bat predators.
- > The solution for males is to make extra chucks only when they are in large choruses and are harder to pick out by bat predators.
36
Q
Fox Farm Experiment; Genomic Explanation and Conclusions
A
- Genomics
- > Tame personality is due to higher levels of serotonin receptors in the brain
- > Down regulation of the HPA axis
- > Lower CORT levels
- > “Went” gene signaling in the neurocrest cells slow development
- > Pedimorphic appearance, such as floppy ears, star markings, and curly tail
- Conclusions
- > Selection for tame personality leads to many changes in appearance and behaviors due to linked genes
- > Understanding which genes are associated with different personalities help us to treat behavioral disorders in animals and humans
37
Q
Evolutionary Stable Strategies (ESS)
A
- A genetically distinctive set of rules for behavior that when adopted by a certain proportion of the population cannot be replaced by any alternative strategy
- the idea that an individuals behavioral decision depends on what the entire population is doing
- > Therefore, the pay-off for performing a behavior may depend on what others are doing in the same population
- Nash equilibrium
- > First described by John Nash (Princeton)
- > Discovery was the subject of the movie “A Beautiful Mind”
- A strategy which when adopted by most members of a population cannot be beaten by any other strategy in the game.
38
Q
Play Definition
A
- All motor activity performed postnatally that appears to be purposeless, in which motor patterns from other contexts may often be used in modified forms and altered temporal sequencing.
39
Q
Predation Risk Model: Avoiding Consumption
A
- Defensive structures
- Spines and stings - Defensive behaviors
- Autonomization and bites
- Chemical weapons
- sprays and toxins
40
Q
Types of Play
A
- Object Play
- Use of an object beyond that of trying to determine what the object is - Locomotor Play
- Rapid sequencing of seemly random elements of movement involving widely different speeds and postures - Social Play
- Coordination of behavioral elements with one or more partners that involve ”play markers” to signal intent and conciliatory gestures
