Final Exam Class 3 Behavioral Ecology Cont. and Population Ecology Flashcards
what is migration?
a long distance movement of a population
(often associated with the change of seasons)
(2 way)
what is dispersal?
one way movement of organisms from one area to
what are the proximate causes of navigation?
piloting (use of landmarks) (ex. migratory birds)
compass orientation (oriented by the sun, stars, earth magnetic field) (ex. salmon, butterflies) (uses circadian clock)
true navigation (ability to locate specific place on a surface) (ex. salmon sea turtles)
what is the circadian clock?
maintains a 24 hr rhythm of chemical, activity like hormone patterns, sleep cycles
what is the example of true navigation
sea turtles use magnetic field to be able to locate a certain point on earth surface
what are the ultimate causes of migration?
movement of food resources
seasonal shifts
reproduction
climate
what is communication
any process by which a signal from one individual modifies the behavior or another
- chemical
- auditory
-visual
(ex. honeybee dancing, birdsong, vocal and non vocal communication in mammals like wolves howling)
what id deceit in communication?
possum playing dead
female mimic fish
predatory tricks
what is an example of a predatory trick?
frogs mimicking predatory snakes
what is altruism?
behavior that has a fitness cost to the individual exhibiting the behavior
what is kin selection?
when natural selection acts to benefit relatives at the expense of the individual
ex.) prairie dog alarms
what is eusociality
extreme cooperation
ex.)bees: workers sacrifice all direct reproduction to help the queens
what is indirect fitness
focus on the offspring staying alive, but it is not crucial that the individual itself stays alive
what is population ecology?
the study of how and why populations change in time and space
“where do they live and how many are there?”
a species… can be influenced by both abiotic and biotic factors?
range
what is demography?
the study of the size and structure of populations throughout time
changes in population depend on
birth rate
death rate
immigration rate
emigration rate
what is age structure?
how many individuals of each age class are alive
what is generation time>
the average time between when an individual is born and when its 1st offspring is born
what do we use to understand how demography changes?
life table
what does a life table take into account
age class
survivorship
fecndity
what is age class
group of ind. in a specific age
what is survivorship
proportion of ofspring that survive
what is fecundity
the number of female offspring that are born
what is a survivorship curve?
describes the rate and onset of death
type 1 SC
humans
type 2 SC
even
type 3 SC
ants
what is the net reproductive rate?
average births/year/original female
(lx)(mx)
then add all of them up
=1 stable
> 1 growing
<1 declining
what is life history?
describes how organisms allocate resources to survival v. reproduction
ex) individual growth
defense
repro. investment
immune functions
r selected species
high fecund. low surv.
k selected
low fecund. high survivorship
why cant an animal have both high fecundity and high survival
if a female devotes lots of energy to the production of offspring, she cant devote that same energy to her growth nutrient stores or other traits that maximize survival
Rate (r) of population growth is quantified by
comparing the change in the number of individuals (N) over time (T)
exponential growth curve
J shaped curve
r remains constant
density independent (only limited by abiotic factors)
common in new habitats or following natural disasters
(adaptive radiation) (bottleneck) etc.
exponential growth cannot
continue forever
what is a logistic growth curve?
when growth slows due to difficulty finding food, spread of diseases in a crowded population
S shaped curve
growth is density dependent (limited by biotic and abiotic factors)
what is carrying capacity
the max. pop. that can be supported in this habitat for a sustained period of time
(can be overshot)
what are some examples of density dependent factors?
competition and predation, toxic waste, social behavior, disease
population size increases
density dependent factors reduce population size
what are metapopulations?
composed of numerous independent sub populations,, driven by the extinctions and migration among sub populations
what are population cycles?
when population sizes change regularly,, caused by the interaction between interspecific and intraspecific biotic factors
what are interspecific factors?
predation and disease
what is intraspecific factor?
competition
