Function of Behaviour Flashcards
What do functional questions examine
Behaviour in terms of survival value and reproductive success - fitness level
What is behavioural ecology about
Food, sex and staying alive long enough to enjoy them
If an organism has a low energy intake, why is their fitness low
Not enough energy to reproduce and hunt
If I female has good access to resources, why is her fitness high?
Will have high reproductive success and lots of spare energy to reproduce as doesn’t need to go far for food and water
What is the function of nuptial gifts in hanging flies
Male hanging fly holds prey that it was caught to attract female.
Small prey means female won’t mate.
Female mates for as long as she is eating so the bigger prey, the longer copulation lasts
Why does copulation in hanging flies stop after 20 minutes
5-20 minutes male pumps continuous sperm into female (2000 sperms)
Sperm pumping stops at 20 minutes as the male has none left, hence why sex stops around 20/25 minutes
Explain the co evolutionary arms race
Predators evolve traits that increase the efficiency of finding, attacking and capturing prey. Prey evolve to counter these adaptations
Puts pressure on both species - prey under pressure to avoid being eaten but predator under pressure to eat
What improves the reproductive success and survivorship of prey
Having adaptations that prevent them from being eaten
Common name for hylobittacus apicalis
Hanging fly
Explain the reduction in camouflage of the Biston betularia
Natural coloured biston betularia are pale in colour to blend in with the lichen on trees is low polluted areas.
As pollution increases, lichen dies and tree bark becomes darker. Natural looking moths are visible and suffer from high levels of predation
Vice Versa for dark moths
Explain the blue jay and moth experiment
Blue jay taps screen when it can see moth and gets fed
Virtual moths are orientated differently on screen
When horizontal lines on wings match those on background (same orientation) moth is not visible
Shows behaviour is adaptive
Experimental evidence proves what is criticism for effectiveness of camouflage
Choice of background
What 4 decisions are involved in foraging
Locating patches of food
Predation avoidance
Prey choice
Balanced diet
What is the honey bee wiggle dance used for
To inform other hive members where there is food
What does the wideness of the wiggle in the wiggle dance of honey bees mean
Shows at what angle the nectar source is to the sun
What does the frequency of wiggles in the honey bee wiggle dance mean
How far away the nectar source is
Few wiggles means it’s close
Why do shire crabs choose to eat intermediate sized mussels
Intermediate size mussels is the optimum between how long it takes to open the muscles and the amount of energy gained by eaten the mussel
Not enough energy is gained by eating small mussels
Big mussels are hard to open so sometimes crabs just waste energy trying to open it but get no energy back as they can’t open it to eat it
Why do crows drop food from 5m
Fly less than 5m then the height isn’t enough to open the food - waste of energy
More than 5m then food opens on drop but uses a lot of energy
5m is optimum between energy usage and opening the food
What is anisogamy
Unequal gamete size
Why does anisogamy cause sexual conflict
Makes produce lots of microgametes that don’t require a lot of energy
Females produce a few macrogametes which require lots of energy
How much of the female body weight does a kiwi egg take up
40%
What does anisogamy cause
Different reproductive tactics in the two genders
Explain the male reproductive tactic
Mate with as many females as possible to fertilise as many eggs as possible
Not fussy with mate choice
Lots of Sperm that requires little energy to produce
What is the limiting factor of male reproduction tactics
Females are very fussy when mating and only mate with high quality males
Explain the female reproductive tactics
Fussy when choosing a mate - only reproduce with high quality males
Eggs are costly and limited
What limits reproductive success of females
Quality of offspring
Criteria of female choice
Large male body size Bright male colouration Elaborate male ornaments Good genes Resource holding potential Parasite resistance Health
What maximises the number of bird offspring
Clutch size
What is the optimal bird clutch size
8
8/9
What can be enhanced through parental care
Fitness
How do we measure fitness
Currencies related to fitness
- survivorship
- reproductive success
- rate of energy intake
