Function of Behaviour

Question 1

What do functional questions examine

Answer 1

Behaviour in terms of survival value and reproductive success - fitness level

Question 2

What is behavioural ecology about

Answer 2

Food, sex and staying alive long enough to enjoy them

Question 3

If an organism has a low energy intake, why is their fitness low

Answer 3

Not enough energy to reproduce and hunt

Question 4

If I female has good access to resources, why is her fitness high?

Answer 4

Will have high reproductive success and lots of spare energy to reproduce as doesn’t need to go far for food and water

Question 5

What is the function of nuptial gifts in hanging flies

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Why does copulation in hanging flies stop after 20 minutes

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Explain the co evolutionary arms race

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What improves the reproductive success and survivorship of prey

Answer 8

Having adaptations that prevent them from being eaten

Question 9

Common name for hylobittacus apicalis

Answer 9

Hanging fly

Question 10

Explain the reduction in camouflage of the Biston betularia

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Explain the blue jay and moth experiment

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Experimental evidence proves what is criticism for effectiveness of camouflage

Answer 12

Choice of background

Question 13

What 4 decisions are involved in foraging

Answer 13

Locating patches of food
Predation avoidance
Prey choice
Balanced diet

Question 14

What is the honey bee wiggle dance used for

Answer 14

To inform other hive members where there is food

Question 15

What does the wideness of the wiggle in the wiggle dance of honey bees mean

Answer 15

Shows at what angle the nectar source is to the sun

Question 16

What does the frequency of wiggles in the honey bee wiggle dance mean

Answer 16

How far away the nectar source is

Few wiggles means it’s close

Question 17

Why do shire crabs choose to eat intermediate sized mussels

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Why do crows drop food from 5m

Answer 18

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

Question 19

What is anisogamy

Answer 19

Unequal gamete size

Question 20

Why does anisogamy cause sexual conflict

Answer 20

Makes produce lots of microgametes that don’t require a lot of energy
Females produce a few macrogametes which require lots of energy

Question 21

How much of the female body weight does a kiwi egg take up

Answer 21

40%

Question 22

What does anisogamy cause

Answer 22

Different reproductive tactics in the two genders

Question 23

Explain the male reproductive tactic

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What is the limiting factor of male reproduction tactics

Answer 24

Females are very fussy when mating and only mate with high quality males

Question 25

Explain the female reproductive tactics

Answer 25

Fussy when choosing a mate - only reproduce with high quality males
Eggs are costly and limited

Question 26

What limits reproductive success of females

Answer 26

Quality of offspring

Question 27

Criteria of female choice

Answer 27

Large male body size
Bright male colouration
Elaborate male ornaments
Good genes
Resource holding potential
Parasite resistance
Health

Question 28

What maximises the number of bird offspring

Answer 28

Clutch size

Question 29

What is the optimal bird clutch size

Answer 29

8

8/9

Question 30

What can be enhanced through parental care

Answer 30

Fitness

Question 31

How do we measure fitness

Answer 31

Currencies related to fitness

• survivorship
• reproductive success
• rate of energy intake