Glossary 3032 Flashcards
Agonistic
Aggressive behaviour within a species (Intraspecific)
Arrhythmic
Showing no regular period of activity
Behaviour
Response to a stimulus
May be innate (instinctive) or learned
Biological clock
Internal timing system that controls biological rhythms and continues in the absence of external stimuli
Biological rhythm
Regularly repeated behaviour
Circadian
Period of about 24 hours
Circannual
Period of about 360 days
Circamonthly
Period of about 29 days
Circatidal
Period of about 12 hours
Commensalism
Relationship where one species benefits from the relationship and the other is unaffected.
Courtship
Process that prepares males and females for mating
Crepuscular
Activity that occurs at dawn and dusk
Diurnal
Activity that occurs during the day with an inactive period at night
Ecological niche
The role of the organism in its habitat.
-how it makes use of available biotic and abiotic resources
-adaptations to avail itself of these resources
Endogenous rhythm
Rhythm that continues in the absence of external environmental stimuli and is controlled by an internal biological clock .
Entrainment
Process of resetting biological clock
Exogenous rhythm
Rhythm that is in response to an external stimulus
Gause’s exclusion principle
Principle that no two species with identical ecological niches can coexist for long in the same place
Hierarchy
Set of social relationships that is based on the dominance and submissiveness of the group members
Home range
Area over which animal or group of animals regularly travels in search of food or mates, which may overlap with that of neighboring animals and groups of the same species.
Homing
Ability of an animal to return to its home site
Interspecific competition
Competition for resources between species
Intraspecific competition
Competition for resources within a species
Kinesis
Non-directional responses to the intensity of a stimulus
Migration
Regular (usually annual) mass movement of animals from their breeding area to another area where they do not breed, and their return to their home site
Mutualism
Relationship where both species benefit (symbiosis)
Navigation
Methods whereby animals find their way (orientation) when homing and migrating
Nocturnal
Activity that occurs at night with inactive period during day
Parasitism
Process of deriving food from a host but usually without killing the host
Phase shift
Timing response that occurs when the onset of the period of rhythm is changed to an earlier or later time frame
Predation
Process or activity where one species obtains its energy intake by killing and eating other animal species
Sensory receptor
Receptor for a sense that detects an environmental stimulus
Taxis (taxes)
Movement of an animal towards or away from a stimulus that comes from one direction
Territory
Area that an animal marks and defends against other animals of the same species (intraspecifically)
Zeitgeber (time giver)
External stimulus that acts as a cue for a timing response
