L1 Evolutionary approach to animal behaviour Flashcards
What are proximate causes of behaviour?
looking at how - the causation and the developement, what is the mechanism
What are the ultimate causes of behaviour?
Why? the reasons for the behaviour. function and adaptive significance
What are tinburgens 4 questions?
Causation - what is the mechanism
Developement - what is the ontogeny
Evolution - where does it arise in the phylogeny
Function - why has it been selected for? Adaptive value
Briefly describe the study looking at the proximate and ultimate causes of caching behaviour in squirrels
Red squirrels cache nuts in the autumn
Causation - why do they store?, May be because an abundance of nuts so are satiated.
Development - instinctual to hide, learning to find best spots
Evolution - Maybe ancestors gathered nuts into a safe place to eat, left for longer and longer periods, eventually becoming food stores
Function - Behaviour is maintained because of squirrels store nuts they are more likely to survive the winter
What are the proximate causes for eye spots on butterflies and moths?
Develops due to the genetic makeup of the butterfly. The mechanism of opening the wings in response to danger is generated by physiological systems. The predator stimulates the sensory system, which stimulates the motor system, eliciting the behaviour.
What are the ultimate causes for behaviour?
Functions because fitness is increased by this behaviour - better chances of survival. Consequently, it is transmitted to offspring of the survivors
What was hypothesised about a bee wolf flying around the nest before she leaves it?
She is looking to memorise her surroundings so she can find the nest again. This would be a proximate mechanisms to explain how she finds her nest
What was the hypothesis for why seagulls remove egg shells from the nest?
May be to reduce predation, as egg shell alert predators to chicks in a nest
What are the four steps you should take with any scientific method?
Ask a question
Establish a hypothesis
Set up predictions based on the hypothesis
Test the predictions
What is anting?
Behaviour carried out by some birds, where they put worker wood ants into their feathers, here the ants discharge their formic acid
What are the two hypotheses for why birds engage in anting?
Anting kills parasites in the beard feathers
Ants that have already sprayed their formic acid are more palatable
What are the different apidae bees?
Apinae, honey bees
Bambinae, bumble bees
Meliponinae
Euglossinae
What are the evolutionary traits of the apidae bees?
Apinae, Bombinae and Melaniponinae are all eusocial, euglossinae is solitary , so must have diverged earlier
Apinae and Melaniponinae are swarming, also exhibit nectar transfer
What is swarming behaviour?
Occurs during colony reproduction. In winter queen produces many offspring and hive is overcrowded. A colony splits away away a new queen is produced. The split colony swarms until a new nest is found
What is nectar transfer?
A forager bee returns with nectar and transfers this to the receiver. The receiver stores it in a cell
