L15 - Living in groups Flashcards
What are some examples of living in groups?
Colonies (insects), shoals (fish), flocks, herds, troops, crowds
Diversity of groups?
Organisms as diverse as shrimp and elephants frequently live in groups.
What are benefits of grouping threats?
Individuals in larger groups can spend less time vigilant, but are also more likely to spot a threat.
What are benefits of grouping capture?
Individuals in larger groups are less likely to be captured (dilution & confusion).
What are benefits of grouping efficiency?
Larger groups are more efficient at locating prey and attacking prey and more efficient problem solvers.
What are benefits of grouping territory?
Larger groups can defend a larger territory/home range.
What are benefits of grouping opportunities?
Living in groups provides mating opportunities
What are benefits of grouping reduced costs?
Grouping enables reduced energetic costs of movement.
What are costs of grouping competition?
Individuals in larger groups experience increased competition for food, mates, and other resources.
What are costs of grouping energy?
Increased energetic costs of movement
What are costs of grouping risk?
Individuals in larger groups experience increased risk of disease.
How do you balance costs and benefits?
Optimal group size is different to equilibrium group size (smaller).
What are the different types of social groups?
Family groups, harems and polygynous groups, bachelor groups, multi-male, multi-female groups, hierarchies within groups.
What is a name for daily patterns?
Fission-fusion dynamics.
What is a name for long term patterns?
Social structure
Costs and benefits table?
Effect on actor + -. Effect on recipient + -. ++ = mutalistic, -+ altruistic, +- selfish, – spiteful.
What is altriusm?
Cooperative behaviour.
What is kin selection - altruism?
The evolutionary strategy that favours the reproductive success of an organism’s relatives. Cost benefit relation. c<r*b for behaviour to occur cost is less than benefit.
What is mutualism = tit for tat or reciprocal altriusm?
Vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) roost in colonies. First bat is hungry and begs neighbour by nuzzling its throat. The second bat often regurgitates a small amount of blood, nourishing the first bat. Over successive nights, the second bat faces the same dilemma. The circumstance is reversed, and the first bat generally reciprocates.
Mutualism - What is the biological market theory?
Grooming is exchanged for grooming or other resources (food, sex, social support).
Mutualism example complimentary hunting?
The two predators have complementary hunting skills, and a coordinated hunt creates a multi-predator attack hard to avoid: eels get the prey hiding in cracks and crevices where groupers cannot follow, and groupers get the prey that dart for open water.
What is a description of selfishness?
Abundant (competition, aggression, etc).
How frequent is spite in nature?
Very rare. Spite occurs when an individual incurs a cost in the act of harming other individuals. The conditions for the evolution of spite are restrictive.
