Lecture 1 + 2

Question 1

What is a rank-abundance curve?

Answer 1

• One way to plot species abundance data
  (an approach originated by R. H. Whittaker)
• in which each species is represented by a vertical bar proportional to its abundance

(IMG)

Question 2

Describe the community of which this plot is made of (IMG)

Answer 2

• Notice the long ‘‘tail’’ of rarer species
• A community with such striking disparities in abundance among species is said to have low evenness (low uniformity).
• A rank-abundance plot for a hypothetical community with perfect evenness would be flat instead of declining, indicating that every species had the same abundance

Question 3

What are 3 examples of criteria used to quantify biodiversity?

Answer 3

• Species richness
• Diversity index
• Functional diversity

Question 4

What is the diversity index?

Answer 4

Mathematical expression that combines species richness and evenness (how equal the community is numerically) as a measure of diversity

Question 5

What is functional diversity?

Answer 5

• Variety and number of species that fulfill different functional roles in a community or ecosystem
• Functional diversity, influences ecosystem stability, productivity, nutrient cycling

Question 6

What is deimatic display?

Answer 6

• Its used to intimidate predators and dissuade them from attacking
• Typically involves the display of some conspicuous color or structure

(IMG)

Question 7

What are the different levels of explanations?

Answer 7

• Ultimate explanations –> evolution
• Proximate explanations –> mechanism

Question 8

Name examples of evolutionary and

Answer 8

Evolutionary explanations:
- Evolutionary history (Did this behavior evolve in an ancestral species?)

• Adaptation (How does this behaviour maximize survival and/ or number of offspring)

Question 9

Name examples of proximate expanations

Answer 9

Proximate explanations:
- Development (ontogeny (How did the animal develop this behaviour?)

• Causation (mechanism (What is the immediate cause for the animal to show this behaviour?)

Question 10

What are these 4 types of explanations also known as?

Answer 10

Tinbergen’s 4 ways (IMG)

Question 11

3 types of behavioural studies

Answer 11

• Field observations
• Field experiments
• Lab experiments

Question 12

Name adavantages and disadvantages of field observations

Answer 12

Adv:
- Animals in real ecological context

Disadv:
- difficult to control variables

Question 13

Name adavantages and disadvantages of field experiments

Answer 13

Adv:
- Can vary ecological context, stimulus conditions, etc. while maintaining animals in their natural environment

Disadv:
- Difficult to control external variables
- Manipulations may have confounding effects

Question 14

Name adavantages and disadvantages of lab experiments

Answer 14

Adv:
- Able to vary treatments precisely while controlling for most extraneous variables

Disadv:
- Manipulations may have confounding effects
- Impoverished (poor) ecological context
- May get artifactual responses

Question 15

What are the 7 deadly sins in the study of behaviour?

Answer 15

1. Unjustified conclusions are made from observational (i.e., correlational) data.
2. Data are not independent - pseudoreplication.
3. Treatments are confounded by time and sequence effects.
4. No efforts are made to avoid observer bias.
5. Potential artifacts arise when animals are not accustomed to experimental
   procedures.
6. Unsuitable controls are used.
7. An attempt is made to “prove” the null hypothesis with small samples

Question 16

How to avoid making these mistakes?

(Unjustified conclusions)

Answer 16

Correlation and causation

Question 17

How to avoid making these mistakes?

(Data not independent)

Answer 17

Be aware of:

• Pseudoreplication: Use of inappropraite sample size OR treatments are not replicated and/or replicates are not statistically independent
• Litter effects: litter mates not statistically independent (shared ancestry and rearing environment)

Question 18

How to avoid making these mistakes?
(confounded treatments)

Answer 18

Be aware of:

• Order effects: Data collected later in the study is systematically different from data collected earlier
• Temporal effects: Time of day/ year or cyclic changes.
• Repeatability: Panta rei (everything flows).
  You can never really measure the same behavior on an animal twice because of learning and habituation
• Winner/ loser effects: Winning a fight increases probability of subsequent wins with the same or other individuals

Question 19

How to avoid making these mistakes?

Question 20

How to avoid making these mistakes?
(observer bias)

Answer 20

• Clever Hans effect: unconsciously biasing behavior of animals

Question 21

How to avoid making these mistakes?
(Potential artifacts and unsuitable controls)

Answer 21

• Ceiling effects: Subjects show a maximal response to all treatments. (Why we need negative controls)
• Floor effects: Subjects show a minimal response to all treatments (Need positive controls)