Lecture 19

Question 1

behaviour

Answer 1

part of how organisms respond to biotic and abiotic environment

Question 2

fitness

Answer 2

an individual’s relative contribution to the next generation’s gene pool

Question 3

importance of behaviour

Answer 3

Ecologically: links individuals to environment, affects demographics (population level outcome) and affect intractions among species (community-level outcome)

Evolutionarily: Has some genetic basis (nature vs nurture), affects fitness, can be selected (benefit>cost)

Not limited to live organisms

Question 4

Food

Answer 4

Food what they eat, how they get it and diet breadth.

Question 5

Foraging

Answer 5

links with morphology and physiology. All strategies are non-random.

Question 6

Optimal foraging theory

Answer 6

modelled which food items to eat in a non-depleting environment and predicts that forages should maximise net rate of food (=energy) intake.

Question 7

marginal value theory

Answer 7

modelled when to leave a food patch in a depleting environment and predicted that foragers should leave food patches when capture at patch<average capture

Question 8

giving up densities

Answer 8

the remaining quantity of food when a forager decides to leave a patch