Lung and Childress 2007 - evidence for function adaptation to survival

Question 1

where was this study conducted?

Answer 1

yellow stone national park

Question 2

study species

Answer 2

elk

Question 3

background on study site

Answer 3

Yellow stone NP has one of the largest concentrations of large mammals in north america - more than 30,000 elk, 3000 bison.
Wolves became extinct in 1930’s and were reintroduced from canada in 1995

Question 4

What did lung and childress 2007 do?

Answer 4

observed male and female elk from 3 age classes during 2 seasons that vary in social interactions and in predation risk due to density of wolves

Question 5

what were the 3 age classes of elk that they looked at?

Answer 5

yearlings
non reproductive
reproductive

Question 6

what were the 2 seasons they did the study in?

Answer 6

calving season

breeding season

Question 7

what did lung and childress 2007 find?

Answer 7

adult male vigilance and aggression increased during the autumn breeding season but yearling males had significantly lower levels of vigilance

adult female vigilance increased during the calving season, with increasing predator encounter risk, decreasing herd size, and edge position within the herd

yearling female vigilance decreased with herd size but was lower than adult females

Question 8

what did lung and childress conclude?

Answer 8

that the primary benefit of vigilance for male elk is to monitor conspecifics but the primary benefit of vigilance for female elk is to detect potential predators, and so vigilance behaviour differs between the sexes.