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Biological Sciences 1 > MBIOL161: Pete's Lectures > Flashcards

MBIOL161: Pete's Lectures Flashcards

1
Q

What are Tinberg’s 4 Questions?

A

Control - how does it work?
Ontogeny - How did it develop?
Function - What is it for?
Evolution - How did it evolve?

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2
Q

What is behaviour?

A

Sum of responses of an organism to internal + external stimuli and it can be instinctive or learned

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3
Q

What does natural selection select on?

A

Phenotype

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4
Q

Name 4 phenotype aspects of Life-History strategy

A

Age and size @ maturity
Number and size of offspring
Sex-allocation
Life span

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5
Q

Name 4 phenotype aspects of Behavioural Ecology

A

Mate choice
Foraging
Parental care
Competition for resources

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6
Q

What is meant by extended phenotype?

A

the idea that phenotype shouldn’t be limited to biological processes but extended to include all effects that a gene has on its environment, inside or outside the body of an individual organism.

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7
Q

What extended phenotype do beavers show?

A

Dam building

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8
Q

How do male 3-spined sticklebacks show control of behaviour?

A

When they see a red underside (visual cue) it triggers their aggression

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9
Q

How do American Blue Jays show ontogeny of behaviour?

A

Naïve blue jays will initially eat monarch butterflies, but since they are packed with alkaloids, the jays will throw them up. After this, they will ignore monarch butterflies and anything similar-looking (a form of behavioural learning).

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10
Q

How do male sedge warblers show function of behaviour?

A

Sedge warblers are migrants and need to be quick with finding their mates. Males with larger repertoire sizes quickly find mates while those who do not take longer to find mates. A larger repertoire size is indicative of a good quality male because it means they have survived multiple migration cycles to pick up on songs and thus show a good fitness that females would want to pass on to their offspring.

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11
Q

Why does claw waving in male fiddler crabs occur? Give 2 reasons

A

-Due to approach of male or female crab into territory of male
-Hormonal levels

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12
Q

How has claw waving developed?

A

When small, both male and female crabs have their claws at the same size and are of equal weight. However, when males mature and become larger, the right claw starts to develop more than the other, eventually becoming about 38%. Meanwhile, female claws remain about 8% of their body weight throughout their whole life.

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13
Q

How does claw waving function? List 3 functions.

A

To defend burrows against rival males
For species recognition
Mate attraction

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14
Q

How did claw waving evolve?

A

Genus: Uca - all crabs show marked cheliped (claw) asymmetry and use it for signalling
Family: Ocypodidae (which include ghost crabs, fiddler crabs etc) - has common asymmetry and also signalling function
Order: Decapoda - cheliped asymmetry is again common. However, some groups use the cheliped for signalling and some for foraging.

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15
Q

What are Darwin’s 4 Postulates?

A
  1. Variation (at a phenotypic level) within individuals
  2. Some of these variations need to be inheritable
  3. Some organisms will survive and reproduce, while some will not (natural selection theory)
  4. Survivorship and reproduction success events are not random
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16
Q

What is microevolution?

A

Rapid population level changes in relative frequencies of alleles

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17
Q

List 2 differences between macro and micro evolution

A

Macro = between species variation and leads to clade evolution
Micro = within-species variation and leads to anagenetic change

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18
Q

What was economist Malthus’ extreme view?

A

That the population would outgrow limited resources very quickly

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19
Q

Explain how the Galapagos Finches provide evidence for Darwin’s 4 postulates

A

1st Postulate = on the Isla Daphne Major island, there was variation in beak depths and lengths in the finches e.g. finches with large chunky beaks and finches with thinner and longer beaks.

2nd Postulate = Finch parents that have chunky beaks (BB phenotype) will give rise to offspring with chunky beaks as well and finch parents with thin, slim beaks (PP) will give rise to offspring with thin, slim beaks; finches with BP heterozygosity will produce offspring with an intermediate.

3rd Postulate = When drought hit the island, a greater number of finches with chunky beaks survived and got to reproduce while those who did not died off.

4th Postulate = It was not random that finches with chunky beaks survived and reproduced because they had adapted to the hard seed casings that plants produced due to the drought.

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20
Q

What is fitness?

A

The measure of reproductive success

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21
Q

What is an adaptation?

A

A trait that enables an organism to survive and reproduce better than if it lacked the trait.

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22
Q

True or False: Evolution takes aeons to occur

A

False

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23
Q

True or False: The carbonaria morph of Biston betularia over years is evidence of micro evolution.

A

True

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24
Q

Which period did trilobites go extinct?

A

Triassic

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25
Q

What type of selection does the micro evolution of the Galapagos Finches show?

A

Directional selection

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26
Q

Control of behaviour

A
  1. Simple behaviours (reflexes, kinesis and taxis)
  2. Neutral control
  3. Hormonal Control
  4. Diurnal and tidal cycles
  5. Social control
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27
Q

What is reflex behaviour?

A

an automatic response to an external signal

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28
Q

Give examples of reflex behaviour

A

eye blinking, pupils dilating, sneezing & knee-jerking

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29
Q

What links all these behaviours?

A

Protection mechanism

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30
Q

TRUE or FALSE: The brain is involved in reflex behaviour.

A

False.

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31
Q

Which neurones does reflex use?

A

Mainly sensory and motor and sometimes the inter-neurone as an intermediate

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32
Q

What is kinesis?

A

The change in activity rate in response to a stimuli; very simple orientation behaviour and no orientation with respect to gradient.

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33
Q

Using woodlice as an example, explain how kinesis happens in (a) a dark, damp area and (b) a bright area

A

(a) Dark, damp area = short forward movements with frequent turns to stay in the favourable environment

(b) bright area = long movement with very little turns in order to find a darker area that is more favourable

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34
Q

What is taxis?

A

Movement towards or away from a stimulus; can detect environmental gradient

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35
Q

Using barnacle cyprid larva as an example, explain how taxis can occur.

A

Barnacle cyprid larva can alternate between positive and negative phototaxis.

In the sea, when there is light, they move down the water column (negative phototaxis) to a darker depth and hope to hit a rock with adult barnacles in order to metamorphose. If there is no rock, they switch up the taxis and climb the water column (positive phototaxis) and repeat the process until they either run of out energy and die, get eaten, or find a rock with adult barnacle.

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36
Q

What is neutral control?

A

*Integrating information and producing a coordinated response requires a complex nervous system.
*Feedback usually involved - “closed loop” not “open loop” like reflexes.
*Simple internal feedback like stretch receptors in stomach controlling food intake.

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37
Q

What is evidence for a complex coordination system of the CNS and PNS?

A

The human cerebral cortex

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38
Q

Describe the human cerebral cortex

A

It is invaginated to increase surface area of connections which form on the surface.

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39
Q

Do coral polyps have a central nervous system?

A

No, so they only exhibit simple behaviour.

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40
Q

Describe hormonal control

A

Hormones in the body provide proximate and long-term control and influence development for example androgenisation of male foetus can depend on testosterone levels (as seen in Blue-headed wrasse).

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41
Q

Using the Blue-headed wrasse as a case study, describe how hormones can control behaviour.

A

*Blue-headed wrasse males (highly territorial) defend patches of coral reefs and females (orange-brown) tend to lay eggs in the males’ territories.
*Testosterone controls the sex, colour and behavioural traits of the wrasse
*The wrasse are sequential hermaphrodites - meaning depending on the levels of testosterone, their sex can be changed accordingly.
*When testosterone levels are high in females, they start to show aggression and become territorial as well and eventually turn into males.

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42
Q

How can diurnal and tidal cycles influence behaviour?

A
  1. Seasonal patterns which influence breeding and migration
  2. Lunar cycles and tidal cycles which influence behaviour of many marine organisms
  3. Circadian rhythms for example the daily patterns of activity and rest.
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43
Q

Using Horseshoe Crabs as a case study, explain how their activity rhythms are affected by tidal cycles and seasonal patterns.

A

*In late spring, adults move inshore from deep waters (where they tend to be widely spread and in the dark) to spawn on sandy beaches
*They aggregate on the beach; numbers are influenced by tidal cycle
*Peak in spawning activity coincides with the full moon and evening spring tides
*Synchronised breeding

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44
Q

How can behaviour be controlled socially?

A

Sticklebacks: courtship behaviour
Female behaviour depends on:
*male’s behaviour
*male’s appearance
*nest quality
Subsequently, male behaviour is heavily dependent on female response.

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45
Q

Can organisms control others?

A

Yes

*Male fiddler crabs signal to rival males and potential mates
*Colourful enlarged claws may have evolved to exploit the existing sensory bias of females.

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46
Q

What is instinct and innate behaviour?

A

Complex behaviour from animals shown from birth which tends to have little opportunity for learning, so a genetic basis is required.

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47
Q

Using the European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) as a case study, explain how it demonstrates innate behaviour

A
  1. Anguila angulia are semelparous - they reproduce only once in their lifetime and die after reproduction
  2. Typically live in fresh water for years and years and migrate through rivers and estuaries to the continental shelf and 1 to 2 years to travel to Sargasso Sea. On this journey they preserve their reproductive organs and reproduce in the Sargasso Sea.
  3. Juvenile eels undergo a number of development stages in the sea and then migrate back to Europe.
  4. This means that this behaviour is passed through genes.
48
Q

Name 3 instances where a single gene is responsible for the development of behaviour

A
  1. Gene for calcium-calmodulin kinase affects learning in mice
  2. per gene in Drosophila controls circadian rhythms
  3. fosB gene affects maternal behaviour in mice
49
Q

Describe how the gene for calcium-calmodulin kinase affects learning in mice

A

Day one no effect from gene knockout but from day 2 onwards there is reduced latency to escape, thus the rate of learning is slower without the gene.

50
Q

Describe how the fosB gene affects maternal behaviour in mice

A

Mutant mothers with the gene knocked out retrieve fewer displaced pups than do the wild-type mothers. Mothers without this gene remain ‘bad’ mothers for their whole lifetime unless it is reintroduced into the body.

51
Q

What is the hTAS2R38 gene?

A

A gene that determines human’s bitterness perception of glucosinates

52
Q

How can hTAS2R38 influence the development of behaviour in taste?

A

Sensitive individuals (PAV/PAV) find brassicas 60% more bitter than insensitive people (AVI/AVI).

53
Q

Explain how population genetic differences can lead to different behaviours using Garter Snakes as an example

A
  1. Coastal garter snakes feed on slugs and those inland feed on frogs.
  2. Eggs from these populations favoured the food from their respective populations.
  3. In one experiment, young, naïve snakes were offered slugs: coastal ones ate slugs and the inland ones rejected them.
54
Q

Using song learning in birds, explain how genetics and the environment can lead to this behaviour

A
  1. Both genes and the environment contribute to song learning.
  2. Experiments rearing young birds in acoustic isolation demonstrates that they have an innate template for their song.
  3. They still show some similarity to birds raised around adult males but their songs lack the finesse, showing that environment also plays a role.
  4. Moreover, birds in the same land but from different cities had different dialects. Young birds that were moved from Marin to Sunset Beach in the first 3 months (the first 3 months are very critical for song learning) adopted the Sunset Beach accent but when they were moved back there was no change.
55
Q

How can genetics and environment influence orientation and navigation in Western and Eastern European blackcap populations?

A
  1. Western and Eastern European Blackcaps have different migration paths.
  2. Naive individuals reared in labs show some behaviour of their parent populations and direction of migration is determined genetically.
  3. Intermediate individuals showed intermediate behaviour.
56
Q

What does hybrid behaviour show in this case?

A

That there is a substantial genetic component to migratory behaviour in birds, but remember: it can also be modified by experience.

57
Q

Describe how migratory behaviour can be modified by experience using starlings

A
  1. As conditions get colder, starlings fly to the Netherlands, then when it’s warm, they migrate to France and the UK (westerly direction.)
  2. Experienced birds who have already migrated before can feel the paleomagnetic pull and move accordingly to the westerly direction, which is modified through experience.
  3. Meanwhile, juveniles with no experience, just know from their genetics to keep moving south and move south-westerly to Spain.
58
Q

What is learning?

A

Experience-based modification of behaviour and a process by which an animal’s response to a stimulus is altered as a result of experience.

59
Q

What is habituation?

A

A simple form of learning; a gradual reduction in the strength of a response to a continuous or repeated stimulus that is not associated with a reinforcer.

60
Q

What is Associative Learning?

A

A type of learning that certain contingencies exist between events (learning that one event is associated with another).

61
Q

What are the main 2 types of Associative Learning?

A

Classical Conditioning and Instrumental Conditioning

62
Q

Using an example, describe classical conditioning

A

Pavlov’s Dog: linking the sound of a bell to the presentation of food. The bell goes off, food arrives, and triggers salivation. Eventually, dogs salivate once the whistle goes off.

63
Q

Using an example, describe instrumental conditioning

A

Animal learns the association between its behaviour and an outcome. Experiment done by Skinner.
1. If you give a rat a novel food substance (which is usually radiated) it would subsequently feel nauseous. Usually learn this association the first time around.
2. Learn to associate sound with an electrical shock and the 2nd time it happens they will jump to avoid the shock.
3. But if you try to associate sound with nausea & taste with electrical shock, there were no rates of learning, meaning that the association between 2 things must make ecological sense and be realistic.

64
Q

What is Imprinting?

A

Specialised form of learning in which young animals learn to recognise and approach a large moving object. It has 2 key aspects:
1. it occurs in a critical period of early development
2. it is not reversible.

65
Q

What is cognition?

A

A way that some birds and mammals can use their knowledge and mental processing of information to solve complex problems

66
Q

Name 3 ways animals can show cognition

A

Tool use in primates and birds
Chimps can be taught to use sign language
Primates, dolphins & elephants pass the mirror self-recognition test

67
Q

What is Cultural Transmission?

A

When some novel behaviour patterns may be copied and passed on to subsequent generations without any genetic change being involved.

68
Q

Describe 2 examples of cultural transmission

A
  1. In the Toronto Aquariuam, a whale trapped a herring in its mouth, floated down deeper and munched it, releasing fine herring matter to the surface which attracted gulls. The whale then used this to trap gulls for feeding. Other individuals (its parents and siblings) did not show this behaviour and eventually learned it from this whale.
  2. Tool use and food washing in primates. In different areas of the primate population, primates used different tools to break fruit etc and learned them from each other.
69
Q

What do we mean by there are species differences in learning?

A

Some species-differences in the ability to learn can be explained by the differing complexity of their nervous systems

70
Q

How neurocomplexity can it lead to differences in learning?

A

In instances where neurocomplexity is related to complex tasks: the surface of a rat’s brain is smooth, not invaginated (fewer brain connections), and thus performed lower than those with larger and invaginated brains.

71
Q

TRUE or FALSE: There is no cost of specialisation when it comes to learning.

A

False. In an experiment, chimpanzees tended to outperform students in a test because:
(a) spatial memory is much larger in chimpanzees so the brain has devoted a lot of energy to its growth in the brain
(b) humans have developed other aspects of behaviour, such as speech and language, so our brain devotes less to spatial memory and focuses on the range of aspects we have.

72
Q

What is the ecological importance of learning?

A

It allows for rapid modification of behaviour (through only 1 or 2 experiences); it is a major importance for vertebrates and cephalopods with big brains; habituation is likely to be important for other animals. However, specialisation is costly!

73
Q

Why is it difficult to show evidence of behaviour evolution?

A

Behaviour doesn’t fossilise

74
Q

What is a requirement for evolution to occur?

A

A genetic basis for a phenotypic trait

75
Q

TRUE or FALSE: The brain is inherited from our parents.

A

FALSE. Only genes can be inherited.

76
Q

What are the 4 pieces of evidence of gene behaviour?

A

Innate behaviour, single gene control, transgenic experiments and artificial selection.

76
Q

Give an example of single gene control of behaviour

A

mutant fosB gene in mice affects maternal behaviour.

77
Q

Give an example of a transgenic experiment

A

Drosophila (fruit fly)
1. Typically have a 24-hour circadian rhythm which is controlled by the per0 gene
2. Mutant per0 drosophila are arrhythmic and don’t follow this circadian rhythm
injecting plasmids with the wild type per+ gene into embryos produce flies that behave normally but affects their inter-pulse interval in Drosophila song.
3. per0 gene differs from wild-type by only one base pair out of the 3500 in the gene

78
Q

Give an example of artificial selection behaviour evolution

A

Lab experiments: for example black cap migration. Blackcaps show the tendency to migrate, whether or not they show restlessness, and this is under genetic control.
1. Parental generation shows migration tendencies.
2. F1 generation is created by splitting them in a line: a male that wants to migrate with a female that wants to migrate = offspring had a high tendency to migrate.
3. Other line: male that shows no tendency to migrate + female with no tendency to migrate = offspring that don’t want to migrate.

This clearly shows that the genetic basis can respond to artificial selection and therefore should also respond to natural selection.

79
Q

What did Gerard van Tets suggest in 1965?

A

Complex courtship displays in birds had evolved from flight intention movements

80
Q

What evidence supported his views?

A

Phylogeny based on morphology and DNA

81
Q

What is Genetic Determinism?

A

The notion that our genes determine who we are at every level: physical, emotional, and behavioural. But that’s not true.

82
Q

What is Function?

A

The survival benefit of an adaptation

83
Q

What are functional questions?

A

Examine behaviour in terms of survival value or reproductive success, these relate to fitness

84
Q

What is the function of nupital gifts in hanging flies?

A

The size of the gift is positively related to the number of sperm transferred to the female when mating.

85
Q

How can we define fitness?

A

By looking at survivorship, reproductive success, rate of energy intake etc.

86
Q

What is behavioral ecology about?

A

Food, sex and staying alive long enough to enjoy them.

87
Q

What do Wildebeest do in response to lion roars?

A

They increase vigilance and aggregate in response.

88
Q

Give an example of camouflage

A

Historical change in proportions of light and melanistic forms of Biston betularia- industrial melanism near cities with pollution, tree bark and lichen darker

89
Q

What do some deer and antelope do when fleeing from a predator?

A

They jump in the air to increase visibility (using up time and energy), indicating to the predator that the prey is very fit and can escape the predator.

90
Q

Give example of a method to finding food

A

Waggle dance of honey bees informs other hive members of the distance and direction of food

91
Q

What is the optimum size of shore crab prey (muscles)?

A

Intermediate

92
Q

Compare the reproductive tactics of males and females

A

They have different tactics for maximising their fitness; sexual conflict is partly due to anisogamy

93
Q

Describe anisogamy

A

*Males and females are defined by the size of the gametes they produce
*Male gametes are small, cheap and produced in millions
*Female gametes are large, relatively expensive and fewer in number

94
Q

Describe male mating tactics

A

*Mate with as many females as possible to fertilise the maximum number of ova
*Often less choosy
*But male-male competition can be extreme

95
Q

Describe female mating tactics

A

*Choosy and only mare with high-quality males
*Female reproductive success is limited by the quality of offspring

96
Q

What are the criteria of female choice?

A
  1. Bigger, more colourful males with extreme ornaments
  2. Good genes, parasite resistance, resource holding potential and health.
97
Q

What is an example of the criteria of female choice?

A

Experimental removal of peacock eyespots leads to reduced attractiveness to females

98
Q

What is the optimal clutch size of birds?

A

around 8 eggs

99
Q

How can fitness be enhanced?

A

Through parental care

100
Q

Describe the components of a lion pride

A

3-12 adult females
1-6 adult males
-females do the most of the hunting
-males defend the pride and territory; territory size depends on prey density and pride size

101
Q

Describe the characteristics female lions

A

-female lions are natal philopatric
-all pride females are closely related
-they have a long reproductive life: 4 to 18 years
-smaller than male

102
Q

Describe the characteristics of male lions

A

-leave natal pride after 3 years
-spend several years as nomads before attempting to take over pride
-after a successful take over they will remain with the pride until driven out by new males
-longer, darker manes signal aggressiveness and greater fighting ability due to high testosterone

103
Q

Describe the synchronous oestrus of pride females

A

-Lions may breed throughout the year (no fixed breeding season)
-Mechanism is likely to be the influence of an individual’s pheromones on the oestrus cycles of other pride females

104
Q

What is the function of the synchronous oestrus cycles? Give 2

A
  1. Within a pride, litters tend to be born at the same time
  2. Cubs born synchronously survive better and one can care for the cubs together
105
Q

What are the advantages of synchrony? Give 3

A
  1. Creches are protective coalitions against infanticidal males; groups of females are better able to defend their offspring than just one single female
  2. Communal suckling releases mothers from parental care, allowing them to do other activities like hunting
  3. Young males are more likely to have companions when leaving the pride.
106
Q

Why do female lions cooperate?

A

Cooperate in hunting, cub defence and suckling - the latter is very rare in mammals. Within a pride, the females are highly related and share a high proportion of alleles with each other and the cubs, leading to kin selection.

107
Q

What is kin selection?

A

Characters favoured due to beneficial effects on the fitness of close relatives

108
Q

Describe frequent copulation

A

-Lioness on heat for 2-4 days every month if not pregnant
-Females copulate every 15 minutes
-Copulation induces ovulation
-Birth rate is low
-over 3,000 copulations needed for each cub that survive to adulthood

109
Q

Why do female lions copulate so frequently? Give 2 functional explanations.

A
  1. Reduces the value of a single copulation to pride males which minimises male-male conflict over mating and risk of injury to female.
  2. Increases paternity uncertainty, advantageous to the females as male lions tend to kill cubs of other males
110
Q

Describe infanticide by male lions

A

When males take over a pride they often kill the cubs; may be due to the unfamiliar odour.

To put females in to heat quicker, if cubs are under 12months old the mother will not come back into season for at least 20months, if the young are killed, this is reduced to 4-5 months

111
Q

What is the Bruce effect?

A

When the presence of a strange male induces abortion in pregnant females, eg in mice

112
Q

What is the function of infanticide?

A

-Females with cubs may not be in oestrus for >20 months but if the cubs are killed this is reduced to 4-5 months.
-Male reproductive life is short, so infanticidal males are likely to produce more cubs

113
Q

How does infanticide affect the females?

A

-Take over synchronous females and increase sexual activity of females
-Females solicit males from other nearby prides and increase male-male conflict
-largest male coalition becomes resident
-large and stronger male coalitions remain in pride longer, providing stability and allowing females to reproduce successfully.

114
Q

Why do male lions cooperate?

A
  1. kin selection? Males in coalitions are often related, but its not always the case.
  2. Reciprocal altruism? Coalitions are small and stable, providing ideal conditions for reciprocity.
  3. Mutualism? Main factor. Coalition size may increase the reproductive success of male because pride takeovers are made easier with more males. Individuals benefit from being in a larger group.
115
Q

Define Reciprocal altruism?

A

you scratch my back, i’ll scratch yours

116
Q

Define mutualism?

A

an interaction in which both parties get something

Biological Sciences 1 (10 decks)

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