Midterm 1

Question 1

Ethogram

Answer 1

formal description or inventory of an animal behaviours
Measures frequency, duration, rate and intensity (total time & relative frequency of a behaviour)
Often compare healthy and captivity induced behaviour

Question 2

3 R’s

Answer 2

Reduction – limiting number of animals used, open access to research to avoid redundancy
Refinement – improving protocols to reduce stress & pain
Replacement – use other options than live animals, less invasive techniques?

Question 3

Tinbergens 4 levels of analysis

Answer 3

Ultimate causes:
• Phylogeny – evolutionary origins, has it evolved?
• Function – effects on reproductive success, what is its current function?
Proximate causes:
• Development – genes/environment, how does it develop?
• Causation – stimuli/hormones, what immediately causes it?

Question 4

Ultimate Causes

Answer 4

Phylogeny – evolutionary origins, has it evolved?

Function – effects on reproductive success, what is its current function?

Question 5

Proximate Causes

Answer 5

Development – genes/environment, how does it develop?

Causation – stimuli/hormones, what immediately causes it?

Question 6

Plesiomorphic

Answer 6

(ancestral) traits – found in a common ancestor of 2 or more species

Question 7

Apomorphic

Answer 7

(derived) traits – found in a more recently evolved species (not present in common ancestor)

Question 8

Homology

Answer 8

trait shared by 2+ species due to shared ancestor (plesiomorphic)

Question 9

Homoplasy

Answer 9

traits shared by 2+ species due to natural selection acting independently on each species (apomorphic)

Question 10

Behaviourism

Answer 10

comparative studies of observable behaviour only
Proximate causes (development – learning, mechanism/causation – stimuli)

Question 11

Comparative biology

Answer 11

how biological process (including behaviour) have gradually evolved

Question 12

Cognitive ethology/Neuroethology

Answer 12

natural selection on mental processes/cognition

Question 13

Behavioural ecology

Answer 13

ecology/evolution of behaviour and its fitness consequences

Question 14

Lamarkian Evolution

Answer 14

transmutation of species
• Due to use vs disuse (teleological explanation of traits)
• Acquired traits were heritable (transgenerational epigenetic inheritance)

Question 15

Darwin’s dangerous idea

Answer 15

Theory of natural selection – nature selects the most stable and successful forms
(darwinian evolution)

Question 16

3 conditions for natural selection

Answer 16

1. Variation
2. Heredity
3. Differences in reproductive success (fitness)

Question 17

positive frequency-dependent selection

Answer 17

the fitness of a trait increases as it becomes more common in a population.

Question 18

adaptation

Answer 18

A heritable trait that enhances fitness
• an evolutionary process that results in a population of individuals with traits best suited to the current environment.

Question 19

fitness

Answer 19

survivorship and reproductions

• Measured in offspring’s offspring

Question 20

Pleiotrophy

Answer 20

effect of one gene on several different phenotypic traits

Question 21

Panglossian Paradigm

Answer 21

extreme adaptationist standpoint

• traits and structures explained as optimally designed by natural selection

Question 22

Exaptations

Answer 22

trait previously shaped by natural selection co-opted for a new use

Question 23

Kin selection

Answer 23

type of natural selection

individuals increase their fitness by cooperating with close relatives

Question 24

sexual selection

Answer 24

natural selection acting on heritable traits affecting reproduction

Question 25

3 conditions for replicators

Answer 25

1. Stability
2. Speed (fecundity)
3. Accuracy

Question 26

broad sense heritabiltiy

Answer 26

includes all the genetic effects (variables) on the phenotype
Additive
Dominance
Eipstastic

Question 27

Additive effects

Answer 27

average effect of individual alleles on phenotype (no interaction with other genes or environment)

Question 28

narrow sense heritibiltiy

Answer 28

proportion on phenotypic variance that is due solely to additive (A) genetic values (most commonly reported)

Question 29

how does gene variationn occur

Answer 29

1. Crossover of chromosomes in gametes (sex cells)

2. Point Mutations: replication error (rare) longer genetic unit more likely to be altered

Question 30

Instintual/innate behaviours

Answer 30

• Performed the same way each time
• Fully expressed the first time the are exhibited
• Present in individuals raised in isolation

Question 31

Reaction norm

Answer 31

range of behaviours expressed by a single phenotype in different environments

Question 32

sign stimulus

Answer 32

component of the environment that triggers a specific instinctual behaviour