Midterm 1 Flashcards
Lekking behaviour
Fighting for position in a group, best are at the Center, worst our used as protection on outside.
Ex: Antelopes (Topi’s)
Most important things animals do
Survive and reproduce or survive long enough to reproduce or produce kids that can reproduce -fitness
Attributes that increase fitness are ….
Adaptive
Behaviour
Acting, functioning, or Reacting in a particular way
Maladaptive
Attributes that decrease fitness
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace
Simultaneously and together came up with evolution by natural selection…. on the origin of species by means of natural selection or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle of life… 1858
Why do male lions commit infanticide
When male lions take over resident lions prides they kill all Cubs that aren’t theres and mate with all the females. If a cub is born before the gestation period, the male lions know it isn’t there’s and kill them too, sometimes a females time is just close enough to let the cub survive. Male lions count the time
Explain prolactins involvement with lions
Prolactin stimulates lactation but hinders ovulation in lionesses. By lions killing cubs, prolactin is reduced and ovulation can start.
What was the original hypothesis for lemmings
Intentional suicide in order to decrease population and continue the species
Why was the original lemmings hypothesis flawed
What happened if one of the lemmings doesn’t have the genes to commit this known suicide? Those would reproduce more and then no lemmings would die.
Proximate explanation
Immediate reason
Ex: does the animal walk fast due to long legs
Ultimate explanation
How did the behaviour evolve in the population
What was the more supported theory for lemmings dying
When the population grows too big, lemmings disperse in order to find more food and space which will decrease their stress hormones. (Proximate) they continue to disperse until pop decreases or resources are available. They are good swimmers but if they reach the ocean they will keep swimming to the wrong side until they run low on energy and die. Death is not suicide but lack of energy
Evolution
A change in the frequency of a trait variant or form within a population over inter generational time
The environment acts as a filter, is this random?
Environment takes out certain groups that are less fit/ less adaptive or less likely to produce fertile offspring. It is not random
Natural selection is the …..
Evolution is the ….
Mechanism for evolution
Process
Problems faced by all animals
Parasites, locomotion, food/nutrition, sex and reproduction, environmental constraints (temp. Humidity), and predation
Animals can deal with problems with
Physiology- enzymes, hormones and nerves to control and regulate chemical/ physical processes.
Anatomy- armour to protect against predators and parasites
Behaviour- ways of doing things
Behaviour
A reaction by an animal to some aspect of information about its internal or external environment
Behaviour is due to genes only
False, environment causes change as well
Are there any single genes for behaviour?
No, per se
How can differences in behaviour occur at the single gene level?
Usually because an enzyme doesn’t work because of spatial abnormalities due to amino acids structure -which reflects genetic code.
Or because a receptor for a hormone or neurotransmitter has a different binding affinity because of a small biochemical change
An abnormality in a the production of a single enzyme is liking to cause major change…
Yes because most enzymes have multiple functions
Artificial selection
Selecting for a particular trait in the lab
Cotton nests in mice explanation
Female mice had some variability of how much cotton they used to build nests. To test if this was genetic of behavioural scientists selected ones that used lots of cotton and only bred those and saw that those offspring used even more cotton and it continued. Therefore it had some genetic part
A variable behaviour phenotype has so,e genetic part of it if it can be…..
Selected for