midterm 2 Flashcards
canalization
the tendency for the development of a specfic genotype to follow the same trajectory under dif circumstances
cross fostering
offspring from one population is raised by another population
- Siblicide
common garden experiments
taking two separate but similar species and putting them in a lab w same enviro and see if they remain the diff across gen - if they stay diff they are genetically different
developmental constraints
Limitations on the range of phenotypic traits or behaviour that can evolve due to the way organisms develop
epigenesis
interactive view of genes and environment. behaviour can be driven by genes and the expression of gene can be driven by behaviour
fluctuating asymmetry
Deviations from symmetry in bilateral traits - women find men with low FA better than men with high FA
FOXP2
gene responsible for learning in both humans and birds
those with FOXP2 inhibited were the worst of being tutored to learn songs
gene by environmental interactions
The capacity to produce different phenotypes according to the variation in the environment- plasticity
genetic engineering
Changes something about gene expression in the context of behaviour
harlows experiment
Experiment of attachment and social development in monkeys
Two surrogate mothers - one made of wire who provided food and one made of cloth that didn’t provide food
Babies preferred the cloth mother
inbred lines
Inbreeding leads to less genetic variation. Inbreeding for generations causes everyone to become completely homozygous/ pure lineages
mendels law
Think, punnets, square - diploid have two copies of each gene, meiosis distributes them in sex cells, dominant or recessive or additive.
Genes are on chromosomes. proximal genes are more likely to be inherited .
norms of reaction
Developmental plasticity can vary by genotype some respond to environmental change some not
types of plasticity
adaptive - improves organisms fitness or survival
non-adaptive - does not improve organisms fitness or survival
continous - adjusts traits or behaviour over lifetime
discrete - ability to switch phenotypes in response to specific environmental conditions
QTL analysis
stands for quantitative trait loci - analysis of a specific place in the genome that controls quantitative traits starts with homozygous lines. Then we breed two different genes into heterozygous individuals to test what trait is what
quantitative traits
To what extent is phenotypic variation genetically influenced by multiple different genes.
based common garden experiments cross fostering and inbred lines
Range of abilities can be described in a normal distribution
sensitive/ critical periods
Certain developmental phases with more sensitivity to environmental stimulus
single genes w major effects
Drosophilia, FosB, and S
temporal polyethism
Changing behaviours over the course of your lifetime
In bees as they age, they shift rolls the older, the more risky your role
Genes may not be expressed in young bees, but may be expressed in later life
ontogenetic niche
Ecological phenomenon where an organism changes its diet or habituate during its ontogeny
Includes: genetic adaptations, epigenetic adaptation, cultural transmission, and niche construction
asynchronous incubation
when an egg starts its incubation process immediately upon being laid, first one laid has the an advantage
Gene expression over the course of development and across populations
Bees - role change, expression of genes further into life
Birds - songs can cause stimulation in the brain to cause a gene expression
FosB
A nurturing defect in mice
FosB+ mother keeps her babies under her
FosB- Mother keeps babies away from her
Mating strategies in male ruffs
Two different types of mating behaviours and differences in appearances
Two phenotypes S and s
S - males do all the display
s - attempt to intercept
Genetic adaptation
Darwinian selection
Occurs through genetic evolution
Locus of change: genetic
Heritable
Epigenetic adaptation
individual level genetic changes in response to the environment – these can be heritable because the location of change is the epigenome
Genes and the environment are constantly interacting to produce and modify the phenotypes
Gene Robinson - “DNA is both inherited and environmentally responsive
Cultural transmission
Heritable in the sense that knowledge is transmissible
Niche construction
Changing the environment to suit you - sometimes heritable
Plasticity
The ability of a genotype to produce different phenotypes, according to the environment, ex. getting a tan and weight fluctuation
Adaptive - a change in response to the environment that increases fitness
Associative learning
Learning how to associate the element of one’s stimulus/behavior with another
Classical conditioning
Ivan Pavlov - learned that a neutral stimulus that doesn’t produce a response can be associated with an unconditioned stimulus that normally does not produce a response
Context of learning
Predation, mate choice, learning and individual recognition
Predation
Pray survive longer if they know their environment
Mate choice
Female choice in quails - females like the drama and choosemen who are taken
Learning and individual recognition
Wasps can recognize others with facial their markings
Cost and benefits of learning
Costs - time, brain size, mistakes
Benefits - behavioral flexibility with an a lifetime -plasticity is the point of learning
Garcia effect
There are certain stimuli that are better associated with certain consequences
ex. Bats can tell if an insect is poisonous because it induces nausea.
Habituation
The response to stimulus decreases over repeated exposure
Hebbian theory
When one neuron consistently activates another neuron, the connection between them become stronger and more efficient - compared to learning and memory
Insight learning
The process that involves the transfer of previous knowledge to his novel situation
Ex. Chimpanzees learn crate stacking to get bananas, crows make tools
Latent learning
Describes all associative learning without immediate reinforcement
ex. Bee wolves paralyze their prey to feed later
Operant conditioning
Certain behaviour receives a negative stimulus/punishment or a reward
Population memetics
Memes are a unit of culture or systems of behaviour acquired, then passed on by individuals
Positive reinforcement
Behaviour is rewarded with a positive stimulus: ex. Praise
Negative reinforcement
The behaviour leads to the removal or avoidance of the aversive stimulus
Positive punishment
An unpleasant or undesirable consequence that is added following the behaviour - behaviour is less likely to occur
Negative punishment
An enjoyable or rewarding consequence of an action is taken away due to a behaviour
Sensitization
Response to a stimulus increases over repeated presentation
Social learning
Knowledge passes from an individual to another individual by watching them do things
- emulation, imitation, teaching
Contagion response
Existing behaviour released when others do it
Local/stimulus enhancement
Learning by being in a similar situation as another
Song dialect in white crowned sparrow’s
Found in specific geographical location
Three criteria - learning, cross generation, lasting modification
Females had a higher sexual attraction to those who sang
Vocal learning in song birds
Male song is inherently a reward for female song birds
Birds need to be tutor and how to sing the syllables in the song correctly
conrad lorenz
Imprinting
Alternative mating tactics
Pre-ejaculation, hermaphrodtic, pathogenesis, asexual
Pre-ejaculation
Done by lesser males
hermaphrodtic
Produces both sperm and egg. Can choose to fertilize themselves or others.
Pathogenesis
Some reptiles can fertilize their own egg
Asexual
Do not have sex - vegetative fertilization
Anisogamy
Cells that differ in size
Female: large immobile gametes
Male: small mobile gametes
Isogamous - no different sex cell
Bateman gradient
Shows the statistical relationship between mating success for both males and females. The more you mate with females the higher reproductive success.
Costs and benefits of sex
Costs: loss of good genes, cut your descendants and their fitness in half, STDs and disease
Benefits: shuffles your genetic deck, create genetic diversity, abiotic (environmental change) biotic (competition)
Cryptic female choice
The female choice that happens within the body- sperm selection
Direct benefits
Better territory and more offspring
Exploitation and interference of competition
Exploitation - all trying to exploit
Interference - stake claim and defend
Fishers runaway model
Females with preference increase population, males expressing a certain trait are increasingly advantaged.
Greater preference for exaggerative traits amongst those with already exaggerative traits
Hermaphroditism
Produce both male and female gametes
Simultaneous - simultaneously male and female with both bits functioning
sequential - switching sex once
Indirect benefits
Good genes, compatible genes, high quality offspring
Intra-sexual selection
Competition with the same sex for access to female - female has no choice
Intersexual selection
Competition within the same sex for female choice
Ex. Dimorphism - attributes like fancy plumage makes you more attractive
Mate compatibility
Genetic compatibility and MHC
Genetic compatibility
Females look for optimal outbreeding- those that are genetically different enough, but not two different- too similar may result in too many recessive traits
MHC
A region in the genome responsible for antibodies, the more diverse the stronger the immune system
Reproductive variance and sexual selection
Reproductive variance is greater in males than females
High variance : low parental investment
Low variance : high parental investment
Sensory bias
Bias for a trait before it even evolves
Sex ratios
1:1 at birth - everyone has a mother and father
When ratio is skewed, the rare sex will have fitness advantage
OSR
Operational sex ratio
The ratio of individuals able to reproduce at any given moment (favours males)
Sex role reversal
Mormon crickets - males carry a sperm package then they choose what female to give it to
Sexual conflict
Conflict between male and female within the same species
Rejection, punishment, forced copulation
Sexual selection
Selection for access to gametes of the opposite sex
- differing repro success is because of the differing access to gametes of the opposite sex
- Males compete for access to females females choose
Sperm competition
Sperm from one more than one male and in a female competitions
Animal culture
Animals can pass learning between individuals through social learning - ex. Washing behaviour
Five ways animals adapt to their environment
Camouflage/mimicry
Migration
Adaptation of physical features
Predatory defence
Communication
Marler’s view on instinct and learning
Animals can adapt to learn new things, mechanisms underlining this could be conceptual
Mate choice copying
Males and females copying mate choices they’ve seen others make - learning what a good mate is (sailfin fish)
Adaptations in response to the various modes of sexual selection
Intrasexual selection - weaponry and body size, agnostic behavior, territoriality, sperm competition
Intersexual selection - ornamentation and displays, vocalizations and songs, courtship behaviours, visual and chemical signals
Both modes of sexual selection - sexual dimorphism, guarding and mate defence, runaway selection
Female aggregation and sexual selection
Female aggregation is the tendency of females to gather in groups in the context of sexual selection. This grouping of females can have significant affects on meeting strategies, particularly those of males.
Good genes models
Selection that suggests individuals with certain traits, often considered attractive or desirable in mates, are preferred because those traits signal superior genetic quality
Intersex variation
A naturally occurring condition for an individuals biological sex characteristics to not fit typical definitions of male or female
Mate choice (female and male)
Female - choose males based on certain attributes
Males - choose female for breeding potential and quality offspring
Dishabituation
The new response to a stimulus after the response had previously diminished due to habituation
Discrete plasticity
Not all plasticity is continual- there is some kind of environmental stimulus that causes a distinct change in phenotype- tiger salamanders
What are the stimulus’ in classical conditioning
Neutral stim (NS) - bell before conditioning - no initial response but through association and learning the US is related to NS and becomes CR
Unconditioned stim (US) - food - stimulates and automatic response w/o prior learning
Conditioned Stimulus (CS) - bell after conditioning - repeated pairing with the US the NS becomes the CS
Conditioned response (CR) - salivation w bell - learned response to CS
Unconditioned response (UR) - salivation w food - automatic natural reaction to unconditioned stimulus
Active avoidance learning
When an animal learns to do something to avoid punishment (shuttle box)
Passive avoidance learning
When an animal learns to suppress a natural behaviour to avoid being punished
Mechanisms of social learning
Contagion response - existing behaviour facilitated or released when others do it
Stimulus enhancement- behaviour is learned by being socially drawn to another individual and learning the same things that they are by simply being in a similar situation
Emulation - the goal is achieved but the observer does not copy the exact same steps achieve the goal as a demonstrated performs
Imitation - behavior is replicated in detail by the observer
Teaching - there needs to be a demonstration, but the teacher knows the learner is not ignorant
