Natural Selection

Question 1

What is evolving to fixation?

Answer 1

Evolution of a feature until it is universal

Question 2

What are the five criteria for natural selection?

Answer 2

1. Individuals vary
2. Some variation is heritable
3. Differing levels of fitness
4. More ‘fit’ individuals do better (natural selection)
5. Organisms that survive have adaptations

Question 3

What is an adaption that the oak-feeding caterpillar has?

Answer 3

Chemicals from the oak tree signal what stage it is in (reproductively) this subsequently influences the caterpillar’s camouflage.

Question 4

What are the three questions that behaviour ecology asks?

Answer 4

1. What good is the behaviour?
2. Why is this way of behaviour better than another
3. How has the behaviour evolved (esp. through natural selection)

Question 5

What are three fallacies in behavioural ecology?

Answer 5

1. Deceptively easy concepts
2. Jumping to conclusions
3. Facile leaps to human behaviour

Question 6

Can decisions be counted as adaptations? Give an example.

Answer 6

Yes, such the caterpillar changing camouflage depending on the chemical that the three is giving off. This is a physiological adaptation.

Question 7

Give an example of a behavioural strategy as an adaptation.

Answer 7

Patch foraging, some organisms have a genetic predisposition to rove and some sit (when food is present).

Question 8

What is an example of a learned behaviour as an evolved adaptation?

Answer 8

Bird song. Neural pathways in the brain predispose the bird to learn the song, but the actual song is transmitted culturally.

Question 9

How can heritability be assessed with a scattergram?

Answer 9

Plot offspring value vs. parent value. If they correlate positively, than there is likely heritability of the assessed trait.

Question 10

What is altruism?

Answer 10

Increasing another individual’s fitness as a cost to ones own direct fitness