Qs Flashcards
What is kin selection?
Favours behaviour that increase reproductive success of close kin- individual may not be as good
What is direct fitness?
you pass on genes directly
What is indirect fitness?
Increased reproductive success of genetic relative- some of your genes get passed on by relative
What are the empirical approaches to animal behaviour?
Observation (field study- no control variables)
Experiment (laboratory- variables are controlled)
What is individual learning?
Learn from direct experience of environment
What is cultural transmission?
Taught by other individuals/ social learning (I.e parents)
What are Darwin’s two great laws?
Conditions of existence
Common ancestry
Define homologous
Traits shared because of a common ancestor
Define homoplasy
Traits resulting from selection acting independently (platapus and ducks)
Define convergent evolution
Lead to wings in birds, bags and insects- analogous traits
What is perspective taking?
Take into account the relative position of each other when imitating
What is vertical cultural transmission?
Across generations via parents
Give examples of vertical cultural transmission
. Male finches learn to sing from their fathers
. Bottlenose dolphins- herd fish into a beach- only calves born to mothers that were themselves ‘beachers’ use this strategy. Females teach their daughter to ‘sponge’- provides protection from injury when foraging on sea floor
What is oblique cultural transmission?
Transmission across generations not via parents
Give example of oblique cultural transmission
Lab born monkeys- show no fear reaction to snakes- observe fear reaction then they will show fear reaction. Relationship to actor not important
What is horizontal transmission?
Transmission between pears (if starts among young then doesn’t spread to adults)
What was the guppy study for food path?
. Group taught long route to food
. Introduced native individuals who learnt the behaviour
. Removed original and add new and behaviour still passed on
. Maladaptive behaviour- taught long path then given access to short but still used long
Give an example of combination of learning and cultural transmission
. Allows to maximise energy intake
. Arctic tundra to savanna
. Trans located individuals don’t migrate- expect if placed into existing populations
What is intersexual selection?
Compete for access to females, show females they are good quality
What is intrasexual selection?
Compete each (fight) for access to females
Define Bateman’s principle
Females are selective because their reproductive success is limited. Traits that are favoured will increase in frequency, variance in reproductive success promotes promiscuity
What are proximate factors?
How genes affect choice
What are ultimate factors?
How genes are favoured
What is the direct benefits model?
Genetic predisposition to choose mates that provide resources beyond good genes
Give 2 examples of the direct benefits model
Damsel flies- male gives female a nuptial gift, has to be big prey item because they have to remove other sperm
Male redback spiders- depositing his stern, eve action of his body, backflips into the females jaws (fitness enhancing- cannibalised makes fertilise more eggs)
What is the good genes model?
Females look for high quality
Give examples of good genes models
. Big harem- can protect her
. Peacock- number of spots
What is the runaway selection model?
The loci for two traits is present in males and females but only expressed in one sex (reference expressed in females and trait expressed in males)
Give an example of runaway selection model
Stalk-eyed flies- if repeatedly breed females with shirt stalked males then they should get a preference for this
What is sensory/ pre-existing bias?
Preference for a trait as consequence of a neurobiological response
Give an example of a sensory/ pre-existing bias
Females prefer red berries, red feathered males preferred
Give an example of conditioning (sexually)
Japanese quails. Allowed to breed with blonde females not brown, wen saw them together picked blonde, when blonde was taken away the time they spent with females was greatly reduced
What was seen in cowbirds sexually when cross fostered juveniles?
Males learned the song of the foster parents
Females preferred song of foster parents
When they put dummies on black house male territories what always observed?
Females picked ones with dummies
Give examples of what happens in sperm wars
Sterile filler sperm (fill female with it), sperm removal, anti-aphrodisiac, odours (leave on female making her less attractive), displacement by flushing out, copulatory plugs (stop other sperm), accessory proteins
What can fowl do with sperm?
Eject it after copulation
What can flycatchers do with sperm?
Store it for a month
In what species does ‘sperm races’- speed compete inside female occur in?
Drosophila
Give examples of what happens in sperm wars
Sterile filler sperm (fill female with it), sperm removal, anti-aphrodisiac, odours (leave on female making her less attractive), displacement by flushing out, copulatory plugs (stop other sperm), accessory proteins
What can fowl do with sperm?
Eject it after copulation
What can flycatchers do with sperm?
Store it for a month
In what species does ‘sperm races’- speed compete inside female occur in?
Drosophila
What is the hotspots and hotshots hypothesis?
Males will go where they will encounter females- males in centre have a higher reproductive success. Gather around highest quality male (hotshots hypothesis)
What is the sexy son hypothesis?
Females will pick males that are more attractive to other females because it will increase their reproductive success
Give an example of a species that uses the sexy sons hypothesis
Sandfly leks
What is polyandry? Give an example of a species that uses it
Females mate with more than one male
African grey foam nest treefrogs
What is the difference between polyandry and polygyny?
Polyandry- 1 female lots of males
Polygyny- 1 male and lots of females
Give an example of an animal that uses polyandry
Dunnock
What is genetic monogamy?
Individuals form a pair bond
What is social monogamy?
Form pair bond but if given opportunity will mate with others, invests in his pair bond but will not invest in other female
What is the fertility insurance hypothesis?
Reduces the risk that some ova will remain unfertilised
What is the genetic compatibility hypothesis?
Boosts the changes that she will receive sperm whose DNA is unusually compatible with hers
What is the more resources hypothesis?
More mates equates to more resources from partners
What is the most car hypothesis?
More caregivers to help rear offspring
What is the better protection hypothesis?
More protectors to stop other males from harassing the female
what is the Infanticide reduction hypothesis?
Increased uncertainty about paternity reduces the number of males with no stake in offspring value
Give an example of brood parasites
Cuckoo chicks and reed warblers. Cuckoo lays egg in reed Warbler near and the reed Warbler will bring up parasite egg. Cannot recognise eggs, cannot eject eggs, cost of abandonment- host parasite may return and attack the eggs or the carer
What is obligate siblicide?
The younger egg is ejected, it’s only there are an insurance
What is facultative siblicide?
Poor conditions lead to late weaning one year and the pup is still with the mother when next pup is born, it’s too big and outcompetes the younger pup as two is too big a drain of resources (Galapagos fur seal)
Give examples of sibling conflict
Often the oldest chick will expel the youngest chicks to increase own survival
In sand tigers the oldest embryo develops teeth first and begins to hunt the other embryos the mother is carrying. Can then eat yolk and remains
What is dyadic?
Competition/ aggression/ interactions between two individuals
Give an example of matriarchal dominance
Hyenas, you are not strong enough to break bone but not dominant so cannot eat good meat, therefore mother just step in to ensure the Cubs get good food
What does serotonin treatment do to cray fish?
Increase aggression
How is the endocrine system involved in submissive behaviour?
CRH released from hypothalamus. Pituitary gland released ACTH. Adrenal gland produces cortisol=submissive behaviour
Give examples of species that uses dear enemies
Kangaroo rats and Broadley’s flat lizard
Which animals should the bystander effect and how?
Swordtails:avoid winner or aggressive losers
Some intervene: horses- support preferred members to protect social bond, hyenas- support dominant individuals sometimes,red fallow deer
Describe the audience effect
Highly vocal if being watched, try and get assistance
How many sea lion pup deaths occur when playing?
85%- only playing 6% of time
How much time do humans, domestic cats and rats invest in playing?
Humans: 9-15%
Domestic cats: 9%
Rats:2-3%
Describe the social bind hypothesis
Suggests that play strengthens social bonds, increases trust and reduced aggression
Give an example of when the social-binding hypothesis is seen
Hyena Cubs reduce aggression and increase play frequency. Prepare aggressive infants for integration into the clan- if they were aggressive then they could be killed
What is the dominance assessment hypothesis?
Suggest that play facilitates establishment of dominance relationships without he overt costs of aggression. Dominance ranks established during play predicted future dominance relationships outside of play
Define instincts
Behavioural pattern that is fully developed first time performed even though the animals had no experience. Often depends on the animals motivational state or developmental stage, often more complex than reflexes and may involve many neural circuits
Give 2 species that show instinctual behaviour
. 3-spined sticklebacks
. Greylag Goose
Define stimulus filtering
Filtering out unimportant sensory information and tunes sensory organs to important stimulus features (adaption) such as toads decidin quickly on predator prey decisions
What is filial imprinting?
Immediately after birth
What is sexual imprinting?
Sexual preference imprinted as a result of rearing environment
When cross fostered which of great tits or blue tits showed sexual imprinting?
Great tits
What is the smell that salmon imprint on?
Morphaline
Tinbergen showed that when Herring gull chicks emerge they have an innate behaviour what is this?
Pecking/ begging response to red spot on the parents bill- respond strongly to everything with red
What is associative learning? What are the two types?
A process through which a meaningless stimulus becomes meaningful.
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
Previously neutral event predicts closely times second event (bell)
What is operant conditioning?
Animal performs a behaviour and learns that this behaviour leads to another meaningful event (skinner boxes) e.g. reward/ punishment
Example classical conditioning in bees
Honeybees forage food in flowers- nectar and pollen. Because flowers come and go in the environment, they cannot predict where the food will be. Instead they must learn how to find flowers with good food. They can learn to associate floral colour, shape, location and scent with food rewards
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
A stimulus or event that has meaning and elicits a behaviour response in an animal on its own (nectar reward for bees)
What is an unconditioned response?
Response to an inconditional stimulus
What is excitatory conditioning?
Condition stimuli predicts the occurrence of the unconditional stimulus (training to)
What is inhibitory conditioning?
Conditioned stimulus predicts the absence of the unconditioned stimulus (training not to)
Explain the fosse the rat experiment
Learns to associate jazz music with pulling a chain for food and classical music with pressing a lever for food. She must perform the action of lever pressing or button to get the food- this is the operant bit. She can also learn that she will be fed using the lever when classical music is played- this shows that she learns that this action only works in a specific context or environment
What is habituation?
Non-associated learning, occurs when an animal experiences repeated stimulation from stimulus that ordinarily produces reflexive or instinctual behaviour. Can be re sensitised. Innate behaviours can be changed/affected
Give an example of both physiology and environmental influences in behaviour
Courtship behaviour between male and female ring doves produced changes in their progesterone levels. These hormonal changes then causes differences in their behaviour: they began nesting and brooding, their behaviour was not predetermined, and it was not learned. Their energetic state affected their behaviours- so environmental affects
Expression of behaviour may depend on what?
Stage of development, history, environmental conditions and abiotic stimuli and genetic background
What does the optimal foraging behaviour assume?
The most predatory prey systems have been around long enough to reach a stable outcome
What are the constraints when foraging?
. Sensory e.g. can determine between ripe/ unruly fruit with 3 photoreceptors but not with 2
. Predation-criptive prey can take a lot of focus and so can get more easy prey and look out for prey
. Competition- not be better not to challenge certain individuals but to go and eat less nutritious food
What is evolutionary lag?
Sudden environmental change could render adaptations inappropriate until selection had time to catch up
What is applied perspective?
Understanding predation is important when developing conservation strategies (so there is no point introducing them into an area where they will just be eaten); when developing biological control strategies (introducing something into a environment to control pet species- can often go wrong and have bigger impacts) and when predicting patterns of invasion by invasive species
Define predation
Consumption of one organism by another when the prey is alive at the point of the attack
What experiment did Daly eat al. (1990) use to study decreasing activity to avoid predation?
Used subcutaneously implanted radio transmitters to monitor track the behaviours of Merrimack kangaroo rats. More mobile rats were killed more than predators (50/176)
How do Majid crabs camouflage?
Have little hooks that pick-up parts of environment to ‘decorate’ its body with algae. Can change their camouflage to the environment. Decorate more in the presence of pufferfish
Explain the experiment that was carried out in 1993 on bank voles and their response to odours
Only reduced activity if predators detected them with sound (weasel and fox)
What is quality advertisement?
Prey has noticed the predator at a distance from which it cane escape therefore it displays its ability to be able to escape- save energy not being chased
Give an example of a prey that startles/ intimidates (displays) predator and how they do it
When predator approaches peacock butterfly’s flash wings and hiss (the ones that don’t open their wings will be eaten
Caterpillars- swag and inflate its end segments that have 2 eye spots on them. Head becomes a triangular shape- biped head- predators of birds
What are secondary defences?
Produce costly toxins to defer prey (odours, spray and bad taste), only in the area they are being attacked, have to be highly accurate so as to not waste
What are some counter adaptations to secondary defences?
. Search images- only works if you are encountering the same prey all the time
. Spiders- live underground, feel vibrations be then attack. Jam beetle into the soil then they will expel the chemical into there and then they can eat them
What is Hamilton’s selfish herd?
Avoidance of predator will lead to aggregation assuming that: the predator only takes only prey (would be making t easier for them if they would take them all), the predator is no more ljkely to encounter the group than a solitary individual
What is reduced if you are in a group?
Domain of danger
Who are the control positions often taken by?
Dominant, larger individuals, reproductive females and dated individuals
What is the solution effect?
In a group it is less likely to be you that is eaten
Give examples to example why the best position in a group is effected by hunting strategies
. Crow hills pick eggs from the outskirts as they will be attacked if they go deep into them
. Sharks attacking fish go through the centre of the group which makes it harder for them to escape
What is the confusion effect?
More difficult to capture prey in larger groups- hard to follow just one individual
What is the oddity effect?
Odd individuals stand out l, more likely to be attacked, can lead to phenotypic assortment will assert themselves based on phenotype e.g. colour, size
What is the many eyes hypothesis?
More eyes so more likely to detect the predator early. Although individuals may feel safer and delay their response in order to gain more information about the level of threat (seen in pigeons)
Give an example of a species where the many eyes hypothesis is seen?
Black eyes junco- shows one between pecks was reduced in larger flicks when food readily available, more feeding time. More less the same when food is scarce. Lower in all adds when food is scarce, so less aware when food short
Living in a group can mean you only visit one patch of food once so not visiting food source that has been depleted already. What experience showed this?
Weaver birds- took one individual from the group and taught t how to find food and one how to find water. Deprived group of the resource and they followed the one with info (also clear in elephants- know where the food is)
How does grouping allow for niche expansion?
Larger groups can begin to take down bigger prey/ more variety (hyenas, social spiders etc.)
Explain how thermoregulation and slip streaming making being in a group beneficial
. Bats huddle more in evenings as far departed trying to keep warm- less weight loss as use each other’s body heat
. Fish swim in groups to use less energy swimming
What are the costs of group living?
. Increased competition- have to share food
. Higher risk of disease- can differ between individuals in the group. Males that pass between females are more likely to get and pass on diseases
. Risk of being cuckolded- birds, if you are in monogamous relationship if you leave they might breed with someone else
. Risk of cannibalism- gulls eat other chicks or eggs
. Risk of inbreeding
Voles die when they eat cane toads. They do not get the chance to learn. What strategy have we tried to use to train them?
Feeding them small pieces so they felt unwell
How do we train coyotes not to eat livestock?
Used poisoned carcass (results varied)
Why does trying to train birds not to eat seeds using non-lethal doses of toxins not work in starlings?
They will eat until they feel ill, digest toxins and come back later on
When we tried to breed silver foxes that were less aggressive and less stressed (balyaev, 1969) how did it change their morphology?
. Different colours
. Short legs
. Floppy ears
Give examples of animal behaviour changes associated with climate change
. Altered ability of caterpillars to keep stick mimic angle as they are colder- cooler springs- more likely to get eaten
. Butterflies moving further north- predators change hunting strategies because more prey
. Bigger wild packs due to cold, can bring down bigger prey e.g. moose-wouldn’t normally go for, numbers in decline, change vegetation structures
. Caterpillars available earlier, birds get to the right weight and migrate- get to where they stop off for food but there is no food- climate change doesn’t usually happen at the same rate
Give examples of how anthropogenic light has changed animal behaviour
. Fewer female turtles will emerge and nest in areas lit by mercury vapour (mv) lights. Mv lights also disorientate both adults and hatchlings
. Not true for low pressure sodium lights
. Can extend foraging time
. Change predators prey dynamic- lizards on light signs for flies
. Changes reproductive behaviour- sing later at night
. Changes communication- colour patterns might not function
. Influence orientation/ navigation
. Animals that usually come out at night may start coming out in the day or have less time to forage
