Random vocab After Midterms

Question 1

Parthenogenesis

Answer 1

The production of an organism from an unfertilized egg.

Ex) whiptail lizards are an all female species

Question 2

Strategy

Answer 2

A structured suite of morphologies, behaviors or decision rules that have arisen by natural selection

Question 3

Evolutionary stable strategy (ESS)

Answer 3

A strategy which, when common among members in a population, cannot be invaded or replaced over evolutionary time by any rare strategy

Question 4

War of attrition

Answer 4

A model of aggression in which two contestants compete for a resource of value “V” by persisting while constantly accumulating costs over the time “t” that the contest lasts.

Value of resource: V
Longer they wait, greater the cost: m

Question 5

Stable

Answer 5

Once the population adopts this strategy then no individual who played a different strategy could gain higher reproductive success

Question 6

Resource holding potential (RHP)

Answer 6

A combination of characteristics such as body size, strength, weapons, etc

Question 7

Resource value

Answer 7

Variation in aggression because the value of winning the resource differs between individuals

Question 8

Sexual selection

Answer 8

Selection for traits which are solely concerned with increasing mating success

The fitness advantage that some individuals have over other individuals of the same sex solely with respect to reproduction

Question 9

Parental care

Answer 9

Any form of parental behavior that appears likely to increase the fitness of the parent’s offspring

Question 10

Parental investment

Answer 10

Any form of behavior that increases the individual offsprings fitness at the cost of the parents ability to invest in future offspring

Question 11

Operational sex ratio

Answer 11

The ratio of sexually receptive males to receptive females.

Even though the tertiary sex ratio (ratio at the sexually mature stage) may be 1:1, the operational sex ratio can be highly skewed to one sex, typically males, that require less parental investment

Question 12

Sex ratio

Answer 12

The ratio of males to females in a population.

Primary: ratio at fertilization
Secondary: ratio at birth
Tertiary: ratio at sexually mature stage
Population: ratio in the observable population regardless of stage

Question 13

Sexual dimorphism

Answer 13

A difference in secondary sex characteristics between males and females in a species

Question 14

Primary sexual characteristics

Answer 14

Sex differences directly related to reproduction and serving no direct purpose in courtship.

Genitalia, ovaries, testes

Question 15

Secondary sexual characteristics

Answer 15

Traits amenable to sexual selection, which give an organism an advantage over its rivals (such as in courtship) without being directly involved in reproduction

Question 16

Alternative mating tactics

Answer 16

Refers to consistent variation in the mating behavior of males or females within one population

Question 17

Alternative mating tactics: bourgeois tactic

Answer 17

Defend and attempt to monopolize females

Question 18

Alternative mating tactics: parasitic tactic

Answer 18

Attempt to exploit bourgeois males

Question 19

Extra pair copulation (EPC)

Answer 19

A mating by an individual with someone other than their primary partner in a seemingly monogamous species

Question 20

Runaway sexual selection

Answer 20

Also called “sexy son hypothesis”.

Mate preferences and make secondary sex characters would coevolve to ever more exaggerated versions

Survival advantage —> survival advantage/female choice —> female choice

Question 21

Sensory exploitation

Answer 21

When a signaler is able to tap into a pre-existing sensitivity or bias in the perceptual system of a receiver, thereby gaining an advantage in transmitting a message to that receiver

Question 22

Mating system

Answer 22

The number of sexual partners an individual acquired during a breeding season

Question 23

Polyandry

Answer 23

Many males and one female

Question 24

Polygyny

Answer 24

One male and many females

Question 25

Promiscuity

Answer 25

Many males and females

Question 26

Social monogamy

Answer 26

The pairing of male and female

Question 27

Genetic monogamy

Answer 27

Happens when pairs produce and rest only their own genetic offspring

Question 28

Cooperative breeding

Answer 28

Is a social system in which individuals help care for young that are not their own

Question 29

Philopatry

Answer 29

The behavior of remaining, or returning to, one’s birthplace

Question 30

Brood parasite

Answer 30

An animal that exploits the parental care of individuals other than it’s parents

Question 31

Kin selection

Answer 31

Natural selection favoring the spread of genes that increase the indirect component of fitness.

Most instances of altruism are the result of kin-selection

Question 32

Indirect fitness

Answer 32

The genes contributed by an individual indirectly by helping non descendant kin, in effect creating relatives that would not have existed without the help of the individual

Question 33

Eusociality

Answer 33

“True” socially, the most complex form of speciality

Three characteristics of eusociality:
1. Cooperative brood care: individuals of the same species cooperate in caring for the young
2. Reproductive division of labor: more or less sterile individuals work on behalf of fecund individuals
3. Overlap between generations: offspring assist parents during some period of their life

Question 34

Coefficient of relatedness

Answer 34

The probability that an allele present in one individual will be present in the other as a result of shared ancestry

Question 35

Social norms

Answer 35

Social norms are cultural products, which represent individuals’ basic knowledge of what others do and think that they should do

Question 36

Definition of play

Answer 36

1) incompletely functional in the context in which it appears

2) spontaneous, pleasurable, rewarding or voluntary

3) differs from others more serious behaviors in form or timing (occurring early in life before more serious version is needed)

4) is repeated, but not in abnormal and unvarying stereotypic form (rocking or pacing)

5) is initiated in the absence of severe stress

Question 37

Personalities

Answer 37

Consistent behavioral differences among individuals

Sometimes referred to as “coping styles”, “behavioral syndromes”, “temperaments”

Personality differences as consistent long-term phenotypic behavioral differences among individuals