Random vocab After Midterms Flashcards
Parthenogenesis
The production of an organism from an unfertilized egg.
Ex) whiptail lizards are an all female species
Strategy
A structured suite of morphologies, behaviors or decision rules that have arisen by natural selection
Evolutionary stable strategy (ESS)
A strategy which, when common among members in a population, cannot be invaded or replaced over evolutionary time by any rare strategy
War of attrition
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
Stable
Once the population adopts this strategy then no individual who played a different strategy could gain higher reproductive success
Resource holding potential (RHP)
A combination of characteristics such as body size, strength, weapons, etc
Resource value
Variation in aggression because the value of winning the resource differs between individuals
Sexual selection
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
Parental care
Any form of parental behavior that appears likely to increase the fitness of the parent’s offspring
Parental investment
Any form of behavior that increases the individual offsprings fitness at the cost of the parents ability to invest in future offspring
Operational sex ratio
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
Sex ratio
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
Sexual dimorphism
A difference in secondary sex characteristics between males and females in a species
Primary sexual characteristics
Sex differences directly related to reproduction and serving no direct purpose in courtship.
Genitalia, ovaries, testes
Secondary sexual characteristics
Traits amenable to sexual selection, which give an organism an advantage over its rivals (such as in courtship) without being directly involved in reproduction
Alternative mating tactics
Refers to consistent variation in the mating behavior of males or females within one population
Alternative mating tactics: bourgeois tactic
Defend and attempt to monopolize females
Alternative mating tactics: parasitic tactic
Attempt to exploit bourgeois males
Extra pair copulation (EPC)
A mating by an individual with someone other than their primary partner in a seemingly monogamous species
Runaway sexual selection
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
Sensory exploitation
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
Mating system
The number of sexual partners an individual acquired during a breeding season
Polyandry
Many males and one female
Polygyny
One male and many females
Promiscuity
Many males and females
Social monogamy
The pairing of male and female
Genetic monogamy
Happens when pairs produce and rest only their own genetic offspring
Cooperative breeding
Is a social system in which individuals help care for young that are not their own
Philopatry
The behavior of remaining, or returning to, one’s birthplace
Brood parasite
An animal that exploits the parental care of individuals other than it’s parents
Kin selection
Natural selection favoring the spread of genes that increase the indirect component of fitness.
Most instances of altruism are the result of kin-selection
Indirect fitness
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
Eusociality
“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
Coefficient of relatedness
The probability that an allele present in one individual will be present in the other as a result of shared ancestry
Social norms
Social norms are cultural products, which represent individuals’ basic knowledge of what others do and think that they should do
Definition of play
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
Personalities
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
