responses - pros/cons of behaviours

Question 1

Advantages of biological clock (3)

Answer 1

1. Anticipate events and prepare for them
   - eat lots to store fat/fuel for migration
   - anticipate time of activity → don’t need expend energy to come out to check light levels + more time to forage for food
2. Synchronise activities with favourable conditions/seasons
   - mate in autumn → babies born in spring → warm, longer days so more time for feeding
   - plants flower in spring → synchronise activity with pollinators and warmth
   - leaves fall in autumn → avoid leaf damage from winter frost
3. Synchronise social activities with species (eg. migration, breeding, baby raising)

Question 2

What are the advantages of homing? (3)

Answer 2

1. Acquiring food - store food in known places, food supply
2. Avoiding predators - know the best hiding places in your home
3. Maximising energy efficiency - familiarisation of area reduces energy required to learn a new place

Question 3

Advantages of migration (4)

Answer 3

Move to more favourable conditions (usually summer - warmer, longer day length, avoid cold temps/extremes

1. Warmer → less energy to maintain body temp → faster growth
2. Food more readily available in summer
3. Greater genetic mixing - indivs from different popns meet at breeding grounds → increase genetic diversity
4. Reduces predation and parasites → when animals migrate, less food supply for predators and less hosts for parasites

Question 4

Disadvantages of migration (3)

Answer 4

1. Risk of getting lost, blown off course during a storm, or eaten by predators on the way
2. Use up too much energy during migration → die before reaching destination or too exhausted to complete the breeding process
3. Quality of location changed (eg. not as much food anymore)

Question 5

What are the advantages of photoperiodism? (3)

Answer 5

1. Synchronise activities with species
   - flowering at the same time → increase cross-pollination → greater genetic variation
2. Activities happen at a certain time of the year to maximise the resources available
   - flowering when pollinators are available
   - germination when conditions are suitable
   - deciduous trees drop leaves in autumn to prevent excessive water loss in winter
3. Compare the length of dark periods over several days
   - shortening nights indicate summer
   - allows plants to determine the time of the year and prepare for these conditions