Social Interaction

Question 1

Anelosimus studiosus (spiders) live in populations composed of docile and aggressive behavioural phenotypes. Group-selection was site specific and altered the composition of this behavioural ratio at different locations, affecting survivorship. Perturbed colonies also adjusted their ratio in response to the environment. Who found this?

Answer 1

Pruitt and Goodnight, 2014.

Question 2

Ground squirrels: females are philopatric and males disperse. Therefore, as females have high relatedness with other group members, they display altruism and will sound alarm calls in times of danger. Newly-joined females will not do this as they have low relatedness. Who found this?

Answer 2

Sherman, 1997.

Question 3

Conditions that favour altruism in dispersal-limited populations: competition ~0 and rbxy&raquo_space; drxe (relatedness x benefit to beneficiary outweighs relatedness x cost to competitor). Who said this?

Answer 3

West et al., 2002.

Question 4

Mice live in family-based groups. Sisters prefer to nest with sisters regardless of prior familiarity. Recognise each other with odour-matching phenotype controlled by MUP locus (murine urinary protein), 24 linked genes, highly polymorphic. Who found this?

Answer 4

Green et al., 2015.

Question 5

Who found that vampire bats will reciprocate a blood meal to save starving relatives and non-related roost mates? The cost to the actor is small but the benefit to the recipient is high.

Answer 5

Wilkinson, 1984.

Question 6

Who found that relatedness had little effect on bat reciprocity, and that bats were more likely to share with those that had fed them in the past? The donor initiated feeding (voluntary) and grooming was used to strengthen social bonds.

Answer 6

Carter and Wilkinson, 2013.