Social Relations

Question 1

Behavioral Ecology

Answer 1

concentrates on the relationships between organisms and their environment that are mediated by their behavior

Question 2

Sociobiology

Answer 2

a branch in biology concerned with social relations, like dominance relationships, cooperative relationships, reproductive relations, etc.

Question 3

hermaphrodites

Answer 3

organisms that have both male and female reproductive organs in one individuals

Question 4

Describe sexual selection

Answer 4

is the difference in reproductive rates among individuals as a result of diffrence in sexual selection

Question 5

intrasexual relations

Answer 5

individuals of one sex compete among themselves for mates, dominance, or mating territories.

Question 6

intersexual relations

Answer 6

members of one sex consistently choosing mates from among themselves on the basis of a particular trait, like bright feathers, or better singing

Question 7

explain how social relations can affect fitness

Answer 7

Fitness, which is the number of offsprings or genes contributed by an individual to future generations, can be substantially influenced by social relations

Question 8

kin selection

Answer 8

the allele favored by natural selection and increase in frequency in the population.

Question 9

How can it be advantageous for an individual to live amongst many other (often unrelated) individuals of the same species?

Answer 9

1) Increased individual % survivorship due to group detection, repulsion, or confusion of predators, or high numbers simply lead to higher individual % survivorship.
2) Increased individual foraging efficiency.
3) Improved defense of limited resources.
4) Increased individual mating chances through group capture/monopolization of females.
5) Improved care for your offspring, including communal feeding
6) Inheriting (limited) breeding opportunities/territories after death of dominant individuals (male lions, below, and bee-eaters)
7) Advantages to allele to help relatives (kin selection)

Question 10

How can it be disadvantageous for an individual to live amongst many other (often unrelated) individuals of the same species?

Answer 10

1) Greater competition with others for limited resources (like food)
2) Individual with an increased risk of getting diseases in groups
3) Individual is exploited in caring for others’ offspring
4) Others in the group kill your offspring

Question 11

Comparative methods

Answer 11

involves comparisons of the characteristics of different species or populations in a way that attempts to isolate a particular variable or characteristic of interest, such a sociality.

Question 12

Caste

Answer 12

is a group of physically distinctive individuals that engage in specialized behavior within a colony

Question 13

Eusociality

Answer 13

Highly specialized sociality generally including 1) individuals of one or more than one generation living together 2) cooperative care of young 3) division of individuals into sterile, or non-reproductive, and reproductive castes

Question 14

Haplodiploidy

Answer 14

the number of chromosome sets possessed by males and females. In haplodiploid systems, males develop from unfertilized eggs and are haploid, whereas females develop from fertilized eggs and are diploid.

Question 15

the effect of female mate choice on evolution ornamentation in males can be _______ by other sources of natural selction

Answer 15

reduced

Question 16

the effect of female mate choice on evolution ornamentation in males can be _______ by other sources of natural selection

Answer 16

reduced