Test 4 Flashcards
What type of signal is long-lasting and works at night?
olfactory
What type of signal is brief and can work among obstructions at night?
auditory
What type of signal is fast and requires daylight with no obstructions?
visual
circannual rhythms in birds are influenced by_________.
periods of daylight and darkness
Upon returning to its hive, a European honeybee communicates to other worker bees the presence of a nearby food source it has discovered by__________.
performing a round dance
Displays of nocturnal mammals are usually______.
olfactory and auditory
A lizard’s bobbing dewlap (a colorful flap of skin hanging from an Anolis lizard’s throat) is an example of a(n)__________.
signal
What was the main reason the honeybees switched from the “round dance” to the “waggle dance”?
the preferred food source was farther away
The proximate causes of behavior are interactions with the environment, but behavior is ultimately shaped by _____.
evolution
Which of the following is required for a behavioral trait to evolve by natural selection?
an individual’s reproductive success depends in part on how the behavior is performed
Through trial and error, a rat learns to run a maze without mistakes to receive a food reward. Whats the behavior type?
operant conditioning
A human baby performs a sucking behavior perfectly when it is put in the presence of the nipple of its mother’s breast. Whats the behavior type?
innate behavior
A mother goat can recognize its own kid by smell. Whats the behavior type?
Imprinting
Every morning at the same time, John went into the den to feed his new tropical fish. After a few weeks, he noticed that the fish swam to the top of the tank when he entered the room. This is an example of _____.
classical conditioning
Some dogs love attention, and Frodo the beagle learns that if he barks, he gets attention. Which of the following might you use to describe this behavior?
the dog’s behavior is a result of operant conditioning
Which of the following is true of innate behaviors? Innate behaviors _____.
are expressed in most individuals in a population
Learning has the most influence on behavior when_________.
making mistakes does not result in death
You discover a rare new bird species, but you are unable to observe its mating behavior. You see that the male is large and ornamental compared with the female. On this basis, you can probably conclude that the species is _____.
polygamous
Female spotted sandpipers aggressively court males and, after mating and egg laying, leave the clutch of young for the male to incubate. This sequence may be repeated several times with different males until no available males remain, forcing the female to incubate her last clutch. Which of the following terms best describes this behavior?
polyandry
feeding behavior with a high energy intake-to-expenditure ration is called___________.
optimal foraging
Which of the following is most likely associated with the evolution of mating systems?
sexual dimorphism
Females are typically larger and more ornamented than males where_____ occurs.
polyandry
Which of the following statements is true about certainty of paternity?
paternal behavior exists because it has been reinforced over generations by natural selection
Which of the following best describes “game theory” as it applies to animal behavior?
the fitness of a particular behavior is influenced by other behavioral phenotypes in a population
Upon observing a golden eagle flying overhead, a sentry prairie dog gives a warning call to other foraging member of the prairie dog community. What is this animal behavior?
altruistic behavior
Which of the following statements about evolution of behavior is correct?
natural selection will favor behavior that enhances survival and reproduction
How do altruistic behaviors arise through natural selection?
by his/her actions, the altruist increases the likelihood that some of its genes will be passed on to the next generation
animals that help other animals of the same species___________.
are usually related to the other animals helped
How would you classify the genetic basis for most behavioral traits in the animal kingdom?
many genes typically code for one behavior
Which level of ecological study focuses the most on abiotic factors?
ecosystem ecology
What would happen to the seasons if the Earth were tilted 35 degrees off its orbital plane instead of the usual 23.5 degrees?
winters and summers would be more severe
Which of the following choices includes all of the others in creating global terrestrial climates?
differential heating of Earth’s surface
Why is the climate drier on the leeward (downwind) side of mountain ranges that are subjected to prevailing winds?
pushed by the prevailing winds on the windward side, air is forced to rise, cool, condense, and drop its precipitation, leaving drier air to descend the leeward side.
Which of the following events might you predict to occur if the tilt of Earth’s axis relative to its plane of orbit was increased to 33.5 degrees?
summers and winters in the United States would likely become warmer and colder, respectively.
The main reason polar regions are cooler than the equator is that____.
sunlight strikes the poles at a lower angle
The success of plants extending their range northward following glacial retreat is best determined by_____.
their speed dispersal rate
Air masses formed over the Pacific Ocean are moved by prevailing westerlies where they encounter extensive north-south mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades. Which statement best describes the outcome of this encounter between a landform and an air mass?
The warm, moist Pacific air rises and cools, releasing precipitation as it moves up the windward side of the range. This cool, now dry air mass heats up as it descends on the leeward side of the range.
Coral reefs can be found on the southeast coast of the United States but not at similar latitudes on the southwest coast. Differences in which of the following most likely account for this?
ocean currents
Generally speaking, deserts are located in places where air masses are usually_____.
descending
When climbing a mountain, we can observe transitions in biological communities that are analogous to the changes_______.
in biomes at different latitudes
If the direction of Earth’s rotation reversed, the most predictable effect would be_______.
winds blowing from west to east along the equator
Besides sunlight, which would be the next most important climatic factors for terrestrial plants?
temperature and moisture
Which statement describes how climate might change if Earth was 75 percent land and 25 percent water?
Earth’s daytime temperatures would be higher and nighttime temperature lower
If global warming continues at its present rate, which biomes will likely take the place of the coniferous forest(tiga)?
temperate broadleaf forest and grassland
fire suppression by humans_____.
can change the species composition within biological communities
Two plant species live in the same biome but on different continents. Although the two species are not at all closely related, they may appear quite similar as a result of _____.
convergent evolution
in deep water, which of the following abiotic factors would most limit productivity?
light availability
Wetlands are standing bodies of freshwater, just like lakes and ponds. However, wetlands are different from lakes and ponds because wetlands have______.
shallow water and emergent vegetation
Which of the following statements regarding turnover in a lake is correct?
in fall turnover, dense water at 4 degrees celcius sinks and disturbs sediments in the benthic zone.
Which of the following types of organisms is likely to have the widest geographic distribution?
bacteria
Turnover of water in temperate lakes during the spring and fall is made possible by which of the following?
the changes in the density of water as seasonal temperatures change
Imagine that a deep temperate zone lake did not turn over during the spring and fall seasons. Based on the physical and biological properties of limnetic ecosystems, what would be the difference from normal seasonal turnover?
lakes would suffer a nutrient depletion in surface layers
If you are interested in observing a relatively simple community structure in a clear water lake, you would do well to choose diving into_____.
an oligotrophic lake
Which of the following is responsible for the differences in summer and winter temperature stratification of deep temperate zone lakes?
water is densest at 4 degrees celcius
Which of the following statements best describes the effect of climate on biome distribution?
the average climate and pattern of climate are important in determining biome distribution
in the development of terrestrial biomes, which factor is most dependent on all the others?
the species of colonizing animals
Which of the following is the most important assumption for the mark-recapture method to estimate the size of wildlife populations?
marked individuals have the same probability of being recaptured as unmarked individuals during the recapture phase
Uniform spacing patterns in plants such as the creosote bush are most often associated with _____.
competitive interaction between individuals of the same population
During exponential growth, a population always _____.
grows at its maximum per capita rate