Test One

Question 0

What are some reasons that male lions would participate in infanticide?

Answer 0

1) The males think the newborn cubs smell weird so they are activated to destroy them.
2) The males kill newborns to bring the female into another reproductive condition more quickly. Killing another males cubs gives that lion the opportunity to mate and become more powerful in the pride.

Question 1

What are Tinbergen’s 4 questions, and why are they used?

Answer 1

They are used to answer “why” questions in biology.

1) In terms of survival and value
2) In terms of causation
3) In terms of development
4) In terms of evolutionary history

Question 2

What are the ways in which natural selection can affect phenotypic mean and phenotypic variance?

Answer 2

1) Directional – Increase/decrease mean. Decrease variance.
2) Stabilizing – Decrease variance.
3) Disruptive – Increase variance.

Question 3

Name 2 observations of lion prides.

Answer 3

1) Synchrony of female Oestrus.

2) Male lions kill young cubs shortly after being born.

Question 4

Name 2 causal explanations for the 2 observations of lion prides listed.

Answer 4

1) Chemical cues/Male takeover

2) Males smell unusual odor of newborns activating a sense to destroy them.

Question 5

Name 2 functional explanations for the 2 observations of lion prides listed.

Answer 5

1) Better cub survival
2) Initiate reproductive condition more quickly in females so males can mate with them, have cubs, and dominate the pride.

Question 6

What categories make-up the study of behavioral ecology?

Answer 6

Behavior
Ecology
Genetics
Evolution

Question 7

Absolute fitness vs. Relative fitness

Answer 7

Absolute = number of children you have (e.g. Paul = 0)
Relative = number of children you have compared to those in your population (e.g. Duggars = 19/19, Paul = 0/19)

Question 8

What are the 4 preconditions for evolution via natural selection?

Answer 8

1) Organisms must reproduce. (Reproduction)
2) Organisms must resemble their parents. (Heredity)
3) Organisms must have varying traits. (Trait variation)
4) Organisms must have varying fitness. (Fitness variation)

Question 9

More detail for preconditions of natural selection…

Answer 9

1) More offspring are produced than can possibly survive.
2) Inter-individual variation exists.
3) Inter-individual variation is heritable.
4) Inter-individual variation leads to differences among individuals in their ability to survive and reproduce.

Question 10

Group selection

Answer 10

Wynne Edwards: Selection that acts for the good of the group. Based on the competition theory. (e.g., population limiting reproduction in order to preserve resources - this is good for the group)

Question 11

Characteristic of superorganism

Answer 11

1) Live forever
2) Reproduce infinitely
3) Immune from predators

Question 12

Why can super organisms not exist?

Answer 12

Idea of constraint

• • Colloquially: For ever advantage there is a disadvantage (e.g., college students)
• • Evolutionary: Morphological, Physiological, Energetic

Question 13

Example of evolutionary constraint

Answer 13

Great tits
As number of brood increases, the average weight of each young decreases. This is because parents cannot feed all offspring efficiently due to constraint on energy and resources.

Question 14

Origins of animal behavior

Answer 14

26,000 - 27,000 ybp

Evidence of humans concerned with animal behavior in cave paintings in Spain.

Question 15

Typological Thinking

Answer 15

Origin of species came about through creative act.
Idea that there is a prototype of every species, and other species are just variations of the prototype.
e.g., cat: prototype of cat and all variations of that cat are just variations of the prototype.

Question 16

Who invented binomial nomenclature?

Answer 16

Linneaus 1758

Question 17

3 preconditions for TENS deal with variation; name them.

Answer 17

1) Variation in traits
2) Variation is heritable
3) Variation leads to differential survival and reproduction

Question 18

Variation and Darwinian Logic

Answer 18

Species are related and have evolutionary histories that they share with other organisms too.
Use comparative method.

Question 19

4 Forces of Evolutionary change

Answer 19

1) Mutation
2) Migration
3) Genetic Drift
4) Natural Selection

Question 20

Mutation

Answer 20

Permanent random change in nucleotide sequence.

Question 21

Migration

Answer 21

2) Movement of allele frequency
Immigration - into reference population
Emigration - out of reference population

Question 22

Genetic drift

Answer 22

Random changes in allele frequency aka “accident”

e.g., earthquake, fire, flood – coin activity

Question 23

Natural selection

Answer 23

Non random alteration of allele frequency based on phenotype.

Question 24

Types of mutation: substitution

Answer 24

Substitution:
SNPs
Transitions – don’t change DNA structure (pur to pur…pyr to pyr)
Transversions – change DNA structure (pur to pyr…pyr to pur)

Question 25

Types of mutation: Addition/Deletion

Answer 25

Removing or adding a single nucleotide or larger DNA sequence. Causes a frameshift which basically takes a sequence that codes for a functional product and makes it not useful.
Frameshift causes missense and nonsense – N = 1 BP insertion, M = 1 BP deletion

Question 26

Start codon for Methionine

Answer 26

AUG

Question 27

Other types of mutation

Answer 27

Duplication

Transposable elements

Question 28

Describe mutation rates

Answer 28

Mutation rates vary widely depending on – gene of interest, the organism, and type of mutation

Question 29

Central Dogma

Answer 29

DNA is transcribed into mRNA which is then translated into an amino acid sequence that codes for a protein.

Question 30

Directional selection

Answer 30

Directional selection can increase or decrease the phenotypic mean, and decreases the phenotypic variance.

Question 31

Stabilizing selection

Answer 31

Selection that does not affect the mean but decreases phenotypic variance.

Question 32

Disruptive Selection

Answer 32

Selection that does not affect the mean but increases phenotypic variance.

Question 33

Questions to ask to determine what kind of selection is occurring.

Answer 33

1) Who is selection acting against?

2) What affect does it have on phenotypic mean and phenotypic variance?

Question 34

Fischer’s fundamental theorem of natural selection:

Answer 34

Delta Z = h squared x s
Delta Z = Change in phenotype over generations or evolutionary response to selection (Average offspring post - average offspring pre)
h squared = slope of the line, or heritability
S = strength of selection

Question 35

Heritability

Answer 35

If a trait does not have variability then it does not have heritability. Heritability gets smaller over time because variance gets smaller due to natural selection.
Heritability is just a measure of genetic variance.

Question 36

Quantitative Trait

Answer 36

Many genes contribute to one quantitative trait

Question 37

Why is the genetic code so redundant?

Answer 37

It allows for variation and mutation to occur without completely altering the phenotype.

Question 38

Intrasexual

Answer 38

Males competing with males for females (elephant seal)

Question 39

Intersexual

Answer 39

Females choosing the males with the best display.

Question 40

Sexual selection

Answer 40

Selection for traits that are only concerned with increasing mating success.
Acts on individual and is imposed by the environment.
Biotic: Interaction with environment (e.g. temperature)
Abiotic: Interaction with other individuals (e.g. predator prey interaction)
Darwin 1871 “Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex.”

Question 41

Kin Selection

Answer 41

Selection on your relatives.
“Fitness from inclusive fitness” – this idea that we benefit from familial survival because they remain able to pass on our genes.
Can be a source of altruistic behavior in animals.

Question 42

Ethology

Answer 42

The study of evolution and functional significance of behavior. (by Sinvero)

Question 43

Ethology includes topics like…

Answer 43

Sign stimuli (european cuckoo; SS & fixed action patten; spot in roof of mouth & regurgitation; yawing)
instinct
imprinting (humans imprinting on goslings)
ehtograps

Question 44

Comparative Psychology

Answer 44

BF Skinner and operant condition
Focuses on role of environment
Melding of ethology and psychology

Question 45

Controversy in Ethology

Answer 45

nature vs. nurture

Question 46

Behavioral ecology

Answer 46

recognizes genetic an environmental effects

Question 47

Sociobiology

Answer 47

E.O. Wilson - recognizing the social component of behavior

Question 48

Comparative methods

Answer 48

Incorporate phylogenetic info into animal behavior studies

Question 49

Sexual swellings in chimps

Answer 49

More likely to be found in a group that has lots of males.

Question 50

What are the steps of the scientific method and who developed it?

Answer 50

Karl Popper

1) Observation
2) Question generation
3) Hypothesis formation
4) Experimental design
5) Experimental implementation
6) Data analysis
7) Conclusions

Question 51

What is a paradigm shift and who developed it?

Answer 51

Thomas Kuhn developed it in 1962. Termed a flash of insight a paradigm shift. It is another way of developing new information. Sometimes outsiders can come in and see an idea in a new way enlightening the rest of us. e.g. Einstein.

Question 52

Multivariate evolution: negative and positive correlations

Answer 52

negative correlations can cancel each other out and slow down the process of evolution.
Positive correlations can directionally speed up the process of evolution.

Question 53

The direction and rate of evolution is determined by:

Answer 53

1) The underlying genetic architecture of the traits under selection.
2) The shape of the adaptive landscape.

Question 54

Adaptive landscape

Answer 54

A model used to visualize the relationship between genotype/phenotype/or allele frequency and reproductive success.
Set of all genotypes/phenotypes/or allele frequencies, their similarity, and related fitness.

Question 55

How is fitness measured in an adaptive landscape?

Answer 55

Fitness is the height of the landscape, always.

Question 56

What is the relationship of genotypes/phenotypes/or allele frequencies in an adaptive landscape?

Answer 56

More similar ones are closer on the landscape and more different ones are further apart on the landscape.

Question 57

Human application of an adaptive landscape

Answer 57

Delivery truck has many addresses to deliver to and therefore many routes he can take to deliver them all; however only a couple of routes will give him the shortest driving route.

Question 58

What are three ways that you can evaluate hypotheses?

Answer 58

1) by comparing between individuals
2) by comparing among individuals
3) experimentation

Question 59

Experimentation

Answer 59

Can give you actual causation unlike most comparative methods. e.g., Whelks and Crows

Question 60

Limitations of the comparative method

Answer 60

1) Doesn’t pay enough attention to alternative hypotheses.
2) Causation does not equal correlation. (spandrel)
3) Doesn’t consider non-adaptive traits or alternative adaptive peaks.
(not all traits can be explained by adaptation)
4) Often ecological variables are not adequately quantified.
5) Phylogenetically related species are not statistically independent

Question 61

Clutton-Brock Harvey

Answer 61

Advocated comparative methods and improved upon comparative method limitations. Now almost all comparative studies will provide qualitative data.

Question 62

Presocial vs. artricial

Answer 62

independent of parents early vs. dependent on parents for awhile

Question 63

Comparative method

Answer 63

“Correlating species differences in behavior and ecology”
e.g. breeding behavior in gulls
Ground nester vs. cliff nester.
Many ecological and behavioral differences like
– where they poop, predation rate, and nest construction.