Test One Flashcards
What are some reasons that male lions would participate in infanticide?
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.
What are Tinbergen’s 4 questions, and why are they used?
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
What are the ways in which natural selection can affect phenotypic mean and phenotypic variance?
1) Directional – Increase/decrease mean. Decrease variance.
2) Stabilizing – Decrease variance.
3) Disruptive – Increase variance.
Name 2 observations of lion prides.
1) Synchrony of female Oestrus.
2) Male lions kill young cubs shortly after being born.
Name 2 causal explanations for the 2 observations of lion prides listed.
1) Chemical cues/Male takeover
2) Males smell unusual odor of newborns activating a sense to destroy them.
Name 2 functional explanations for the 2 observations of lion prides listed.
1) Better cub survival
2) Initiate reproductive condition more quickly in females so males can mate with them, have cubs, and dominate the pride.
What categories make-up the study of behavioral ecology?
Behavior
Ecology
Genetics
Evolution
Absolute fitness vs. Relative fitness
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)
What are the 4 preconditions for evolution via natural selection?
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)
More detail for preconditions of natural selection…
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.
Group selection
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)
Characteristic of superorganism
1) Live forever
2) Reproduce infinitely
3) Immune from predators
Why can super organisms not exist?
Idea of constraint
- Colloquially: For ever advantage there is a disadvantage (e.g., college students)
- Evolutionary: Morphological, Physiological, Energetic
Example of evolutionary constraint
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.
Origins of animal behavior
26,000 - 27,000 ybp
Evidence of humans concerned with animal behavior in cave paintings in Spain.
Typological Thinking
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.
Who invented binomial nomenclature?
Linneaus 1758
3 preconditions for TENS deal with variation; name them.
1) Variation in traits
2) Variation is heritable
3) Variation leads to differential survival and reproduction
Variation and Darwinian Logic
Species are related and have evolutionary histories that they share with other organisms too.
Use comparative method.
4 Forces of Evolutionary change
1) Mutation
2) Migration
3) Genetic Drift
4) Natural Selection
Mutation
Permanent random change in nucleotide sequence.
Migration
2) Movement of allele frequency
Immigration - into reference population
Emigration - out of reference population
Genetic drift
Random changes in allele frequency aka “accident”
e.g., earthquake, fire, flood – coin activity
Natural selection
Non random alteration of allele frequency based on phenotype.
Types of mutation: substitution
Substitution:
SNPs
Transitions – don’t change DNA structure (pur to pur…pyr to pyr)
Transversions – change DNA structure (pur to pyr…pyr to pur)
Types of mutation: Addition/Deletion
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
Start codon for Methionine
AUG
Other types of mutation
Duplication
Transposable elements
Describe mutation rates
Mutation rates vary widely depending on – gene of interest, the organism, and type of mutation
Central Dogma
DNA is transcribed into mRNA which is then translated into an amino acid sequence that codes for a protein.
Directional selection
Directional selection can increase or decrease the phenotypic mean, and decreases the phenotypic variance.
Stabilizing selection
Selection that does not affect the mean but decreases phenotypic variance.
Disruptive Selection
Selection that does not affect the mean but increases phenotypic variance.
Questions to ask to determine what kind of selection is occurring.
1) Who is selection acting against?
2) What affect does it have on phenotypic mean and phenotypic variance?
Fischer’s fundamental theorem of natural selection:
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
Heritability
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.
Quantitative Trait
Many genes contribute to one quantitative trait
Why is the genetic code so redundant?
It allows for variation and mutation to occur without completely altering the phenotype.
Intrasexual
Males competing with males for females (elephant seal)
Intersexual
Females choosing the males with the best display.
Sexual selection
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.”
Kin Selection
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.
Ethology
The study of evolution and functional significance of behavior. (by Sinvero)
Ethology includes topics like…
Sign stimuli (european cuckoo; SS & fixed action patten; spot in roof of mouth & regurgitation; yawing)
instinct
imprinting (humans imprinting on goslings)
ehtograps
Comparative Psychology
BF Skinner and operant condition
Focuses on role of environment
Melding of ethology and psychology
Controversy in Ethology
nature vs. nurture
Behavioral ecology
recognizes genetic an environmental effects
Sociobiology
E.O. Wilson - recognizing the social component of behavior
Comparative methods
Incorporate phylogenetic info into animal behavior studies
Sexual swellings in chimps
More likely to be found in a group that has lots of males.
What are the steps of the scientific method and who developed it?
Karl Popper
1) Observation
2) Question generation
3) Hypothesis formation
4) Experimental design
5) Experimental implementation
6) Data analysis
7) Conclusions
What is a paradigm shift and who developed it?
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.
Multivariate evolution: negative and positive correlations
negative correlations can cancel each other out and slow down the process of evolution.
Positive correlations can directionally speed up the process of evolution.
The direction and rate of evolution is determined by:
1) The underlying genetic architecture of the traits under selection.
2) The shape of the adaptive landscape.
Adaptive landscape
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.
How is fitness measured in an adaptive landscape?
Fitness is the height of the landscape, always.
What is the relationship of genotypes/phenotypes/or allele frequencies in an adaptive landscape?
More similar ones are closer on the landscape and more different ones are further apart on the landscape.
Human application of an adaptive landscape
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.
What are three ways that you can evaluate hypotheses?
1) by comparing between individuals
2) by comparing among individuals
3) experimentation
Experimentation
Can give you actual causation unlike most comparative methods. e.g., Whelks and Crows
Limitations of the comparative method
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
Clutton-Brock Harvey
Advocated comparative methods and improved upon comparative method limitations. Now almost all comparative studies will provide qualitative data.
Presocial vs. artricial
independent of parents early vs. dependent on parents for awhile
Comparative method
“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.
