Unit 8: Topic 1 - Responses to the Environment Flashcards
How do organisms respond to changes in their environment?
Organisms can respond to changes in their environment through an internal (physiological) response or through changing their behavior. Some behavioral mechanisms include migration and temperature regulation, and some examples of physiological mechanisms are hibernation/estivation, circadian rhythm change, phototropism, and photoperiodism. Two types of behavioral responses are kinesis and taxis. Kinesis and taxis are movements away from a stimulus in the environment, with kinesis being an undirected movement and taxis being a directed movement. An example of taxis is phototaxis, which is the movement of an organism towards the light, while an example of kinesis is woodlice randomly moving faster in hot temperatures.
What is communication between organisms?
In response to changes in the environment or internal changes, organisms can exchange information with each other through different types of cues, which results in changes in behavior.
What are the 5 main types of signals animals use to communicate, and what impacts can this communication have on the population?
The 5 main types of signals animals use to communicate are visual signals (ex: fireflies glowing), audible signals (ex: whale songs), tactile signals (ex: grooming), electrical signals (ex: electroreceptive fish that can detect weak electrical fields from their prey), and chemical signals (ex: pheromones). These signals can have a big impact on reproductive success since these behaviors are often used in mating rituals. Certain animals are more likely to attract a mate depending on the signals they send to potential mates (an example of this is in peacocks, where males display their tails in a mating ritual and males with a better show will get more mates). Other uses of these signals can be to find food, mark territory, and establish dominance.
How do responses and communication affect natural selection and evolution?
An organism’s response to communication from other organisms is important in natural selection because whether an organism cooperates with a signal can impact how likely that organism is to survive and reproduce. Generally, behaviors that are cooperative with the cues received increase fitness.
