Week 1

Question 1

What is behavioural ecology?

Answer 1

the study of the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behaviour and the roles of behaviour in enabling an animal to adapt to its environment

Question 2

Darwins theory of evolution:

there is inherited _____ among organisms.

there is _____ between organisms for survival

______ leads to the accumulation of favoured variants, which over a long period produce new life forms, the ______ __ _____

Answer 2

variation

competition
selection
origin of new species

Question 3

What is natural selection?

Answer 3

the process whereby certain genetically inherited characteristics increase the chances of their carriers surviving and reproducing in a particular environment. These individuals will pass on their beneficial charactersitics to the next generation. The process of natural selection determines which charactersics of the animal confer greater fitness

Question 4

what is fitness?

Answer 4

a measure of the ability of genetic material to perpetuate itself in the course of evolution. It is dependent on the individuals ability to survive, the rate of reproduction and the viability of offspring

Question 5

Individuals that produce higher numbers of ____ _____ are said to have greater individual fitness

Answer 5

viable offspring

Question 6

the fitness of an individual depends on what 4 factors?

Answer 6

ability to survive to reproductive age
its success in mating
the fecundity of the mated pair
probability of survival to reproductive age of the resulting offspring

Question 7

what are the 5 types of selection that are considered in behavioural ecology?

Answer 7

natural selection
kin selection
sexual selection
runaway selection
group selection

Question 8

what is natural selection?

Answer 8

(direct selection)
the process that produces evolutionary change when individuals differ inheritable traits that are correlated with differences in their individual reproductive success

Question 9

what is kin selection?

Answer 9

a form of natural selection that occurs when individuals differ in ways that affect their parental care or helping behaviour, and thus the survival of thier own offspring or of non-descendant kin

Question 10

what is sexual selection?

Answer 10

a form of natural selection that occurs when individuals differ in their ability to compete with others for mates or to attract members of the opposite sex

Question 11

what is runaway selection?

Answer 11

a form of sexual selection that occurs when female mating preferences for certain male attributes create a positive feedback loop favouring both males with these attributes and females that prefer them

Question 12

what is group selection?

Answer 12

selection that occurs when groups differ in their collective attributes and those differences affect the survival chances of those groups

Question 13

what is imprinting?

Answer 13

it is a form of associative early learning, involved in social development

Question 14

What can fixed action patterns lead to?

Answer 14

the evolution of ritualised displays, and formed part of the comparitive approach to the study of behaviour by ethologists

Question 15

example of fixed action pattern

Answer 15

courtship in great-crested grebes, males and females face each other, dive and return to the surface several times with water plants in their bills

Question 16

what are supernormal stimuli?

Answer 16

refer to artificial stimuli that are more effective than the real thing in eliciting a behavioural response

Question 17

example of a supernormal stimulus

Answer 17

herring gull chicks peck at a red spot on their parents bull to induce their parents to regurgitate food. Chicks will also peck at a model consisting of a red spot against a yellow background. However, it is possible to construct a model that is even more effective than a real head by using a red pencil with three white bars at the end.

Question 18

what is a functional approach to asking questions in behavioural ecology?

Answer 18

how do features (mechanisms, behaviours) contribute to an organisms survival and fitness (reproductive success)

Question 19

what are Tinbergens 4 questions?

Answer 19

Proximate factors:
    causation (physiological mechanisms)
    development (ontogeny)
Ultimate factors:
     function (adaptive value)
     history (evolution)

Question 20

Example of tinbergens 4 questions to address a question?

Answer 20

Why do male nightingales sing in spring?
Function (adaptation) - ultimate
Mechanism (Causation) - proximate
development (ontogeny) - proximate
evolution (history) - ultimate

Question 21

why do male nightingales sing in spring? To: function (adaptation) ultimate (6)

Answer 21

attract a mate
defend a territory
advertise return from migration
demonstrate health
maintain social bonds
get rid of excess energy

Question 22

Why do male nightingales sing in spring? As a: mechanism (causation) proximate (4)

Answer 22

response to increase in hormone levels
response to increased day length
because theyre “happy”
because they have enough energy in spring

Question 23

Why do male nightingales sing in spring? because: development (ontogeny) proximate (4)

Answer 23

because they heard their fathers sing in spring
they’re copying what other birds around them are doing
because their vocal apparatus has developed fully
its encoded in their genes

Question 24

Why do male nightingales sing in spring? because: evolution (history) ultimate (3)

Answer 24

because their ancestors that sang in spring attracted more females
they inherited the behaviour from their fathers
its just an evolutionary carryover

Question 25

individuals are always in _____ with others for limited resources, including food, territories, and mates

Answer 25

competition

Question 26

_____ will occur between predators and prey, between rivals for mates, between siblings, mates, and even between parents and their offspring. ____ happens as well.

Answer 26

conflict

co-operation

Question 27

Much of behavioural ecology is concerned with the effects of natural selection on ??? and the consequent ???

Answer 27

conflict
cooperation
competition

behavioural responses and decision making processes

Question 28

Example of function - an adaptation for survival

Answer 28

vigilance in socially foraging animals such as elk may serve to

monitor the behaviour of conspecifics (reduce conspecific risk and/or increase reprodcutive benefits)

detect predators (reduce predation risk)

these potential benefits and costs of vigilance may not be equal among different genders and age classes foraging together

Question 29

Study evidence for function - an adaptation for survival

Answer 29

Lung and Childress 2007

Question 30

Ontogeny of behaviour can be ___ and exhibit ___

Answer 30

complex

plasticity

Question 31

Evolution - phylogeny of behaviour, comparatieve methods need to take into account phylogeny why?

Answer 31

these test for correlated evolutionary changes in 2 or more traits

determine whether a trait contains a phylogenetic signal (the tendency for related species to resemble each other)

Question 32

Example of a study with phylogeny of behaviour

Answer 32

Sexual swelling in primates. When females are coming into oestrous they develop a bright colouration around the genitals. Common around some primates but not in all of them. So what is the function of it? And why did it evolve?
The evolutionary history shows you the phylogeny of old world monkeys. Map on whether or not there is the exaggerated swellings, and what the social system is in the particular species. Filled in purple = bright swellings. Filled in purple row 2 = multi male social system – where there are lots of males competing to mate with a female.
By advertising when they are fertile, the female is signalling to the dominant male, I am ready to conceive, but there are also other subordinate males around that can potentially kill the offspring if they are not their own. In order to confuse parentage and paternity, the female chimps make themselves attractive around a period of time, and so the dominant male gets to mate as do the other subordinate males, and so there is confusion with the paternity and so the males are less likely to kill the offspring.
It is believed that this is the main reason for exaggerated swellings – confusing parentage.
Evolved 3 times separately – convergent evolution.
Also note that the trait has been lost in some areas of the phylogeny. Lost in macaques as it is no longer an adaptive trait.
Nearly always where you have exaggerated swellings there is the multi male mating system.

Question 33

There is growing evidence that the neuropeptides ___ and ____ modulate complex social behaviour and social cognition

Answer 33

oxytocin

vasopressin

Question 34

Both oxytocin and vasopressin show a conserved role in modulating social behaviour in general, the specific behaviours they influence show extensive variation among _____

Answer 34

different species

Question 35

Vassopressin administration stimulates behaviours associated with ____

Answer 35

monogamy

Question 36

Lim et al 2004 gave evidence that vassopressin modulates social behaviour how?

Answer 36

Prarie voles - monogamous
Meadow voles - polygamous

when V1A receptor levels are artificially increased within the VP of meadow voles using adeno associated viral rector gene transfer they display social beaviour that is reminiscent of monogamous prarie voles.

this is supported with brain scans showing similar display patterns between meadow voles and injected prarie voles.

Question 37

Goodson and bass 2001 provided evidence that vasopressin show extensive variation in the behaviours they affect in different species how?

Answer 37

In birds vasopressin homolog, vasotocin increases vocalisation and aggressive behaviours in territorial male field sparrows but has only weak effects on aggression in zebra finches.
These species specific behavioural effects are thought to be mediated in part by variation in brain receptor patterns rather than differences within the peptides