weeks 7-8 Flashcards
How do flowers communicate with bees for pollination?
Flowers use color, including UV patterns, and odor to attract bees, using sight and smell to signal the availability of nectar.
What is an example of conditional reciprocity in animals?
Food sharing in vampire bats, where individuals share food with those who have shared with them in the past.
Why is communication important for wolves during a cooperative hunt?
Wolves must coordinate their actions to effectively attack their prey, requiring communication to signal roles and timing.
Q: What is a signal in animal communication?
A: A signal is a behavior or attribute, such as morphology or color, that causes a change in another animal’s behavior.
Q: What are the six types of communication signals in animals?
A: Visual, auditory, chemical, tactile, vibrational, and electrical signals.
Q: How does the environment affect communication signals?
A: Signals must match the environment to ensure they are transmissible; for instance, visual signals are most effective in daylight for diurnal species.
Q: What are Tinbergen’s four questions for studying animal behavior?
A: Mechanistic, Ontogenetic, Functional, and Phylogenetic, which explore the how and why of a behavior.
Q: How does sensory bias play a role in the evolution of Tungara frog calls?
A: Females have an ancestral preference for certain frequencies, which male Tungara frogs exploit by adding “chucks” to their calls.
Q: What is the difference between cooperative and competitive communication signals?
A: Cooperative signals are often subtle to encourage response, while competitive signals are loud and exaggerated to ensure visibility and honesty.
Q: How do birds modulate their alarm calls based on predator type?
A: Birds use loud calls for mobbing predators (localizable) and soft, subtle calls for warning about aerial predators (minimizing localization).
Q: What role does signal attenuation play in communication?
A: Signals are optimized for transmission in typical environments, like bark beetles whose sounds are designed to travel specific distances within tree bark.
Q: What is the significance of the example of bark beetle stridulations in communication?
A: It shows how signal design (sound frequency and intensity) is adapted to environmental constraints, such as tree bark density.
Q: How do signal features, like frequency and amplitude, affect their transmission in nature?
A: Signals with certain frequencies are less likely to attenuate, allowing for longer-distance communication, especially in open environments.
Q: What is an example of how animals use multiple modalities in communication?
A: A lecturer using both visual and auditory channels; similarly, animals might combine chemical and tactile signals.
Q: How can attentional distractors impact signal perception in animals?
A: Distractors can cause animals to miss signals, even if they can perceive small frequency differences, emphasizing the need for clear signals in noisy environments.
Q: What is honest communication in animal signaling?
A: Honest communication occurs when the characteristics of a signal consistently correlate with the signaler’s state or environment, providing reliable information for the receiver.
Q: Why is the jumping spider an example of honest communication?
A: Male jumping spiders use a combination of visual, chemical, and vibratory signals that are honest indicators of fitness, increasing their chances of mating.
Q: What is the Handicap Principle?
A: Zahavi’s Handicap Principle suggests that signals are honest if they are costly to produce and maintain, making it harder for weaker individuals to fake them.
Q: How does the Handicap Principle explain the peacock’s tail?
A: The peacock’s long, colorful tail is costly to produce and maintain, so males that survive with it are likely strong, making them attractive to females seeking ‘good genes’ for offspring.
Q: What is the “dear enemy effect”?
A: The dear enemy effect is when animals recognize and tolerate familiar neighbors but respond aggressively to unfamiliar individuals, conserving energy.
Q: How do animals benefit from communication networks?
A: In communication networks, multiple individuals can access signals, gaining information even if the signal wasn’t directed at them, like eavesdropping.
Q: What are audience effects in animal communication?
A: Audience effects occur when an animal changes its signaling behavior based on the presence of observers, like a Siamese fighting fish displaying more aggressively when a female is watching.
Q: How do Siamese fighting fish respond to audience effects?
A: Male Siamese fighting fish reduce biting frequency and use other displays when females are present, tailoring their behavior to the audience.
Q: What is an example of dishonest signaling in the presence of an audience?
A: Male chickens make more food calls when females are around, sometimes misleadingly, as a tactic to attract the female.
Q: How do cleaner fish change their behavior based on audience presence?
A: Cleaner fish bite their clients less when other fish are watching, as they are aware that future clients might avoid them if they are seen biting.
Q: What is referential signaling in vervet monkeys?
A: Vervet monkeys use specific calls for different predators (e.g., leopard, eagle), with each call prompting an appropriate escape response, like running to trees for a leopard call.
Q: What does the study of dogs understanding human words suggest about referential signaling?
A: Dogs show brain activity indicating confusion when a word doesn’t match the expected object, suggesting they may understand referential signals similar to words.
Q: How do animals use mental maps in communication?
A: Animals, like saddleback birds, track neighbor locations and respond aggressively to unfamiliar calls from known locations, indicating territorial awareness.
Q: What role does eavesdropping play in communication networks?
A: Eavesdropping allows animals to gather information from signals intended for others, potentially giving them an advantage without direct interaction.
Q: How is signal reliability maintained in communication systems?
A: Signals are kept reliable by associated costs, deterring cheating, as cheating would reduce the signal’s effectiveness and lead to it being ignored.
Q: How do African widowbirds use honest visual signals?
A: Male African widowbirds have long tails, an honest indicator of strength and fitness, as only strong males can survive with this costly trait.
Q: How does the concept of “active space” apply to animal communication?
A: Active space refers to the area around an animal within which its signal can be perceived, varying by signal type (e.g., tactile close, auditory farther).
Q: What is an example of metacognition in animal communication?
A: Siamese fighting fish may use metacognition by adjusting behavior based on how they think other fish perceive them, especially when a female audience is present.
