1

Question 1

what is NS?

Answer 1

process where individuals of different genotypes make a differential contribution of offspring to the next gen

Question 2

how is the genetic composition of the population changed?

Answer 2

genetically different individuals leave different numbers if offspring in future gens

Question 3

what is adaptation?

Answer 3

evolutionary change resulting from NS

Question 4

what is regarded as a unit of selection?

Answer 4

genes or interacting groups of genes/individuals

Question 5

when NS acts on genes what is produced?

Answer 5

organisms designed to maximise their inclusive fitness

Question 6

due to NS and the aim to maximise fitness what do we expect genes and individuals to be?
- what does this result in?

Answer 6

selfish rather than cooperative

- conflict as individuals maximise their own fitness at the cost of others fitness

Question 7

what did John Crook discover about the intensity of SS and pair bonding in birds? (2)
- what was predicting the social structure?

Answer 7

• in forests feeding on insects bird are more solitary with monogamous bonds
• in grasslands birds are more colonial with polygynous pair bonds
• food and predation

Question 8

what predicts social structure in primates as well as weavers

Answer 8

food distribution

Question 9

what is the adaptationist approach?

Answer 9

approach that assumes behavioural traits are a product of NS (rather than genetic drift)

Question 10

What is the comparative approach?

- what must it account for?

Answer 10

approach to understand adaptation and how traits differ across species (interspecific)
- phylogeny

Question 11

how do individuals differ in the male ruffs?

Answer 11

• dark male more successful than pale male

- satellite male is a female mimic

Question 12

how do individuals differ in the male blue gills?

Answer 12

• large M produce large nests attractive to F
• medium M mimic F
• small M release sperm at the same time as large M during spawning

Question 13

what is individual variation also known as?

Answer 13

intraspecific variation

Question 14

give 3 examples of unusual behaviour as individual variation/intraspecific trait variation?

Answer 14

infanticide
male pregnancy
sexual cannibalism

Question 15

in what species do males engage in sexual cannibalism and why?

Answer 15

redback spider- F eat males that offer themselves as a gift

Question 16

in redback spiders what is the chance of the F rejecting the second male:

• if 1st M cannibalised
• if 1st M NOT cannibalised

Answer 16

• 67%

- 4%

Question 17

what happens if the 2nd redback spider male mates for longer?
- what % available paternity + how long do the males mate for if cannibalised vs not cannibalised

Answer 17

more offspring gained

• NOT cannibalised: 11s mate + 45% paternity
• cannibalised: 25s + 95% paternity

Question 18

are long term studies of marked individuals useful?

Answer 18

valuable but have drawbacks such as if long lived so need long timescales

Question 19

what is the alternative to observations in the field/lab?

Answer 19

experimental studies in field/lab

Question 20

give an example of an experimental study

Answer 20

long tailed widowbird tail length manipulation

• andersson 1982
• 1 group tail elongated
• 1 shortened
• 1 left alone
• 1 cut + restuck
• more mates with longer tail

Question 21

what does the adaptationist approach:

• include
• used to understand
• evolves in the context of..

Answer 21

includes evolutionary theory to understand animal behaviour patterns which evolves in the context of the ecology of the organism

Question 22

what can help determine a behaviours adaptive significance + evolutionary value?

Answer 22

weighing up costs and benefits

Question 23

what is group selection vulnerable to?

Answer 23

selfish behaviour by individuals

Question 24

sexual reproduction involves coop but what also is there?

Answer 24

sexual conflict

Question 25

in a reproductive cooperative system where is there conflict (5)?

Answer 25

• M-M
• F-F
• F-M sexual conflict
• parent-offspring conflict (share of investment in broods)
• sibling conflict (over share of investment)

Question 26

what is cooperation?

Answer 26

behaviour that benefits another individual and has been selected for due to beneficial effects on recipient

Question 27

cooperation can be ubiquitous- what does this mean?

Answer 27

occurs at every biological organisation level

Question 28

list 3 examples of coop

Answer 28

• queen termites: workers forage
• moorhens take turns incubating offspring
• shrimps clean gill rays of fish

Question 29

what is the public goods game + who?

Answer 29

Rankin 2007

• some are cooperators contributing to public good
• if benefits of public good shared equally, free riders still benefit without contribution
• tragedy of the commons: public goods competed for in a social system

Question 30

what are the 2 components of cooperative investment in public goods?
- BUT what does it cause + why?

Answer 30

• benefits shared
• costs borne equally
• BUT causes social dilemma as selfishness replaces coop

Question 31

what is the tragedy of the commons? (4)

Answer 31

• public good/shared benefits competed for in social system
• temptation to cheat/defect/ non cooperate
• conflict over optimal investment as benefits shared + costs individual
• groups with coops outcompete non coops but non coops do better in groups

Question 32

what does coop behaviour show about tragedy and what must there be?

Answer 32

not inevitable

- need mechanisms to resolve conflict between selfish interests

Question 33

what are 5 solutions (+ define) to tragedy of the commons + conflict between selfish interests?

Answer 33

• group selection (differential extinction/proliferation of groups)
• kin selection (select beneficial traits on relatives fitness)
• reciprocity (help reciprocated later)
• mutualism (2 or more coop as gain net fitness benefit)
• manipulation (one is tricked into being altruistic to another)

Question 34

is cooperation between kin?

Answer 34

yes + non kin