chapter six: adaptations for survival

Question 1

the hereditary trait most favored by natural selection

Answer 1

adaptation

Question 2

an adaptation is the ____ option in the population

Answer 2

absolute best

Question 3

number of your genes present in the next generation

Answer 3

fitness

Question 4

predators are being selected for ____

Answer 4

their ability to catch prey

Question 5

prey are being selected for ____

Answer 5

their ability to escape predators

Question 6

different selective pressures on predators and prey lead to ___

Answer 6

co-evolution

Question 7

mice stick beetle’s butt down into the earth and eat the beetle head down because _____

Answer 7

the beetle’s anti-predator defense is to spray the predator from its butt

Question 8

evolution does not produce ____

Answer 8

adaptive perfection

Question 9

three reasons not to expect adaptive perfection

Answer 9

1. failure of a mutation to appear (can’t adapt if mutations never arise)
2. pleiotropy
3. co-evolution

Question 10

pleiotropy refers to a gene that has ____

Answer 10

multiple effects

Question 11

fitness benefits must be ____ than fitness costs for a trait to be considered adaptive

Answer 11

greater

Question 12

costs of mobbing

Answer 12

risk of predation, using up energy

Question 13

benefits of mobbing

Answer 13

scare away predator from nest

Question 14

hypothesis for the purpose of mobbing?; is it supported?

Answer 14

it is an anti-predator behavior; supported

Question 15

if mobbing is adaptive, you should see it when ____ > ____, which would be when predation is ____

Answer 15

benefit > cost
high

Question 16

when two different lineages acquire the same trait with no common ancestor

Answer 16

convergent evolution

Question 17

ancestors have a trait that a current species no longer has

Answer 17

divergent evolution

Question 18

the best option will increase in a population as other options decrease

Answer 18

optimality theory

Question 19

optimality theory says that species should optimize ______

Answer 19

benefits and cost

Question 20

the best choice for an individual depends on what others are doing

Answer 20

game theory

Question 21

Adelie penguins don’t want to be the ____ or ____ to jump in the water; this is an example of ____

Answer 21

first or last
game theory

Question 22

an anti-predator strategy that includes simply not being seen

Answer 22

avoid detection

Question 23

in order for camouflage to be effective, which four things are important

Answer 23

1. color
2. pattern
3. orientation
4. location

Question 24

a second method to avoid detection is to remove _____

Answer 24

evidence that you are there/were there; hiding

Question 25

how do the skipper butterfly larvae avoid detection

Answer 25

explosively eject fecal pellets to avoid being detected by scent

Question 26

____ is easier detected than just ____, so to avoid detection many animals will ____

Answer 26

motion
being still
freeze

Question 27

what is the most common anti-predator strategy

Answer 27

avoiding capture

Question 28

how close a predator can get before the prey will flee

Answer 28

critical distance

Question 29

why will prey wait on a predator to get within the critical distance instead of fleeing before that?

Answer 29

it wastes energy to run if you don’t need to

Question 30

critical distance for lizards is based on _____

Answer 30

temperature

Question 31

when it is colder, the lizard’s critical distance ____, when it is warmer it ____. why?

Answer 31

increases (run sooner)
decreases (run later)
they can’t move as fast in the cold

Question 32

animals can also ____ an attack, mostly with ___ cues

Answer 32

misdirect
visual

Question 33

false ____ on animals direct attention away from their ___

Answer 33

eyespots
head

Question 34

animals can also make the predator ____, normally with a ___ or ___ cue

Answer 34

hesitate
visual or acoustic

Question 35

some animals will play ____

Answer 35

dead

Question 36

the ____ snake plays dead

Answer 36

hognose

Question 37

some animals will fight a predator with ___ or ___ defenses

Answer 37

physical or chemical

Question 38

physical defenses include ___ and ___

Answer 38

horns and hoobes

Question 39

chemical defenses include ___ and ___

Answer 39

bad taste and venom

Question 40

when a blue jay eats a monarch, it ____ and will ____

Answer 40

immediately throws up because of the toxicity and will never eat another butterfly that even resembles a monarch

Question 41

predators have either ___ or ___ aversions to warning coloration of prey

Answer 41

learned or innate

Question 42

mimicry only works if ____

Answer 42

toxic species outnumbers the nontoxic species

Question 43

animals can avoid capture by associating with ____

Answer 43

protected species

Question 44

can associate with species by ___ or ___

Answer 44

proximity or recycling chemical defenses

Question 45

___ associate in proximity with ___

Answer 45

clown fish
sea anemone

Question 46

hedgehogs harvest ____ that they then rub on their fur

Answer 46

toad venom

Question 47

animals can avoid capture by showing that they are difficult to ____

Answer 47

catch or eat

Question 48

pufferfish ___ so they look difficult to eat

Answer 48

blow up

Question 49

what is stotting

Answer 49

gazelles will randomly jump upward while standing in a field

Question 50

stotting is an ____ for fitness of gazelles

Answer 50

honest signal

Question 51

gazelles who stot show predators that they are ____

Answer 51

strong and hard to catch

Question 52

Anole lizards _____ is an honest signal

Answer 52

pushup display

Question 53

animals can also make capture _____

Answer 53

less likely

Question 54

prey species tend to be ___ and ___, why is this advantageous?

Answer 54

wary and easily spooked; they need to be this way to watch out for predators

Question 55

animals can make capture less likely through ____ defense

Answer 55

social

Question 56

social defense involves associating with ___ or ___

Answer 56

a different species or conspecifics

Question 57

two advantages of associating with a different species

Answer 57

1. more eyes watching for predators
2. can respond to other species alarm signals

Question 58

4 advantages of associating with conspecifics

Answer 58

1. confusion effect
2. mobbing
3. group defense
4. dilution effect

Question 59

everybody moves in a different direction, hard for predator to hone in on one and attack

Answer 59

confusion effect

Question 60

helping each other fight back

Answer 60

group defense

Question 61

everybody hatches out at the same time and overwhelms the predator with more food than they can possibly eat so some or most will survive

Answer 61

dilution effect

Question 62

example of dilution effect

Answer 62

mayflies all emerging in May, those that emerge later in the week are more likely to survive because predators are full