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Sem 2: Behavioural ecology > Week 9 > Flashcards

Week 9 Flashcards

1
Q

What are the phylogenetic breakdown of insects?

A

Phylum- Arthropoda
Clade - Mandibulata
Sybphylum - Hexapoda
Class - Insecta

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2
Q

What trait means insects are apart of the phylum Arthropoda?

A

Hardened chitinous exoskeleton that moults

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3
Q

What trait means insects are apart of the clade Mandibulata?

A

Antennae and body divded into head, thorax and abdomen

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4
Q

What trait means insects are apart of the subphylum Hexapoda?

A

3 pairs of jointed legs

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5
Q

What trait means insects are apart of the class Insecta?

A

2 pairs of wings (can be secondarily lost)
1 pairs of antennae

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6
Q

How many species are insects?

A

> 1 million species compared to all other animals ~650,000 species (40%)

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7
Q

How many species of beetles are there?

A

Approximately 380,000 (23% of all species)

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8
Q

Why are insects important?

A

Important for ecosystem services such as:
Pollination
Dung removal
Pest control
Carrion breakdown
Food

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9
Q

How important are insects economically?

A

> 57 billion annually in the US

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10
Q

How have insect populations been over last 50 years?

A

Up to 75% decline in the past 50 years

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11
Q

What traits in insects are being used as inspiration?

A

Dragonflies flight
Be uncrushable
Bees effective communication
Termintes building nest that are air conditioned

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12
Q

What is biometrics?

A

The tranfer of ideas and analogues from biology to technology

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13
Q

What is an example of a biometric?

A

Tribots, inspired by trapjaw ants

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14
Q

What are examples of the cultural significance of insects?

A

1338 BCE, commemorative Egyptian scarab
Pet cricket & gourd container watercolor byQi Baishi(1864–1957)
The song Flight of the Bumblebee

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15
Q

What is an overview of monarch butterfly navigation?

A

Up to 3000 km travelled
No single individual completes the trip
4 generations in the complete annual cycle

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16
Q

What is an overview of learning and memory in bumblebees?

A

Bees have to navigate complex spatial environments - need to remember floral resources
Bees can be taught simple tasks in the lab And can learn by watching other bees (or bee-shaped models)
Seen being able to play simple football and pull string to get to reward

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17
Q

What is an example of rentention of memory in moths?

A

Retention of moth memory through metamorphosis
Tobacco hornworm caterpillars were trained to avoid the scent of ethyl acetate
77% of adults still avoided it once they had undergone metamorphosis

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18
Q

What is an exmaple of parentla care in burying beetles?

A

Both parents care for offspring
But also sometimes eat them, or desert them - unkown why they choose which behaviour

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19
Q

What is the goal of behavioural ecology?

A

“explain the survival and reproductive value (i.e. the evolutionary significance) of behavioural traits

20
Q

Why are studying insect useful?

A

Many fascinating behaviours
Useful tractable models in behavioural ecology
Many offspring produced
Can measure lifespan and lifetime reproduction
Large sample size

21
Q

What is aggresion and weaponry in behaviour?

A

Sexually selected traits constitute some of the most eye catching morphologies
In lots of species, one sex (typically but not always the male) invests in weapons which are used in contests

22
Q

What are examples of insects investing in weapons for mating?

A

Stalk eyed flies
Coreids (leaf-footed bugs) - large rear legs with spikes

23
Q

What is an example of fighiting being costly?

A

Thasus neocalifornicus (Coreid) - wing tears
Wing tears increase resting metabolic rate and decrease flight ability
Bigger tear bigger difference

24
Q

How did scientists manipulate the outcome of Thasus neocalifornicus fights?

A

Giving bugs more defensive armour increases their likelihood of winning contests
Armoured bugs on area damaged meant 1.6x more likely to win

25
Q

What is an example of different species of same species fighting with similar but different methods?

A

Rhinoceros beetles
Trypoxylus dichotomus - prob then twist to wrestle rival
Dynastes hercules - Scissor motion
Golofa porteri - Stabby motion

26
Q

What are the evolutionary pressures meant to decrease injury in rhinoceros beetles?

A

Trypoxylus dichotomus - resistant to downwards, sideways and twisting motion
Dynastes hercules - resistant to downwards and sideways but vulnerable to twisting motion
Golofa porteri - resistant to downwards and sideways but vulnerable to twisting motion

27
Q

How likely is injury in rhinoceros beetles when fighting for mates?

A

17% injured
4% severly injured

28
Q

What can cause males to fight for females when risks present?

A

Males must weigh up the costs and benefits of engaging
Fight escalation is more likely when males are similar in size
And when females are present (i.e. payoff is greater)
And if they’ve won before (the winner-loser effect)

29
Q

What is the winning effect?

A

Winning fights induces short term hyperaggression, seen in crickets
Time limited effect

30
Q

What mediates the winner effect?

A

Mediated via the action of octopamine (equivalent role to noradrenaline in mammals), nitric oxideand serotonin

31
Q

What happens during the winner effect?

A

Winning releases octopamine
Acts as a reward therefore more likely to fight

32
Q

What is the balance found in insenct males for weapons for fighting other males?

A

Big weapons help males win fights but also increase the risk of predators

33
Q

What is a common antipredator strategy in insects?

A

Autotomy

34
Q

What is autotomy?

A

‘The self‐controlled loss of a body part at a predetermined breakage location’

35
Q

What are other examples of animals that can undergo autotomy?

A

Nematoida
Platyhelminthes
Mollusca
Craniata

36
Q

What can vary with autosomy?

A

Autotomize is widespread across hemipterans
Some species drop their legs faster than others

37
Q

How common can autosomy be found?

A

It’s common to find individuals missing one (or more!) limbs in the wild

38
Q

What is a secondary advantage of autosamy?

A

Autotomy not just enables escape but also increases survival after injury - seen in experiment with species of coreids, automy survival was 85% compared to 60% when injured and 72% in control

39
Q

How does autotomy impact males fighting competition?

A

Autotomy doesn’t affect how likely males are to engage in fighting
But it does increase the likelihood they lose

40
Q

If males cant fight, how can they produce offspring?

A

Invest in sperm production rather than weaponary - more competitively sucessful when matings do arise
Seen in dung beetles

41
Q

Is there a trade-off between weapons and testes?

A

Autotomy during the fourth instar associated with 15-39% greater adult testes mass
Seen in coreids

42
Q

How was the tradeoff between weapons and testes investigated?

A

We can use autotomy (a natural antipredator behaviour) as a way to look for trade-offs by removing weapon

43
Q

What is the relationship between weapon autosomy and testes investment?

A

The earlier autotomy limb loss occurs, the bigger a male’s testes are
Seen in coreids

44
Q

What behaviour can autosomy impact with mating?

A

Autotomy induces an increase in average mating duration
Seen in coreids

45
Q

How can behaviour and morphology interact?

A

Morphology - decrease in reallocation after adulthood as resources avaliable decrease as well as developmental flexability
Behaviour - potentially maximase the pay off of larger testes
Seen in coreids

46
Q

What are examples of plasticity of reproduction allocation in insects?

A

Adjust ejaculate size based on female mating status, fecundity, and age (Lupold et al. 2010)
Produce more sperm produced in response to the presence of rivals (Moatt et al. 2014)
Grow bigger testes if reared at high larval densities (Stockley & Seal 2001)
Grow bigger testes if hear adult males (Bailey et al. 2010)

47
Q

What tradeoffs are there in reproduction?

A

When should they fight?
How much should they invest in weapons vs testes?
How much should they risk predation for mating opportunities?
How many risks should they take?

Sem 2: Behavioural ecology (11 decks)

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