Exam Flashcards
(180 cards)
What is ethology?
the scientific and objective study of animal behaviour
What is ethology interested in?
The behavioural process, not animal groups
What are fixed action patterns?
Instinctive responses that would occur reliably in the presence of identifiable stimuli
What is an ethogram?
Precise descriptions of different behaviours
What are ethograms used for?
Creating time budgets, interpreting behaviour
What are Occam’s Razor and Morgan’s Canon?
If there are competing reasons as to why something occurs, we take the explanation that makes the least assumptions
Interpret behaviour using simplest mechanisms
What are the disadvantages to observing animal behaviour?
Observer effect
Observer bias
Anthropomorphic error
What are behavioural bouts?
Continuous balance of energy usage and movement
What is an accelerometer?
It records the movement of animals throughout the day using forces.
What is GPS technology used for?
Records animal’s location over time.
It can examine areas used, distances travelled, habitat choices, movement patterns, patch residency times
What is a home range?
An area utilized by an animal in its natural activities
What are 4 techniques used to estimate home range?
Minimum convex polygon
Kernel density
Local Convex Hull
Brownian Bridge
What is a core area?
A heavily used portion of a home range
What 5 qualities influence home range size?
Trophic status Mode of locomotion Suitable habitat Body size Density
Why do larger mammals have larger home ranges than predicted based on their metabolic needs?
They don’t traverse the whole home range frequently
They share home range with others
They need more area to make up for their metabolic needs
What is a society?
A group of conspecifics organized in a cooperative manner (beyond sexual and parental behaviour)
What are the costs to being social?
Intensified competition
Increased disease/parasite transmission
Increased conspicuousness to predators
Increased chance of misdirected parental care and killing of young by non-parents
What are the 3 forms of communication
Visual
Olfaction
Vocalization
What is a territory?
An area defended by overt aggression or advertisement
What are the costs of having a territory?
Time and energy spent to maintain it
Decreased survival
What are the benefits to having a territory?
Economic dependability
Constant access to resources
What 3 factors affect territory size?
Cost-benefit
Distribution or quality of resources
Number of competitors
What is dominance?
Control of behaviour of subordinate
What are the advantages of being in a group?
Vigilance
Dilution of risk
Kin selection
Hunting success