FINAL Flashcards
relating to Tinbergen’s “4 questions” about
behavior. When asking questions such as
1. What mechanisms
activate it?
2. How does it
develop?
what kind of questions are these? ultimate or proximate
proximate
relating to Tinbergen’s “4 questions” about
behavior. When asking questions such as
3. How does it contribute to fitness?
4. How did it evolve? (deeper
evolutionary history)
what kind of questions are these? ultimate or proximate
Ultimate
Vireos are one bird species that are parasite species, they lay their eggs in the nests of another bird (host). researchers want to know what the fitness consequences are for the strategies vireos use to deal with parasitism. Is this an ultimate or proximate level question?
Ultimate
what kind of research approach would be useful for asking questions about how a behavior has/could evolve within a species
Experiments
Ex. examining fitness consequences of social vs. asocial behavior within a species.
Ex. measuring costs/ benefits of a behavior within a species
what kind of research approach is good for asking questions about evolutionary origins of traits, longer evolutionary
time-scale
comparative methods
Ex. comparing fixed differences in social behavior btw species
what are the requirements for evolution by natural selection?
- variable traits (behavior)
- heritable
- fitness
what mechanisms cause evolution (genetic change in a population (change in allele frequencies over time)
- natural selection
- gene flow (migration between populations)
- random processes (genetic drift)
what kind of behavior is genetically hard-wired: can be performed in response to a cue without prior experience
Innate, fixed behaviors
what kind of behavioral plasticity occurs when external stimuli in a given context activateneural and hormonalmechanisms or pathways which already exist inside the organism.
contextual plasticity (non-learning)
what kind of behavioral plasticity occurs when behaviors develop as a result of experience
learning
- Individual learning
- Social learning
what kind of learning occurs when the animal stops responding to a stimulus, or cue, after repeated exposure?
individual learning: habituation
what kind of learning occurs when a behavior induces a punishment or reward—decreases or increases display of behavior
individual learning:
operant conditioning
what kind of learning occurs when Animals learn by observation of, or interaction with, another individual (s)
social learning
what kind of experiment would you conduct if you want to know if a behavior is caused by genes?
Selective Breeding Experiments
Via controlled breeding, artificially select for certain behaviors; see if trait evolves
if you want to know whether a behavior is genetic or enviromentally-induced you should conduct what kind of experiment
common garden (transplant) experiment
Raise individuals from populations with different behaviors in a common environment (ex. lab).
If they display different behaviors = genetic
if you want to determine whether behaviors are innate vs learned (from parents) what kind of experiment should you do?
Cross-fostering (Reciprocal transplant) Experiments
- Start with parents that display different behaviors
- Do reciprocal transplant with young offspring
- Observe offspring phenotype
what is it called when you are measuring the time until onset of first occurrence of behavior
latency
what is it called when you are calculating the # of occurrences of behavior per unit time (rate)
frequency (rate)
what is it called when you are measuring the length of time a single occurrence of behavior lasts; mean
Duration
How do you create an optimal model (3 steps)
- Identify decisions
(ex. to eat a prey item or not, how long to stay in a patch, etc.) - Determine currency for costs and benefits
(ex. net rate of energy intake, energy efficiency, risk of starvation) - consider intrinsic and extrinsic constrains
(ex: travel time, handling time)
What currency is more important when when organism is limited by energy reserves
rate maximizing or efficiency
efficiency
Most energy gained/ energy spent
what currency is more important when organism is limited by time
rate maximizing
Most energy gained/ time
what kind of anti-preditor stratagy occurs when animals use camouflage
crypsis
what kind of anti-preditor adaptation do wasps use
physical/chemical defense
