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Environmental and Evolutionary Biology > General > Flashcards

General Flashcards

1
Q

Define Ecology.

A

The scientific study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment

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2
Q

What are the three main scientific methodologies adopted by ecologists?

A

Observations
Experiments
Mathematical models

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3
Q

What do mathematical models achieve?

A

Simulate ecological processes

Generate hypotheses

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4
Q

Name 3 components of the Abiotic environment.

A

Climate
Soil type
Disturbances

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5
Q

Name four possible disturbances.

A

Fire
Hurricanes
Tornadoes
Volcanic eruptions

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6
Q

Name four components of the climate.

A

Temperature
Sunlight
Water
Wind

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7
Q

Name three components of soil type.

A

Physical structure
pH
Mineral composition

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8
Q

What is a Biotic component?

A

Other organisms present

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9
Q

Name three biotic components.

A

Plants
Animals
Microbes

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10
Q

What are the three main branches of ecology?

A

Organismal
Population
Community

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11
Q

What is organismal ecology?

A

Study of behavioural, physiological, morphological adaptations of organisms

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12
Q

What is population ecology?

A

Study of factors which affect population size

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13
Q

What is community ecology?

A

Study of interactions between populations

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14
Q

What is a key assumption of organismal ecology?

A

Adaptation occurs through evolution through natural selection

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15
Q

Define Evolution.

A

The phenomenon of modification with descent

NOT NATURAL SELECTION

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16
Q

What explains adaptation?

A

Evolution by natural selection

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17
Q

Describe the mechanism of natural selection.

A

Individuals vary within a species.
Variation is heritable.
Variation is related to adaptation.
Adaptation affects reproductive success.

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18
Q

What can natural selection lead to?

A

Dramatic changes among populations.

Eventually speciation

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19
Q

What is speciation?

A

Formation of a new species

By-product of evolution by natural selection

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20
Q

What is evolution by natural selection equal to?

A

Differential reproductive success of individuals within a population due to genetic differences between them

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21
Q

What does natural selection rely on?

A

Reproductive success

Genetic basis

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22
Q

What is the difference between Selection and Evolution?

A

Selection acts on individuals.

Populations evolve

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23
Q

Give two examples of natural selection.

A

Drug resistant pathogens (bacteria and viruses reproduce rapidly)
Homology

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24
Q

Define Homology.

A

Characteristics with underlying similarity but different functions resulting from common ancestry

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25
Q

What role did artificial selection play in evolution?

A

Darwin’s analogue to explain natural selection

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26
Q

Define Domestication.

A

The modification of species over many generations by selecting and breeding indiviuals with desired traits, useful to humans

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27
Q

How does domestication support evolution?

A

Humans can produce divergent phenotypes in short time periods.
why can’t nature do the same over several years?

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28
Q

How did dog species happen?

A

Repeated genetic exchange between dog and wolf populations

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29
Q

What is the relationship between Skull and Limb length and strength of the limb and axial skeletons?

A

Inverse correlation

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30
Q

How is canine skeletal morphology studied?

A

X rays and DNA

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31
Q

What was discovered in the 2013 resequencing of dogs and wolf genomes?

A

million Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms

candidate domestication regions

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32
Q

When did selective breeding of wild plants and animals begin?

A

10,000 years ago

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33
Q

What is believed to be the basis of agriculture?

A

An attempt to modify the landscape to encourage growth of edible wild plants

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34
Q

What is the key to agricultural domestication?

A

Switch from letting wild edible plants to naturally resow themselves, to deliberately sowing seeds from previous season

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35
Q

What is important for food security?

A

Understanding the basis of crop domestication

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36
Q

What has been identified which is important for cultivated crops?

A

Single genes which control many traits

37
Q

Name four misconceptions about natural selection.

A

Evolution is just a theory
Evolution is about the origin of life
Evolution is survival of the fittest
Evolution means atheism

38
Q

Who is Carl Linnaeus?

A

The Father of taxonomy

He simplified naming by designating genus and specie names - Binomial naming system

39
Q

What is the latin name for the poppy?

A

Papaver rhoeas

40
Q

What is the latin name for the opium poppy?

A

Papaver somniferum

41
Q

What is the latin name for the crow?

A

Corvus caurinus

42
Q

What is the latin name for the New caledonian crow?

A

Corvus moneduloides

43
Q

Define Phylogenetics.

A

Classifications based on evolution

44
Q

What did Linnaeus do?

A

Took organismal resemblances into account, but did not link it to evolution

45
Q

What is the Linnean hierarchy?

A

The tree of life

46
Q

What is the taxonomic order of groups?

A 
Kingdom
Division
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
47
Q

Define Ethology.

A

The scientific study of animal behaviour

48
Q

Define Social behaviour.

A

When two or more members of the same species interact when performing a behaviour

49
Q

Name four types of behaviour.

A

Cooperative
Altruistic
Selfish
Competitive

50
Q

Name three types of competitive social behaviour.

A

Agonistic
Dominance hierarchies
Territoriality

51
Q

Explain Agonistic behaviour.

A

Comparative tests of strength
Threat displays

Can result in death or injury

52
Q

Explain dominance hierarchies.

A

Established by contests.
Maintained by threat displays

Dominant alpha male/female
First access to resources

53
Q

Give two examples of dominance hierarchies.

A

Hen pecking order

Wolf mating hierarchies

54
Q

Give three examples of territories.

A

Song sparrows - 3000m^2 for feeding, breeding, rearing young
Gannets - Small area of cliff face for nesting
Sealions - Small area of beach for mating

55
Q

Define Territory.

A

Any defended area

56
Q

Who is Niko Tinbergen?

A

Guy who invented the four whys in behavioural biology

57
Q

What are the four whys?

A

What effect does a behaviour have on an animals survival or well-being?
What internal and external factors make and animal behave in a particular way?
Why and how did the animal develop such a behaviour?
Why and how has the behaviour evolved in the species?

58
Q

What is a proximate cause?

A

How questions

Is a behaviour inheritable?
Is it modified by experience?
Do hormones influence the behaviour?

59
Q

What is an ultimate cause?

A

Why questions

How is the behaviour influences by natural selection?
What is the evolutionary origin of this behaviour?

60
Q

What experiment did Tinbergen do?

A

Digger wasp

Circle of pinecones around nest
Moved pinecones
Wasp went to pinecones not nest

Triangle of pincones around nest
Circle of rocks elsewhere
Wasp went to rocks

61
Q

What causes do most behaviours have?

A

Genetic and Environmental

62
Q

What is the latin name of the peach-faced lovebird?

A

Agapornis roseicollis

63
Q

What is the latin name of Fischers lovebird?

A

Agapornis fischeri

64
Q

What did the lovebird experiment show?

A

Genetic behaviours

Peachfaced lovebird tucks, Fischer’s lovebird doesn’t, hybrid can’t

65
Q

What is innate behaviour?

A

Developmentally fixed behaviour

Will have an environmental componant

66
Q

Give three examples of innate behaviour and their triggers.

A

Chicks begging for food - Only do so when a parent is around
Frogs hunting - Tongue shoots at moving target
Male Stickleback aggression - in repsonse to red belly of other males

67
Q

When do most innate behaviours occur?

A

In response to a cue

68
Q

What is the main goal of behavioural ecology?

A

To understand why particular behaviours have evolved

69
Q

What is learning?

A

Modification of behaviour in response to previous experience

E.g. song birds have regional dialects as each mimics older males

70
Q

Explain Habituation.

A

A form of learning in which animals learn to stop responding to stimuli that are not associated with any benefit

Allows an organism to stop adopting an innate behaviour if it is irrelevant to the current situation

71
Q

Explain Imprinting.

A

Learning limited to a critical period and is usually irreversible.

72
Q

Who demonstrated imprinting and how?

A

Konrad Lorenz

Removed some greylag goose chicks from a nest, then put them back a few hours after hatching.
Removed ones followed him, left ones follow mum

73
Q

What are the benefits of imprinting?

A

Enhance fitness by enabling rapid learning

74
Q

What did Lorenz show?

A

Geese would imprint on the first moving thing that they saw, but can only happen in the first 2days of life

75
Q

What is filial imprinting?

A

Young learns from parent

76
Q

What is the latin name of a prairie vole?

A

Microtus ochrogaster

77
Q

What is the latin name of a mountain vole?

A

Microtus montanus

78
Q

What mating habit does a prairie vole have?

A

Monogamous

79
Q

What mating habit does a mountain vole have?

A

Promiscuous

80
Q

What is sexual imprinting?

A

Process of learning characteristics of a suitable mate

81
Q

What gene is expressed more in the brain of a prairie vole than the mountain vole?

A

Gene for the Vasopression Receptor

82
Q

Explain conditioning.

A

Animals learn to associate one stimulus with another

83
Q

What are the two types of conditioning?

A

Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning

Operant conditioning

84
Q

Who pioneered operant conditioning?

A

Skinner and Thorndike

85
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

Trial and error

Behaviour is associated with a good or bad response

86
Q

Explain cognitive learning.

A

Uses awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgement.

Involves problem solving

87
Q

Give an example of cognitive learning.

A

New caledonian crow - uses tools to get food

88
Q

What is a metatool?

A

A tool used to reach anther tool to reach the food

Environmental and Evolutionary Biology (1 decks)

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