Mating systems and parental investment

Question 1

gamos

Answer 1

spouse

Question 2

gynos

Answer 2

woman

Question 3

andros

Answer 3

man

Question 4

isogamy

Answer 4

sexes and gametes roughly the same size

Question 5

anisogamy

Answer 5

females produce few expensive gametes, males produce many cheap gametes

Question 6

promiscuity

Answer 6

no durable associations or pairings, predominates among rodents

Question 7

polygyny

Answer 7

one male, many females

Question 8

polyandry

Answer 8

one female, many males; most common in birds

Question 9

resource-defense polygyny

Answer 9

resources not random, female fitness depends on quality of resources, male controls some resource and therefore access to females, ungulates and carnivores

Question 10

Lek polygyny

Answer 10

site traditional, females mate with central male or his near neighbor, males begin competing for positions months before females are ready

Question 11

Harem-defense polygyny

Answer 11

females aggregate and male controls access, monopolizes mating opportunities; deer and elephant seals

Question 12

Male dominance polygyny

Answer 12

males establish hierarchy or dominance order, females choose, advertising and sexual selection play a major role

Question 13

scramble competition polygyny

Answer 13

little overt competition or contact among males, common when females are widely spaced or fertility is time-limited; found when it doesn’t pay to be combative or territorial

Question 14

types of investment

Answer 14

behavioral cost of mating, physiological cost of producing young, care at the nest, behaviors that affect future reproductive potential, defense of young

Question 15

physiological cost

Answer 15

females can spend large proportion of metabolic output producing eggs or young

Question 16

care at the nest

Answer 16

after birth/hatching, parents often spend huge amounts of time and energy caring for young

Question 17

defense of young

Answer 17

only species providing parental care actively defend young, parent must balance investment in young against risk to self

Question 18

opportunities foregone

Answer 18

time spent caring for young can’t be spent elsewhere, on other adaptive behaviors

Question 19

fertilization mode affects which parent provides care

Answer 19

certainty of paternity, gamete order and association

Question 20

investment strategies

Answer 20

birds are more likely to be monogamous, mammals tend toward polygyny

Question 21

competition

Answer 21

currency is maximizing reproductive success

Question 22

parent-offspring conflict

Answer 22

each individual’s behavior is biased toward replicating its own genes, parents and offspring share 50% of genes and interests overlap, but are not identical

Question 23

siblicide

Answer 23

one young kills the other or forces it out of the nest; often triggered by competition for food