MT Animal Behaviour Flashcards

Question

what is the red queen hypothesis of evolution

Answer 1

* the non ending continuous run of evolutionary arms race * where predator and prey or host and parasite keep evolving as a response to each others evolutionary adaptations to ensure they can keep up with their rivals

Answer 2

* ensuring that our hypothesis about adaptation counter-adaptation are verified by experiment testing and not just storytelling * how does an arms race begin?

Answer 3

* The ability of an organism to conceal itself especially from a predator by having a color, pattern, and shape that allows it to blend into the surrounding environment.

Answer 4

the use of warning coloration to inform potential predators that an animal is poisonous, venomous, or otherwise dangerous.

Answer 5

* an experiment where they showed blue jays slides which either had a moth, or didnt have a moth * the background of the slide were either crypsis of conspicuous * and the blue jays were taught in advance to peck on a key if they think no moth is present, ot pecking at the slide when they think a moth is present and rewarded a worm * when the blue jay made a mistake: either pecked at the slide when no moth is present or pecked at the key when a moth is present, blue jay is punished * results showed that blue jay made more mistakes when moth was presented on a cryptic background rather than a conspicuous background * this provides supporting evidence about crypsis in that it may help preys avoid predation via camouflage

Answer 6

* it is when the predator improves its ability to see cryptic preys over time via a process called 'adopting a specific searching image' * experiment on domestic chick pecking on rice grains mixed with cryptic stone grains showed an improvement in accurately finding rice grains over time * and a better eye for finding cryptic prey/food

Answer 7

* it is when the rarer phenotype due to polymorphism cryptic colouration is the most advantage * this causes apostatic selection: where individuals of rare prey morphs were more likely to be overlooked * preys which had a rarer morph would not be identified easily by predators as they are not within their 'image searching process' * causes a disruptive selection of common phenotypes and maintains multiple phenotypes in population

Answer 8

* the existence of brightly coloured wings or signals to warn off predators * example is jays which are trained by grey colored hindwing moths were startled and slightly delayed in their attack when then exposed to brightly colored hindwings of moths. But did not startle when the other way around, showing bridght colors startled and delayed attack time of jays

Answer 9

* butterflies have eye spots on their wings, which expose when disturbed, causing predator to cease in attack * experiments of peacock butterflies show that birds are more likely to attack butterflies which have thei eyespots covered than when they are exposed * this is NOT because these butterflies are untastefukl * THIS IS ALSO NOT BECAUSE: eyespots mimic the eyes of predator's enemies such as owls * an experiment which used artificial moths (mimicked by worms w paper wings) showed that there was no significant change in a bird's predation when they had bars compared to when they had eye-shaped wing spots * this showed that eyespots worked simply to alert the predator that the prey is aware of the predator

Answer 10

* experiment showed that even a slight concealment/camouflage to begin with provided a very large benefit and advantage to preys * great tits were presented with 3 options of food: an inedible twig in an opaque glass (to mimic the large edible cryptic prey); a large worm in an opaque glass; and an easily distinguishable short worm in clear glass. * the great tits chose the more easily distinguished short worm to maximize rate of energy intake; instead of spending a few seconds more to distinguish between the 2 larger worms * this shows even a slight concealment can provide survivial advantage for preys

Answer 11

* a type of crypsis where the coloration of the body is broken up by bold contrasting patterns on periphery * this would break up the body outline * in moths: this was shown to be very effective in increased survivals rates and more effective than just using crypsis

Answer 12

* a type of crypsis * because under sunlight, a shadow of the prey will appear obvious to predators * some preys evolved countershadowing where the dorsal-sun facing side is dark and hence merges and combines with the shadow of the prey, making it not obvious under sunlight * experiment showed higher survivals rate in preys which used countershadowing than ones which did not

Answer 13

* resemblance of inedible objects suck as twigs, bird droppings, leaves or stones * IT IS NOT CRYPSIS: as it is identified but just as a different object

Answer 14

* masquerade + crypsis both are types of camouflage * crypsis is when the prey is not at all identifies * byt masquerade is when the prey is identified, just as a different object

Answer 15

* desert locust * during juvenile solitary phase: it uses crypsis: it is small and green to avoid detection * however under high population density these juveniles develop into large and brightly colored red, yellow, black and have a more active foraging style * experiments show that predators learn to not attack brightly colored conspicuous preys faster than avoiding cryptic green. Hence a shift to aposematism in high density areas sreduced predation

Answer 16

1. aposematism includes distastefulness and conspicuousness. It is thought that conspicuousness evolved first as a strategy used for mate attraction, but as this colouration also made predators aware of their existence, it then evolved distastefulness to avoid prefation 2. the second idea is fisher's hypothesis where the evolution of warning colors evolved through their effect on survival of relative in the same group, to ensure that even though one is killed its relatives containing the same gene for warning colors can reproduce, and that this warning gene doesn't go extinct

Answer 17

* fisher suggested that brightly colored insects usually clumped in family groups so that if a rare mutation or phenotype occured for aposematism, even tho a naive predator would eat that rare individual * its family which potentially has similar genes can repeat this in the next generation * challenges: * phylogenetics analysis showed that actually aposematism occured before gregarious families, and hence it was more likely that aposematism was more advantage to family instead of the other way around

Answer 18

* cost os conspicuousness in increasing the probability of attack by naive predators * vs benefits of increased protection by experiences predators through more memorable and detectable signalling

Answer 19

* mullerian mimicry: replleant species look aline * batesian mimicry: palatable species mimic distasteful species (a type of dishonest signallingO

Answer 20

* it is when color patterns of different repellent and distasteful species look similar * evolution: Species B has a pattern which decreases predator attack than Species A. And species B has a larger population * given that a predator need to attack a certain amount of species to learn distastefulness associated w a pattern, species A would extinct before this occurs due to small population * however, if species A resembles species B is will be under the greater umbrella of protection, giving them a big advantage, as the predator doesnt have to attack and learn again * rarer morphs evolve to mimic commoner morphs

Answer 21

* cheating and dishonest signal. * palatable species mimic distasteful species * example: hoverflies mimic wasps; harmless snakes mimic venomous snakes

Answer 22

1. cost of aposematism: * costly to wear: cost of thermoregulation. wood tiger moth which has black and orange colors. black parts have effected their ability for thermoregulation * costly to produce: requires mor eenergy allocated to producing these colors 1. trade-off in crypsis vs conspicuousness? * cost of being crypsis is that it wont be able to guard territory, and cant get male attantion * benefit of being crypsis: escape predators

Answer 23

* their gamete sizes * females produce large, immobile, food rich gametes - eggs * male gamese are small, mobile - sperm

Answer 24

* where 2 gametes fuse during sex are of similar or equal size * i.e in sexual reproduction of paramecium

Answer 25

* when the larger egg fuses with a smaller sperm * occurs in most multicellular plants and animals

Answer 26

* anisogamy evolved from isogamy * assume survival of zygote depends on its size * larger zygote - more food to sustain its development and so the better chance at surviving * larger gametes will be favored bys election if this increase in survival compensated the fact that larger gametes are produced in smaller quantities * once larger gametes evolve, there will hence be immediate selection on smaller gametes to seek out larger gametes to fuse with, in order to parasitize their food reserve * over time larger gametes evolve to resist smaller ones fusion, but this ultimately fails as small gametes are produced in such numbers * moreover, the cost of a large gamete not resisting a small gamete's attack is much less than the cost of a small gamete not finding a large gamete to fuse with * this shows the ancient evlutionary arms race, of producing few large gametes and a lot of small gametes. Medium sized gametes lost during this race as they have neither the advantage of both sides * this is shown w the comparative study of volvocales. in this family, unicellular algae where food reserves in zygote are unimportant show isogamy, whereas in multicellular algae where food reserve is important are anisogamy

Answer 27

* biparental mating - meiosis, recombination, segregation syngamy 1. 2 genomes fuse (syngamy) then separate (meiosis) giving rise to different combinations of genes becaus eof recombination and segregation 2. recombinayion changes how alleles at different loci on the same chromosome are organized 3. segregation changes how alleles on homologous chromosomes are packaged into individuals 4. sexual eproduction alters association and linkages among alleles

Answer 28

* sexual reproduction is common and evolutionarily successful in eukaryotes -> giving them rise to different genetic combinations * asexuality in eukaryotes is rare and evolutionarily recent, as they evolved again from sexual lineages * recomination is not necessarily couple with sex as it evolved before sexual reproduction did * biparental symmetrical sexual reproduction is unique to eukaryotes

Answer 29

* cellular processes involved in sexual reproduction (such as syngamy, meiosis, and gametogenesis) are very complex and rely on a large number of genes. * The example given is the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which has 1,416 nuclear genes identified in relation to these processes - which is a lot given that c elegans only have 20,000 protein coding genes * suggests that sex is not something that just happened suddenly (or sporadically) in evolutionary history; rather, it has been a consistent part of eukaryotic life for a very long time.

Answer 30

* Males are seemingly useless in population growth in both sexual and asexual scenarios * In sexual scenarios: Females contribute more to population growth * Females which bear offspring are more critical for population growth because they make babies * At carry capacity sexual females can replace herself by producing one more offspring and maintaining the carrying capacity * In Asexual females will produce multiple offsprings, and not just simple replacement, hence problem arises that if asexuality can directly contribute to population growth, and females can reproduce themselves to contribute to population growth, whatis the point of men?? * Male are very beneficial because of their ability to produce diversity giving efficacy of selection and red queen hypothesis

Answer 31

* spatial heterogeneity * diversity * efficacy of selection * red queen hypothesis

Answer 32

* sexual reproduction is less efficient than asexual reproduction because it requires two individuals to create offspring, and typically only half of those offspring will be capable of further reproducing (in species where males do not give birth). * while a sexual female will just replace herself in terms of population, an asexual female can more than replace herself, leading to a potentially faster population growth in asexual populations * an asexual mutant theoretically should spread and outcompete sexual individuals because of the twofold cost of sex. * however although the costs, the benefits of sex such as genetic diversity to allow populations to adapt in changing environments and against disease more effectively

Answer 33

* apart from the obvious two fold cost of sex * the cost of meiosis: recobination can bring beneficial new genetic combinations, but can also break apart combinations of genes which are well adapted to their environment * The costs of mating: Costs of searching for mates and the costs of engaging in mating (intrasexual competition, intersexual conflict), including increased risk of predation or infection by a sexually transmitted disease

Answer 34

* the fact that despite the costs associated with sexual reproduction * it remains a prevalent form of reproduction * when consideringa bout the potential adaptive benefits such as linkage disequillibrium...etc this benefit can offset the costs associated with it

Answer 35

* Linkage disequillibrium: if D>0 it the combination of 2 alleles occur more than expected in HW equillibrium * Epistasis: positive epistasis: combine effect of mutations is mor ebeneficial than the sum of the effects of each individual mutation, negative epistasis: combined effect more detrimental * the origin of sex evolved from asymmetric DNA transfer of DNA in bacteria. However the mechanism that maintains sex in eukaryotes is due to its benefits * short term vs Long term: increasing variance may not seem too beneficial in the short term (given that it will only b beneficial in short term if it provides a very extreme benefit in fitness) however, it the long term, it is beneficial to allow more rapid adaptations * linkage disequillibrium may break up advantageous combinations. However, it can also break up any current disadvantage associations and provide immediate benefits by creating more advantageous allele combinations

Answer 36

* antagonistic coevolution: parasites selected to infect the most common host genotype * co-evolving parasites adapt to infect the locally common clonal genotypes, hence producting a negative frequency selections (common phenotypes are selected against) * this causes the genetic combinations to change more rapidly depending on environment and responding to parasite infection

Answer 37

* P.antipodarum has both asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction * when they are in shallow waters where co-evolving parasites are common, sexual reproduction is also common, as it provides diversity * when in depper waters w fewer parasites, asexual reproduction is more common * Moreover in anothe rresearch: showed that female flies infected by bacteria or parasitized by wasps produce mor recombinant offsprings compared to uninfected controls * these show in parasitic threats, there is a selective advantage for organisms to sexually reproduce for more genetic diversity

Answer 38

* the variation in environmental conditions and selective pressures across different geographic areas

Answer 39

* negative epistasis means the current combination of genes is more negative to fitness compared to its additive effect (essentially 1+1>2) * in this case, it would be better to break up these combination, as although it would lead to an extreme benefit, it does relieve the negative

Answer 40

* positive disequillibrium is generated when some sites experience strong selection than other sites, * OR when alleles are favorable in some locations and not favorable in others * it is caused by migration mostly or sudden change in selective pressure * when new alleles from a migrant come into populatuon, they create a disequillibrium which doesnt align with the genetic combination predicted and favored by local selection pressures * when positive disequillibrium occurs which disrupts the local genetic associations, it is a short term advantage for sexual reproduction, to break down mis matches and create new combinations more favourable in local environment

Answer 41

* species of rotifers can both reproduce sexually and asexually (facultative sexual species) * in spatially heterogenous (different conditions in different spaces) the tendancy of sexual reproduction is higher * whereas in homogeneous environments, rate of sexual reproduction evolves towards 0 * hence concludes spatial heterogeneity promotes and maintains evolution of sexual reproduction

Answer 42

* an evolutionary theory describing advantage of sexu over asexual * bet hedging strategy: by producing genetically diverse offsprings is 'betting' on some of their offsprings survive unpredictable environments * sexual reproduction would be more common in temporally variable environments and asexual reproduction would be more common in stable environments * also arguments from Bell 1982 against the model statingL asexual reproduction is found in unpredictable and temporary habitats

Answer 43

* another theory which tries to explain the maintenance of sexual reproduction * in spatial heterogeneity locations: genetic polymorphism could be beneficial * this theory refers to sexual reproduction is beneficial by reducing intraspecific competition in a constant environment. This is because, by producing genetically diverse offsprings in a contsant environment, it will allow them to sought out different niches and food sources and avoiding direct intraspecific competition, hence being advantageous even in constant environments

Answer 44

* a hypothesis which suggests that sexual reproduction is favored because it is easy to allow beneficial alleles to be separated from deleterious alleles due to recombination * in asexual populations: beneficial mutations can be lost if it is surrounded by deleterious mutations, as it would be difficult to remove the deleterious mutatiosn without also removing the beneficial one * whereas in sexual populations, this can be done faster by recombinations

Answer 45

* each hypothesis which tries to explain why sexual reproduction is maintained focus on certain conditions hence is not an overall approach * these hypthesis are not mutually exclusive * by using pluralist approahc which is combining and integrating multiple mechanisms better explain certain observations as sexual reproduction is not a single factor contributing to it

Answer 46

* hill robertson interference suggests that due to linkage disequillibrium, multiple loci are inherited together * when multiple natural selection pressures act of linked loci genes, it decreases the efficiency of selection, and harder for beneficial alleles to be selected for if it is linked with a deleterious mutationbs * sexual reproduction solves this as recombination reduces these interferences

Answer 47

* it is a hypothesis that suggests sexual reproduction allows beneficial alleles from different individuals to come together. This increases the chances that offspring will have combination of alleles that rae more advantagoues than those of either parent * separates beneficial alleles from different background and uniting them into same genome * when environmental changes are rapid and severe, the fitness benefits of being able to rapidly adapt may overcome the costs of sex

Answer 48

* suggests that outcrossing using a facultative sexual algae * alllowed faster adaptation to new medium than compared to asexual population * and this is much more efficicent oin larger populations which have more chances to produce genetically variable offsprings

Answer 49

* Most hypotheses for sex are based on the notions that sex promotes genetic variation because segregation and recombination break down genetic associations, and that genetic variation is beneficial * However… * Sex doesn’t necessarily increase genetic variation * Genetic variation isn’t necessarily beneficial * Evolution doesn’t necessarily promote genetic exchange, even when genetic exchange does increase genetic variability and variability is favourable * recombination evolved before sex, so why did sex need to evolve if recombination can solve these problems altogether?

Answer 50

* in anisogamous sexual reproduction, females produce larger and fewer gametes, and hence once an offspring forms, the egg contributes more to offspring development * in mammals females take up majority of offspring care from pregnancy to lactation * in birds biparental care is norm, but females invest more into the care * in other taxa normally female care is more than male care such as in invertebrates and reptiles * and only in fish is male care more common: this is only because males can attract mates whilst guarding egg, and hence doesnt have to suffer cost of losing mating opportunities compared to other animals

Answer 51

* the parent which puts less care into the offspring will compete amongst themselves to mate with a member which invests more into offsprings * hence sex which puts least parental investment has a greater rate of reproduction: males can fertilize eggs at a much faster rate than a female can to produce an offspring

Answer 52

* females increase her reproductive success by rate of converting resources into eggs and offspring supply * males increase reproductive success by increasing number of females it fertilizes, the more number the better * hence male repro is limited by access to females * and females repo is limited by resources * therefore a conflict of interest occurs: as females want to choose a male who offers best resources or genes, whereas males simply want to exploit female investment and mate with as many females as possible even though they may not have the best resources * this is an asymmetry in parental investment giving rise to sexual conflict, and hence sexual selection in behaviour and physiology

Answer 53

* males dont care because of paternity sharing: a chance that the brood they take care isnt 100% their offsprings, very costly for male to stay * opportunity cost for males: as males increase reproductive success by more frequent mating, staying to care decreases its opportunities to mate again. * males compete for most caring female, as it increases chances there offspring survives. As male succeeds to mate w a caring female, it is more inclined to leave as the female is caring. Hence a positive feedback * females care as they have already invested into the egg, and it takes time and resources for them to reproduce, if they dont care, and a offspring dies, it is a huge cost for them

Answer 54

* evolution via selection of traits which improves male success in direct combat for mates * sexual selection leads to sexual dimorphism * evidence for males w best size, strength, best developed weaponse, best resources and genes contribute to high mating success (traits to increase intrasexual competition) * female choice: female chooses male which appear to have the best genes and strongest for survival (handicap or index)

Answer 55

* experiment of long tailed widobirds showed that females prefered and chose tails longer than normal size * these longer tail ornaments are costly for male survival. However, it also shows the female that even it is costly for male survival, the male is strong enough or of better quality to produce these. It is a reflection of their true quality via handicap signalling

Answer 56

* because they need to invest more into their offsprings * they are choosy to find the best mate to provide best genes and resources for offspring in order to increase the female's reproductive success in assuring that her offspring and next generations survive * good resources: provide resources for offspring in chosen male * good genes fo offspring to survive and reproduce

Answer 57

* example 1: in north american bullfrogs. Males compete for best territory defense. Some territories are much better for egg laying and egg survival (warmer). Hence females prefer good laying sites. Strongest males gain best sites. In this case female choice and male-male competition go hand in hand * example 2: females may choose male depending on ability to provide doos. Male hanging flies will mate w a female by bringing her an insect. The larger the insect the longer the male is allowed to copulated, and hence more eggs he will fertilize. Femal gains from this as she is able to put the resources gained from the insect into egg.

Answer 58

* 2 hypothesis for genetic benefits gained from female choice 1. Fisher's hypothesis (females gain attractive sons): elaborate male displays are sexually selected because it makes males attractive to females. Females prefer this choice because it indicates something about male quality, that it has a significant benefit for survival. As long as this has a survival or reproductive benefit, females want to mate with it to pass it down to her son. Which will once again attract females as well as gain survival/reproductive advantage 2. good genes due to handicap: elaborate ornaments are costly and hence only good quality males can afford this. This allows good quality genes to be passed down to sons and daughters

Answer 59

* in certain rabbit populations * female choice on male sexual displays was a good indicator of genetic resistance to genes

Answer 60

* Must necessary to show genetic variation in both female preferance, male trait, and that these 2 factors covary * Example 1): Stalk eyed flies. Eyes of these flies are on stalks, which are particularly long in males. Females preferred males w largest eye spans. However, they wanted to see if genetic factors changed female preference. When creating 2 lines: one line by selecting short stalked males, and another line by selecting long stalked males. After 13 gens, showed that in short stalked male line, the females preferred choosing short stalked males, and vice versa in the other line * this hypothesis did not answer whether the selection of certain male traits increased the viability of offsprings

Answer 61

* in peacocks: the longer and more colored tails in males * whether they signalled genetic quality to females * it was shown that males with long tail train and more eyespots had greater advantage adn mating successes than ones with fewer eyespots * and that when randomely mating females and males, the offspring which were from amles with longer and more eyespot males survived better and grew faster * indicating that there is a relationship between offspring viability and male trait selection * however, this trait selection can differ as environment and ecologically differs * another experiment of sticklebacks. Female sticklembacks prefer redder males, which were proven as an indication of their physical condition (when males [parisitized, their redness decreases) * also odour from males also signal the male's MHCs, to allow female to choose a good genetic complment to its own. To produce better offsprings which are more health and stronger immune system

Answer 62

* females and males have intra-sexual competition * females compete with each other for better resources and location * males compete with each other for access to females * hence this also creates sexual dimorphism

Answer 63

* sexual dimorphism: a divergence or difference in phenotypic traits of males and females of the same species, as a result of responding to intra-sexual competition, and mate choices * females and males all have intra-sexual competition. Females are competing w other females for better resources, amles are competing w other males for mating opportunities * females are also choosing males for better genes and resources * males are also choosing females (in some cases of biparental caring in birds) * males and females are also in a constant sexual conflict arms race and co-evolve to outcompete each other for better reproductive success, as they have different goals in reproduction

Answer 64

* polyandry: female mates w multiple males * hence the female stores multipe male's sperm, and sexual selection after copulation still exists in sperm competition * 2 sexual selection after copulation also exists which leads to sexual conflict: 1. rival males sperm compete with each other 2. female sperm choice (cryptic sperm choice)

Answer 65

* post-mating sexual selection * some birds choose to mate with another extra pair male bird as well as its monogamous mate * this is because the extra male mate may be able to provide more care * or sometimes the traits required for different sexes are different. i.e a trait which is beneifical in males may be detrimental to females. Hence different ideal mates required

Answer 66

* sexual conflict occurrs whenever the optimal outcome is different for amles and demales * in theory it shoudl lead to each sex evolving adaptations that bias the outcome towards its own interest * this leads to an antagonistic co-evolution between female and male traits * sexual conflict can ocurr during/over mating * sexual conflict can ocurr after mating

Answer 67

* males reproductive success limited by access to females. Hence males will want to force more females to mate with them * females want to resist this as they only want to mate with the best males * females and males can both initiate the start of this co-evolutions: females can seek extra pair copulation. which drives amles to mate guard * males can force copulate, leading to females developing resistance traits or sperm ejection

Answer 68

* in water striders: male force copulates by pouncing on females * this is costly to females as it increases their risk of predation as well as having to mate with a potentially bad male. Females in this species have evolves resistance strategies such as elongation of abinoal spines to thwart males * males developed elongation of frasping genitalia to force female to copulate * other cases such as males guard females to prevent extra mate pairing in monogamous birds, which prevent paternity sharing

Answer 69

* males employ tactics to increase their success in sperm competition

Answer 70

Male adaptations: * males insemination displaces and removes rival sperm in previous males (yellow dung flies), showen to increase 80% paternity * anti-aphrodisics: in a type of butterflies males deposit anti-aphrodesiacs in these females which prevent males being attracted Female Adaptations: * cryptic female choice: by ejecting subordinate male's sperm from force copulation through contractions

Answer 71

* parental care is v different across the animal kingdom, and this depends on life strategies of these animals * mammals: often only female care * invertebrates: often no care * birds: biparental care * fish: male care

Answer 72

* 3 types of conflict 1. parent offspring conflict: between generations: parents future vs current fitness 2. sibling conflict: within and across generations (resource allocation, selfishness) 3. sexual conflict: male and females

Answer 73

* based on selection of life strategies 1. trade off between offspring size and number 2. trade off between current and future reproduction 3. selection favouring parental optimism (what is the potimal parental investment)

Answer 74

* how much should an individual parent care for an individual offspring * depends on 2 factors 1. the trade off between size-number trade off. This can be modelled using optimality model. And this can vary depending on environment and type of organism. whether viviparous? 2. future vs current reproduction trade off. Again, this is highly variable depending on whether the organism is semelparous or iteroparous? and depending on how challenging or variable the environment is

Answer 75

* when parents produce more offspring in a breeding cycle than the can realistically support * this is above optimal amount * this behaviour is driven by several factors including 1. ability to capotalise on unforseen resource which may become available 2. utilizing excess offspring a sa food resource or helpers 3. having a reserve of offspring than can replace other that fail to survive or develop properly

Answer 76

* when resources available cant be predicted acurately: brood reduction in birds * when extra offsprings used as insurance: obligate siblicide in birds * facilitation: where siblings help feed other siblings

Answer 77

* between generations of siblings and within the same brood generation of siblings * now vs future and within current brood

Answer 78

* from an offspring perspective, it must be selfish as it values itself twice as related and highly as other siblings * but parents value each offspring the same * parent wants to equally invest in all offspring, but offspring wants a biased investment * this causes the optimal parental investment in the parent's perspective and in the offspring's perspective to be different

Answer 79

* a different between the optimal parental investment between the parents perspective and the offsprings perspective

Answer 80

* if the offsprings are <0.5 related * i.e different father * this will increase the conflict

Answer 81

* Parasitoids lay either single egg clutches (solitary parasitoids), or many eggs, sometimes hundreds (gregarious parasitoids) * Species laying clutches of 2-3 eggs are rare * Frequently, solitary parasitoid larvae are aggressive, and kill other larvae, whereas gregarious parasitoids are tolerant * Adaptation to inter-family competition? * Godfray showed that this can be explained as a resolution of sibling competition: * In very small families, the gain to an offspring of killing a single sibling may be large * Hence, selects for aggression when clutch size is small

Answer 82

* Oviparity – offspring produced in eggs normally laid outside parental body * Viviparity – offspring born live * Lecithotrophy: live offspring derive nutrition from a yolk sac * Matrotrophy: live offspring derive nutrition directly from the mother * Hypothesis that P-O conflict drives the evolution of viviparity because selection favours adaptations in offspring that enable manipulation of parents * Evidence: * Direct physiological and behavioural evidence of offspring manipulation of parents

Answer 83

* act of one eating its own offspring * in scissor tailed sergeant fish. during the last few days of parental care, they would eat some of their offsprings as it is costly to maintain parental care

Answer 84

* suckling in mammals. * leads to a compromisation * begging for more food: but this has to be moderated, as if too much, the parent might decide it is not worth investing in

Answer 85

* fitness interest of the parties differ * whether this conflict is realised, and what form this conflict takes depends on th exact fitness payoffs to each party

Answer 86

dependent on these 3 factors: 1. relatedness 2. resource value 3. costs of giving and receiving agression

Answer 87

it is a social behaviour with fitness consequences for actor and recipient

Answer 88

* due to kin selection adn hamiltons rule for altruism * rB-C>0 allows altruism to evolve * so agression will occur if selfish agressive behaviour causes negative benefit to recipient and negative cost to actor. * -rB+C>0 * when relatedness is high, less likely to be selfish, unless the benefit to the actor C is very big

Answer 89

* it is a game theory * The population can maintain both hawks and doves as long as the costs of fighting (for hawks) exceed the value of the resource. If the cost of fighting is low, or the value of the resource is very high, it always pays to be aggressive (a hawk). * Frequency-Dependent Selection: Hawks and doves are maintained at equilibrium frequencies by frequency-dependent selection. This means the fitness of a strategy depends on how common it is. If there are too many hawks, they are more likely to fight each other, which is costly and reduces their fitness compared to doves. If there are many doves, hawks can exploit this and win resources without the cost of fighting. * Equilibrium Frequencies: There’s an equilibrium point where the fitness of hawks equals the fitness of doves. If the proportion of hawks goes above this equilibrium, they are likely to fight other hawks, and the cost reduces their fitness below that of doves. If the proportion of doves is too high, hawks can always win resources without fighting, making their fitness higher than that of doves.

Answer 90

* a type of ESS strategy, which is conserved and works because it cannot be exploited by another strategy, as the components within this model are not sure how long the other will last * ESS: Probability of giving up is the same at any point in the fight * The cost to each individual increases with time spent in the contest. * The individual who is willing to endure the longest wins the resource. * Contestants incur costs due to time and energy spent in the contest, which detracts from other activities like foraging or looking out for predators. * fights r longer if resource is more valuable * RHP is the fighting ability of individual. RHP low = higher costs with fighting = give up first

Answer 91

* much like sampling * both sides gathering information about the fighting ability of the other * with more steps of gathering information, estimate becomes more accurate, but costs will also increase * individual will persist in testing as long as the value of resource is larger than the cost for sequentiall assessment * ESS= persist as long as value of resource > cost of assessment * when both have similar RHPs, then the fights will last longer and escalate further

Answer 92

1. how to care 2. why care 3. who cares 4. bad care

Answer 93

* preparation of nests and burrows, provisioning eggs with yolk, food reserves and feeding young

Answer 94

* because they require to feed the young, * if they failed, and only half the feeding occurs, the brood would simply not survive * however sometimes when during certain seasons of abundant food resources, the male leaves the female * male leaves because 1) internal fertilization the female cannnot leave, 2) male gain more to leaving than females

Answer 95

1. paternity certainty - external fertilization can assure paternal certainty hence in fish, male care occurs 2. order of gamete release: if internal fertilization or viviparity -> female care, as male can desert female. Actually more related to external or internal fertilization. Because in some fishes where sperm is released first, it is still male care 3. association: male care in fish is associated to male territorialality

Answer 96

* N.America and S.America passerine birds * N.America had larger clutch size but low survival * S.America had smaller clutch and larger survival * N.america cared more about current brood as it invested more into current production due to risky environment

Answer 97

* fitness is quantified into a currency, whereas it can be more than 'one currency' contributing * i.e fitness measured as energy intake, but can also be seen as reproductive success * phenotypic gambit: only looks at phenotypes, and assuming simple haploid genetics, we assume appearance due to NS, which sometimes isnt true, as it could j be genetic drift

Answer 98

* natural selection will select the most optimal behavior * the quantitative way to model animal behavior from a fitness perspective, and aim to predict and describe the fitness costs of animal behavior, proposing that the animal will perform the behavior/strategy with the highest benefits and lowest costs. * only consider individual fitness, * recent findings on combining optimality models and game theory model to predict group behaviour showing a compensation between the 2 models

Answer 99

* currency: what it chooses to maximise * constraints: limitations to this behaviour * decisions: considering the cost and benefits of this strategy in terms of evolution * optimality theory is often a trade off * often used in optimal foraging, optimal clutch size...etc

Answer 100

* dung flies optimal mating time: (marginal value theorem) * great tits clutch size: optimality between * handicap theory in peacocks eyespots/tails

Answer 101

foraging/mating in patchy environment: how can we take cost-benefit idea to predict how long an organism should stay in a patchy environment? * longer individual stays in patch, the less it will gain * hence better to move to another patch * longer transit time or if patch is poor in resources the longer they should spend foraging

Answer 102

* All individuals are free within habitat and have identical success rate to freely move to any habitat (no competition * Individual will settle in a habitat most suitable to it: move into ideal habitat * testing ideal free distribution: how ducks distribute themselves depending on the resources in different habitats: expectation for equal distribution to the best habitat/equal resources

Answer 103

* unique combination to produce a strategy given organisms invest its resources into developmental, reproduction and survival

Answer 104

* age of maturity: determines reproductive window of an organism * reproductive window: how long does it have to live after reproductive window? * frequency of reproduction: semelparous or iteoparous

Answer 105

* trilemma: 1. perennial iteoparity: reproduces over a long period of time and multiple times 2. annual semelparity: lives for a year, and reproduces a lot during that year 3. perennial semelparity: reproduces once, but also lives a long time (reproduces late)

Answer 106

* mice: optimizes reproduction byt not development or survival * greenland shark: invests a lot into survival but low in reproduction

Answer 107

* cross sectional or cohort studies

Answer 108

* annual semelparous should be the best strategy because it produces offspring to replace itself, maximising reproductive fitness in a short amount of time * why does evolution also favor perennial iteroparous at all? * Answer: not all resources allocated to reproduction, sometime allocated to other parts to maximise successful reproduction

Answer 109

1. cost of reproduction exists, and is usually very high 2. juveniles are fragile: they r much likely to die without care if annual semelparous 3. lack of stagfe specific density dependence: resources an adult can get from environment depends on its age. The more it age the bigger it gets the more resources it can get

Answer 110

* iteroparous: reproduces multiple times, and parent survives after birth * semelparous: reproduces once and dies after birth

Answer 111

* when reproductive costs/effort is high, should prioritise semelparous

Answer 112

* The ultimate trade-off is that of reproduction now, NO survival later (dies after reproduction) * however older = more resources = more chance of successful offspring * reproduce late when assume can survive till next year

Answer 113

* when environment is varying or scarce resources: better chance of reproducing for offspring to have a chance of surviving * maybe offspring has recombined good combo of alleles: similar to why sexual reproduction in uncertain environments

Answer 114

* allocate to reproduction

Answer 115

diverging strategies instead of direct competition  This means: When multiple species (or even multiple individuals of the same species) are in direct competition for the same resources in the same way, some will inevitably be outcompeted. However, if different species (or individuals) adopt divergent strategies—some prioritizing reproduction and others prioritizing survival—they can coexist without directly competing for the exact same niche. This divergence in strategies can reduce competition and allow multiple species or strategies to coexist in the same environment.

Answer 116

1. senescence is not aging 2. senescnece - grow older and los vitality with age

Answer 117

* make room strategy: make room for next gen. Separation of maintainence between soma cells and germ cells * mutation accumulation: accum mutation faster than we can cancel it * antagonistic pleiotropy: genes which are benficial early but bad for later life are selected by NS as it doesnt effect reproductive fitness * moulding senescence by natural selection * disposable soma: conflict whether allocate resources to maintenance of soma of reproduction

Answer 118

 Increase in mortality, and decrease in fertility are inevitable.  "Protected" mechanisms w protection species should evolve longer life spans.  Lifespan correlates with timing of reproduction.  Senescence begins immediately after sexual maturity.

Answer 119

1. bigger body = longevity in birds and mammals: bigger = more resources 2. flying species live longer than non flying species w/in mammals and birds: better at collecting resources and avoiding predation 3. violent live longer than non-violent 4. tree-living live longer 5. crepuscular (twilight) species have short lifespan (exposed to nocturnal and diurnal species) 6. sociality in naked mole rats can live for longer = they r eusocial species which cooperate very well to split resources

Answer 120

* measure survival ability and fertility * all go down with age

Answer 121

* outbreeding: assures genetic diversity, and prevents inbreeding depression/ cannot assure reproduction * inbreeding/self-fert: assure reproduction: can cause inbreeding depression * asexual: assure reproduction: but inbreeding depression, no genetic diversity

Answer 122

* high generation time = slower senescence

Answer 123

* senescence doesnt show in some species * some species increase in fertility with age, and decrease in mortality

Answer 124

1. immobility: dependent on pollinators and wind. 2. inbreeding depression: main selective force of outcrossing 3. reproductive assurance: combination of outcrossing and inbreeding to assure mating occurs if there is no pollinators

Answer 125

1. Dichogamy: separation of sexual organs in time. Insuring that stamens mature before/after carpels 2. Herkogamy: separation of sexual organs in space by physical barriers 3. dicliny: unisexual flowers 4. self incompatibility: genetic mechanism to prevent self-fertilization, plants can recgnize and reject their own pollen

Answer 126

1. pollinator rich region such as tropical forests: coevolve w pollinators 2. pollinator poor region: deserts: less coevolution

Answer 127

* Pollen tube cannot enter stigma surface is selfing, and pollen tube can enter stigma after out-breeding * due to the S locus: where it is highly polymorphic to allow more alleles for more mating opportunities * S alleles the same between (pollen & pistil) = incompatible * S alleles different between (pollen & pistil) = compatible * S locus located in non-recombination part of genome, to prevent hitchhiking and non-related genes

Answer 128

* GSI: gametophytic: it is when S-haplotypes are co-dominant in pistil, as long as one allele of the diploid on pistil, matches the haploid allele on pollen, then incompatible * SSI: dominance exists: in pollen the parent's genotype will determine which allele it has, and the pistil will also presen the dominant type

Answer 129

* SSI: Brassicaceae * GSI: poppy

Answer 130

* balancing/negative frequency selection * where the fitness of a phenotype or genotype decreases as it becomes more common * rare haplotypes (alleles) which are new due to new mutation is more advantage because it can mate w more individual in population * (no matches yet, as no other individual will have this haplotype, and has will be compatible) * immediate adv for new rare haplotypes * decreases in adv as it becomes more abundant and its percentage decreases due to SI

Answer 131

1. self recognition: once gene of S haplotype is a receptor on pistil, and a ligand on pollen. If they recognize each other, they inhibit fertilization/pollen tube growth 2. non-self recognition: receptor/molecules in pistil, recognizes that pollen contains non-self S haplotype. This causes proteins to inhibit the protein which inhibits pollen tube growth

Answer 132

1. brassicaceae: female SRK receptor, male: SCR/SP11 ligand 2. bind and recognize, and signalling cascase 3. inhibits pollen tube growth

Answer 133

* poppy * female PrsS receptor * male PrsS protein/ligand * bind and initiate calcium signalling which causes pollen cell death

Answer 134

* S-RNase: *  The S-RNase is a female component of the self-incompatibility system. It is an RNase enzyme, which means it can degrade RNA. * This enzyme is producedin style. * degrade the RNA of pollen tubes that have the same S allele (self-pollen). * Male F-box proteins- when recognize non-self it tags proteins for degradation via the ubiquitin pathway. * F-box proteins on pollen recognizes and binds non-self S-RNases, those that do not match the S allele of the pollen. * Non-self recognition for SI reaction * If the S-RNase recognizes the S allele in the pollen as a self-pollen allele, the S-RNase is not degraded * because the pollen's F-box proteins does not recognize the RNases as non-self, RNase not degraded

Answer 135

* females invest more into egg than males into sperms * anysogmay and isogamy * however, post-fertilisation, the parental care varies greatly between animals/ * this is dependent mostly on external or internal fertilisations. * external mainly leads to male parental care, whereas internal forces females to care

Answer 136

* mostly bi-parental * but in environments which are resource rich = male abandons female * this is because, female must stay because of internal fertilisation * also because males gain more from leaving = more mating opps

Answer 137

* gestation in females * often female only care * because mammals = viviparous offsprings which depend on them, and longer gestation * reproduce cost is high, so dont want to reproduce again

Answer 138

* mostly male * because it doesnt effect male mating opps, as it only has to guard territories

Answer 139

1. paternity certainty: with external fertilisation, much likeley to determine paternity 2. order of gamete release: not very correct nor relevant. Shows that even if males release sperm first in some fishes or if external fertilisation = release gametes tgt, male still take care of young 3. association: internal fertilistaion = female more associated w young. external fertilisation: eggs laid in male territory, defence for territory = defend young and attract females. doesnt give up opportunities

Answer 140

* females invest more into eggs when paired w attractive male

Answer 141

1. facultative siblicide in fur seal: when low resources, older sibling suckle and are nursed for longer, sometimes overlap w new borns. They would kill them, and starve them 2. obligate siblicide in pelicans: older sibling always kills younger sibling when 2 eggs are laid at once. reason to produce 2 eggs is in case the first one fails to hatch 3. sex ratio/kin selection in hymenoptera: female workers more related to their sisters than their brothers in single mating of queen bee. Hence it will sometimes remove egg of brothers, to cause a skewed sex ratio (both sibling conflict and parent offspring conflict)

Answer 142

1. in certain birds, they favor and allocate resources more to larger stronger eggs in unpredictable environments, 2. fillial cannibalism in sergeant fish, once brood has low chance of survival, it eats its offspring for future mating

Answer 143

1. sex ratio is 1:1 2. because if there was a skew in sex ratio. one sex would have more mating opps, and hence a fitness advntage, and hence the opposits sex would be favoured and this balances out this sex ratio 3. if one sex was more costly to produce, it would have more opportunities to mate (as low in abundance) and hence produce more of its offsprings. Hence a sex more costly to produce also brings for fitness benefits. and that the investment is actually the same

Answer 144

1. local resource competition: African bushbaby: bale biased sex ratio, because daughters would stay in same territory as mother, and hence compete w mpther for resouces. males would leave territory and not compete. 2. local amte competition: in wingless fig wasps: male fig wasps will kill other fig wasps to have chance to fertilise it sisters. doesnt occur in winged figwasps

Answer 145

* individuals skew sex ratio in response to parental conditions and environmental conditions

Answer 146

1. tawny owls: 2. breeding territories had female bias ratio when abundance of prey, in contrast male biased when low prey in breeding sites 3. because in prey abundance would directly effect resources and ability for female to reproduce, but didnt effect male reproduction

Answer 147

1. relatedness 2. resource value 3. cost of fighting

Answer 148

1. evolution of sterility 2. evolution of specialised castes

Answer 149

1. cooperative care of young more than j mother 2. sterile castes 3. overlap generations so mother, adult offspring and young offspring all alive 4. presence of specialised castes

Answer 150

1. breeders (male drone and female queen) 2. female workers ( they r determined if become new queen by nutrients in jelly) 3

Answer 151

1. if high related ness, and high enough B/C ratio

Answer 152

1. via subsocial route rather than parasocial route 2. offsprings remained in their natal nest to help mothers breed rather than independent breeding

Answer 153

1. haplodiploidy hypothesis 2. monogamous hypothesis

Answer 154

* unfertilised eggs (either from queen or female workers) = males * fertilised egg * the relatedness between worker female and sister - 0.75, as they share a haploid male, compared to a r of .5 if she produced her own daughter * HOWEVER: increased relatedness to sisters is cancelled by a decreased relatedness to brothers (which is also produced by the queen)/ * and even skewed sex ratio cannot explain the eusociality evolution

Answer 155

1. lifetime monogamy can greatly aid eusocial evolution as workers are all 0.5 related to own offspring adn mother's offspring 2. and even a slight benefit in helping rear mother's offsprings can promote cooperation 3. but experiment showed not all eusocial insects are monogamous 4. however, phylogenetic studies showed mongamous occurred first, and then polyandry

Answer 156

1. benefits of life assurance: even if a female dies during time it is raising a brood; cooperation assures some fitness return 2. food distribution: mole rate: allow more efficient of foraging food, and a more even food distribution.

Answer 157

1. queen -worker conflict: queen equally related and equally invest in all offspring so wants a 1;1 ratio 2. worked are more related to sisters (0.75) than brothers (0.25) hence want more sisters 3. workers invest 3 times investment into female biased. so drones acc have a greater reproductive success 4. only given if queen only mates once

Answer 158

* some colonies specialise in rpoducing males, some specialise in producing females * if queen multiplies its mating: workers a less related to their sisters. * hence workers favor females in nests where queen mate singly, vs males when they mate multiply

Answer 159

8 workers count how many times queen has mated or by variance of the smell in the workers workers will manipulate sex ratio by destroing males workers win most of the time, but queens sometimes win as well

Answer 160

* honeybee queens mate w multiple males * hence conflict * queen prefer her sons over grandsons * laying worker prefer her sons to her brothers * other workers prefer brothers (sons of queens) to their nephews * hence other workers police to help favor their brothers * queens and other workers supress reproduction by laying workers * in honeybees workers remove the eggs laid by other workers * kin selection theory: worker policing doesnt occurr when queen only mates once, as they would prefer nephews over sons of queens (0.365, 0.25) * hence policing is less common when queens mate once

Answer 161

* policing help select for altriusm because it decreases benefits for worker if their egg is going to be removed anyways

Answer 162

1. crows foraging strat on whels: crows need to select whelk and fly up to drop whelk to crack them. trade off between energy spent flying up, and success rate of cracking whelk. optimal is 5m at 2 drops. actual is 5.2 meters

Answer 163

1. birds w siblings = less honest, brids where parent likely to breed again = less honest 2. lactating and suckling in pups

MT Animal Behaviour Flashcards

(193 cards)