Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Sem 2: Behavioural ecology > Week 1 > Flashcards

Week 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What are examples of behaviour in animals?

A

Waggle dance in bees - direction and distance of food
Defensive behaviours - desert rain frog high pitched sound and puffed up
Grooming - Ants frequently cleaning to prevent Zombie ant fungus from breaking through shell
Mating - Peacock spider dancing to show sexual interest and that it is not a threat

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is behavioural ecology?

A

A discipline that attempts to explain the survival and reproductive value (i.e. evolutionary significance) of behavioural traits
This is studied from the perspective of natural evolutionary adaptation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are things are included as behaviours?

A

Muscular activity
Non muscular processes
Cognitive processes eg Learning

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What are examples of pure research questions?

A

Why do males exist?
Why is there huge variation in sperm behaviour form and function?
What shapes male and female reproductive behvaiour?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Why do males exist?

A

Males give rise to sexual selection
Sexual selection is where competition and choice operates in reproduction
Could be important for creating a healthy gene pool. Can be argued that it makes an unhealthy gene pool through sexual conflict

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

How was the importance of males studied?

A

Evolved triboleum- flower beetles, a new generation every month – evolved over 7/6 years
Then looked at genetic quality, looked at impact under inbreeding cycles
High sexual selection lines resisted extinction, sexual selection improved the gene pool

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What are examples of sperm behaviour?

A

How do sperm meet eggs and do the eggs have any controle over that?
Eggs gave an egg fluid coating – how does egg fluid influence sperm behaviour

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

How did they examine egg fluid coating influencing sperm behaviour?

A

Salmon egg with salmon ovarian fluid had high fertilisation success with salmon sperm
Salmon egg with trout ovarian fluid had low fertilisation success with salmon sperm
Trout egg with trout ovarian fluid had high fertilisation success with trout sperm
Trout egg with salmon ovarian fluid had low fertilisation success with trout sperm

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What are examples of applied research questions?

A

How does mating pattern protect against extinction?
How does inbreeding impact on reproduction and fitness?
How does climate change affect male and female fertility?
What is the reproductive impact of escaped farmed salmon?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

How did they test for mating patterns influencing vulnerability to extinction vortex?

A

Group 1 = High sexual selection (10 females to 90 males)
Group 2 = Low sexual selection (90 females to 10 males)
Allowed to reproduce then exposed to 5 cycles under different stresses eg nutritional (no yeast), thermal stress (38C) and a genetic bottleneck)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

How did sexual selection influence vulnerability?

A

Strong sexual selection background consistently outperform the weak sexual selection background

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

How did heatwaves impact male fertility in Tribolium beetles?

A

Reproductive output of males in a heatwave 5 days at 5 -7 degrees above the optimum
Orange bars are post heatwave males – halves their reproductive output
A second heatwave makes them go sterile.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What were the results in mixing wild and farm salmon?

A

Crosses between farm ans wild male and female do as well as each other

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What sections of evolution form behavioural ecology?

A

Genetic selfishness and optimal efficiency

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

How does ecology impact behavioural ecology?

A

Ecology comes into play because the way behaviour contributes to survival depends on ecology

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What are the fundemental themes of behavioural ecology?

A

1- Evolutionary selection maximises gene survival, so individuals – as vehicles for genes – are selected to behave to maximise fitness
2- Fitness measures the relative success of behaviours, traits and genes that reproduce offspring and their genes into future generations
3- The optimal behaviour needed to maximise fitness will be efficient, and depend on the environment and the behaviour of others

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What are the key traits of evolutionary fitness?

A

1 - An evolutionary currency which allows behaviours / traits / genes to be evaluated in the natural environment
2 - A simplified measure of how much a behaviour / trait / gene contributes to survival and reproductive success
3 - A gene or behaviour with fitness will help individuals carrying or expressing it to achieve high reproductive success… so it will be selected into the future

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What feeding behaviours influence fitness?

A

How, where and when to search for food?
What type of food to eat and how much?
Forage alone or in a group?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What survival behaviours influence fitness?

A

How, much effort to be vigilant, and by who?
Be cryptic, or signal?
How and when to escape?
Who to help, and how much?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What territorial behaviour influence fitness?

A

Defend a territory?
How large?
What type?
Where?
When?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What reproductiove behaviour influence fitness?

A

How and when to reproduce?
How to impress a mate?
Which mate to choose?
How many mates to choose?
How much effort to invest in offspring?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is behviour optimality?

A

Evolution ‘tries’ to make behaviour perfect

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What can prevent optimal behaviour?

A

Genetic mutation, linkage or pleiotropy (imperfect variants, beneficial genes linked to deleterious / alternative genes)
Trade offs and ecological interactions
Competition and conflict
Environmental mismatch
Evolutionary lag

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What assists phenotypic variation?

A

Mutation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What are the types of phentotypic variation?

A

Physical, physiological and behavioural

26
Q

What is the process of evolution?

A

Phenotypic variation in a population – assisted by mutation
The variance is heritable through genetics
Survival / reproduction success is influenced by phenotypes
Individuals compete to survive and reproduce – many fail
Successful individuals perpetuate the genes for good phenotypes
Phenotypes with high fitness are selected to continue

27
Q

What is the case study of beak evolution?

A

Beak variation in a population – assisted by mutation
Survival / reproduction success is influenced by beak shape / size / colour / strength
Successful individuals perpetuate the genes for good beaks
Different beak shapes for different niches

28
Q

What is the difference between evoluton and behaviour evolution?

A

Behaviour evolution is the same as evolution but with behaiours not physical traits

29
Q

What is an example of wasp hive behaviour?

A

Guarding the entrance to the hive, can recognize when the hive gets too hot and use wing fanning to cool it, communicate into the hive to draw individuals out to help

30
Q

What are the 3 main components for a behavioural response?

A

Sense organ
Neuronal/Hormal
Muscle

31
Q

What is the definition of a sense organ?

A

Gather information about physical, chemical and biologial environment

32
Q

What is an example of a sense organ in moths?

A

Silk moth antennae - pheromone detection - can detect pheromones up to 30 miles away form female

33
Q

How does a mammal ear sense things?

A

Tympanic membrane absorbs sound

34
Q

What is an example of a touch/ air movement receptor in arthropods?

A

Sensili on the back of an arthropod – attached to a nervous system, hairs pick up info on air movement or touch

35
Q

Where is and what is the function of the stretch receptor?

A

Stretch receptor sitting on the outside of a females sperm storage organ, when the storage organ is full the stretch receptor is full the female stops mating and moves onto lay eggs.

36
Q

What is the hierarchical complexity of eyes?

A

Simple photo receptor organ – is it light or dark?
Move to photo receptor that sits in a cavity – so detect directional component of light
Moce to exadurated chamber, narrower opening means more sophisticated range of directionality
Retina development, wider range of photoreception – can start to get images rather then the direction of light vs dark
Development of a lens – image can become focused and more detailed to individual photo receptors
Human eye, lens, iris to control the amount of light, deep retina with photo cells, complex optic nerve

37
Q

What is a basic mechanism of nerves?

A

Action potential (electrochemical flux) passes down the neuron from dendrite/sense organ and generates release of neurotransmitter into the next neuron/neuromuscular junction

38
Q

What is the function of concentrated nerves?

A

Concentrated ganglia/brains allow information storage

39
Q

What are two examples of different complexity of nervous systems?

A

Build from simple neural net in hydra
To compex nerves dissected out of a human

40
Q

What is the overview of the complexity of nerve transmission and information storage?

A

Nerves are relatively simple in themseleves but it can be much more complex if you incorporate hormonal systems that can influence nerve transmission an storage, speed up slow down attenuate it
Brains have millions of neurons stored in the brain which allow processing and storage to happen – memory

41
Q

What is a case study of hormones influence sexual behaviour?

A

Mating behaviour in female rats
If not much oestrogen then behaviour is aggressive to males
If lots of oestrogen, then fertile then submission

42
Q

What is the overview of muscles?

A

Simple structures that can form complex articulating organisms
Motors that allow physical movement and behaviour

43
Q

What are muscles made from?

A

Myosin and actin sliding against each other
Individual fibers are comprised within myofibril – which make mucles cells – make muscles - multiple mucles work within an organ or limb

44
Q

What is an overview of reflex?

A

Stereotypical and automatic unit of behaviour
Simple stimulus and neural pathway
Form is constant, consistent and usually momentary

45
Q

What is an example of a reflex?

A

With knee tap – stretch muscle fibres and ligaments, nervious system picks it up though to the spinal chord which then tells the musle to contract
Knee jerk reflex is an automatic way of how to walk – done unconsciously, knee jerk reflex is telling you how to balance and walk and run

46
Q

What is an overview of fixed action patterns?

A

Innate and stereotypical behaviour/ repertoire
More complicated neural control and stimuli
More prone to vary in relation to context and habituation

47
Q

What is an example of fixed aciton patterns?

A

Predation evasion flight of moths
Bats use echo location – high frequency sound reflected off objects and allows it to have a visual picture in the dart
Bats use reflected sound
Moths need to be aware of the sound – moths have a fixed action pattern to evade bats.

48
Q

How does moth detection of bat echolocation work?

A

Pick up a high frequency call sound on their thorax ear – tympanic membrane – evolved to be sensitive to the frequency of sound of the bat
Moth moved into erratic diving flight to avoid bat when they hear the bat

49
Q

How have certain moths evolved to counter adaptation to predation?

A

Moths have also evolved a counter adaptation to predation
Tiger moths – can jam sound of the bats echo location as it comes into predate the moth
Emit a sound using a timble – sound producing organ jams the ability of the moth to echo locate

50
Q

How did scientists show the importance of the timble?

A

Moths with silenced timble, moths get contacted and eaten
Moths with the timble generally avoid being eaten

51
Q

What is another example of a moth jamming echolocation?

A

Hawkmoths can also jam bats echoloctation using their genitalia
Genitalia on abdomen to make jamming sound

52
Q

What can impact fixed action pattern response to feedback?

A

Frequency / intensity of fixed action patterns can vary due to internal and external factors

53
Q

What is an example of fixed action patterns linking up, each an interacting stimulus generating a stereotypical series of even more complex behaviour?

A

Mating and nesting patterns in sticklebacks
Female appears with swollen belly – male stimulated
Female attracted to redness of male
Reproductive courtship – signals by swimming to the nest
Female follows male
Male shows entrance to the nest
Male encourages female into the nest and prods her to stimulate her that this is a great nest
Female enters nest, drops eggs and male follows the female to fertilise the eggs.
Joins up to compex series of behaviour

54
Q

What is the overview of the sophistication of behaviours?

A

Derives from simple fundamental structures: sense-nerve-muscle
Systems can be built from simple reflexes to hierarchically complex interacting behaviour

55
Q

What are examples of hunting behaviours with different complexities?

A

Hydra simple predation on daphnia - Catching it Stinging it, absorbing I eating it.
African wild dog coordinating hunting so that they switch form being the lead to a more resting run

56
Q

What are Tinbergens four questions?

A

Causation
Development
Evolution
Function

57
Q

What are Tinbergens four questions for bird songs?

A

Causation – how air flows through vocal apparatus to make song
Development – genetic disposition to learn song from parents
Evolution – how does this behaviour arise in the species? How song had evolved in songbirds from their avian ancestors. The most primitive living birds make very simple sounds, so it is reasonable to assume that the complex songs of starlings and other song birds have evolved from simpler ancestral calls
Function – why is this behaviour adaptive for the species?Songbirds sing to attract mates for breeding, and so singing increases the reproductive success of males

58
Q

Which of the Tinbergens four questions do behavioural ecologist focus on?

A

Behavioural ecology focuses on the adaptive function of behaviours, and how they impact survival and reproductive success

59
Q

Why do birds sing complex?

A

Because day length triggers hormonal changes and/or air flowing through their syrinx makes membranes vibrate
Because their genes code for an instinctive response to a change in hormone concentration
Because they have learnt song from their parents/conspecific
Because their ancestors had simple songs that became more complex over time
Because complex song attracts mates and drives competitors away

60
Q

What are proximate questions?

A

Descriptions & explanations based on immediate cause and mechanism (stimuli, genetics, hormones, experience)

61
Q

What are ultimate questions?

A

Explanations based on survival/reproduction value or functions in nature

62
Q

What are examples of ultimate evolutionary questions?

A

What is the adaptive significance of a particular behaviour or trait?
What is the fitness value of that behaviour?
Why did that behaviour or trait evolve?
Why do other species exhibit similar or different behaviours or traits?
Why does that behaviour change under those circumstances?

Sem 2: Behavioural ecology (11 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions