Animal Behavior and Social Interaction

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to animal behavior, social interactions, and mating strategies discussed in the lecture notes.

Peter Principle

The concept that employees in a hierarchy are promoted until they reach a level of incompetence.

Solitary Foraging

A foraging strategy in which an animal seeks food by itself.

Group Foraging

A foraging strategy where animals hunt for food in groups, allowing them to take down larger or more aggressive prey.

Foraging Behavior

Behavior associated with searching for food, influenced by cost-benefit analysis.

Auto-communication

Communication where an individual provides information to itself, such as bats using echolocation.

Inclusive Fitness

A concept that considers the number of offspring an organism has, how they support those offspring, and how they support each other.

Assortative Mating

Non-random mating where individuals with similar phenotypes or traits mate more frequently than expected.

Dis-assortative Mating

A form of mating where individuals with different or diverse traits mate more frequently.

Evolutionary Game Theory

A theory that explains decision-making in terms of survival and reproduction in a social context.

Altruism

Behavior that benefits other individuals at a personal cost, which can increase the fitness of the group.

Anthropomorphism

The attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities, often used to interpret animal behavior.

Chemical Signals

Communication through chemical substances released into the environment, such as pheromones, used for mating or signaling food.

Peter Principle

The concept that employees in a hierarchy are promoted until they reach a level of incompetence.

Solitary Foraging

A foraging strategy in which an animal seeks food by itself.

Group Foraging

A foraging strategy where animals hunt for food in groups, allowing them to take down larger or more aggressive prey.

Foraging Behavior

Behavior associated with searching for food, influenced by cost-benefit analysis.

Auto-communication

Communication where an individual provides information to itself, such as bats using echolocation.

Inclusive Fitness

A concept that considers the number of offspring an organism has, how they support those offspring, and how they support each other.

Assortative Mating

Non-random mating where individuals with similar phenotypes or traits mate more frequently than expected.

Dis-assortative Mating

A form of mating where individuals with different or diverse traits mate more frequently.

Evolutionary Game Theory

A theory that explains decision-making in terms of survival and reproduction in a social context.

Altruism

Behavior that benefits other individuals at a personal cost, which can increase the fitness of the group.

Anthropomorphism

The attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities, often used to interpret animal behavior.

Chemical Signals

Communication through chemical substances released into the environment, such as pheromones, used for mating or signaling food.

Hamilton's Rule

A mathematical model for kin selection and altruism stating that altruistic behavior is favored when rB > C: - $r$: Genetic relatedness between the actor and the recipient. - $B$: The benefit received by the recipient. - $C$: The cost incurred by the actor.

Optimal Foraging Theory

An ecological model predicting that animals forage in a way that maximizes the net energy intake per unit of time ($E/T$).

Intersexual Selection

A form of sexual selection, often called mate choice, where individuals of one sex (usually females) select mates based on specific traits such as plumage or displays.

Intrasexual Selection

Competition between members of the same sex (usually males) for access to mates, often involving physical combat or ritualized displays of strength.

Evolutionarily Stable Strategy (ESS)

A behavioral strategy that, if adopted by most members of a population, cannot be bettered or invaded by any alternative strategy under the given conditions.

Reciprocal Altruism

An organism acts in a manner that temporarily reduces its fitness while increasing another organism's fitness, with the expectation that the other organism will act in a similar manner at a later time.

Fisherian Selection (Runaway Selection)

A positive feedback mechanism where a particular trait becomes more exaggerated over generations because it is preferred by the opposite sex, even if it does not provide a direct survival advantage.

Honest Signaling

A concept in communication where a signal accurately conveys the underlying quality or state of the sender (e.g., a gazelle's stotting indicating high energy levels to a predator).