chapter 50- behavioral ecology

behavior

a response to a stimulus

organismal ecology

the study of how organisms interact with their physical/biological environments

behavioral ecology

study of the behavioral adaptations that evolved in response to ecological selection pressures

proximate causation

how actions occur

ultimate causation

why actions occur

innate behavior

genetically inherited; tend to be inflexible to environmental changes

fixed-action patterns

highly inflexible, innate behavior like sneezing/yawning

learning

adaptive behavioral strategy in changing or unpredictable environments

capacity to learn

genetic basis, varies among individuals

foraging

food-seeking behavior

rover allele

favored at high population density, more likely to find unused food patches

sitter allele

favored at low population density; don’t waste energy looking for food

optimal foraging

hypothesis that animals maximize their feeding efficiency

how do arctic fur seals optimize foraging?

adjusting duration and location of each dive dependent upon prey density

how do bumblebees optimize flight paths?

among flowers to minimize overall distance traveled

piloting

movement using visual cues and familiar landmarks

compass orientation

movement oriented in a specific direction

true navigation

movement based on the ability to locate a specific place on earth’s surface

waggle dance in honeybees

length proportional to food distance, direction of dance w/ the sun

altruism

concern for others; decreases an animal’s ability to produce offspring but helps others

kin selection

natural selection of a behavior that may decrease the chance of survival for an individual but increases that of their kin (black-tailed prairie dogs perform alarm calling)

hamilton’s rule

altruistic behavior is most likely when

1. fitness benefits of altruistic behavior are high for the recipient

2. altruist and recipient are close relatives

3. fitness costs to the altruist are low

direct fitness

derived from an individual’s own offspring

indirect fitness

derived from helping relatives produce more offspring than they could produce on their own

inclusive fitness

combination of direct and indirect fitness components

reciprocal altruism

exchange of fitness benefits separated in time

self-sacrificing alleles

not able to evolve by natural selection