animal behavior exam 3 study

what do animals do when they cannot produce their own food?

foraging behavior

what predicts which decision an animal should make to maximize its fitness under a given set of conditions, the comparisons of actual and predicted behaviors shape our understanding of the behavior’s function?

optimality models (optimal foraging theory)

what are the three parts of optimality models?

decisions, currency, constraints

what are strategies that are available to animals, allows them to choose between food choices, and can be described as an animal simply performs one action out of a variety of alternatives?

decisions

what is a criterion used to compare the value of multiple different decisions, the best strategy would be the one that maximized the rate of intake, animals might minimize their time of forage, choice of currency can be important?

currency

what are the limits on the animals, includes particular nutritional needs, temperature, or light levels that affect an animal’s ability to forage effectively, and an animal can optimize its behavior only within a range of capabilities and needs?

constraints

what foraging model decides what type of prey a forager should eat?

diet selection model

what foraging model decides how long a forager stay in a food containing patch?

patch models

in the trapping of small rodents in New Jersey to learn about the feeding of barn owls, how much percentage was white footed mice and house mice?

90%

what percentage trapped was meadow voles?

5%

how much percentage of the owl’s diet was meadow voles?

70%

what was found in the study of barn owl’s diet?

not taking prey species in proportion to their abundance

how did crows open the larger clams?

dropping them on rocks

the crows only at about 50% of clams smaller than 29 mm, what clams did they eat 100% of?

32-33 mm

what does this graph show?

percentage of clams eaten increased with size

what was shown in the great tit experiment with different quantities of meal worms and times between quantities?

meal worms were eaten when more of them, or when time between meal worms increased

what are reasons that the foraging model is not perfect?

animals have to sample environment to gather information to make a good decision, need to select proper currency, selection of improper currency could result in behaviors not matching hypothesis or predictions

in the patch model, what would be better if food is rare, is called average richness of patches?

use all food in patch

in the patch model, what help choose between patches?

richness of patch, distance between patches

what should happen if travel time between patches increases?

time in patch should be maximized

what was shown in the test of patches on great tits?

tits spent more time in patches as travel time increased

what are animals that carry food back to a central location for storage or for feeding offspring called?

central place foragers

what are predicted to increase in central place foragers as travel time increases?

Time in patch, load size, selectivity

what is camouflage called?

crypsis

what happens when it becomes more dangerous to capture more profitable prey?

selectivity decreases

what happens when it is more dangerous to capture less profitable prey?

selectivity increases

what happens when highest quality patches usually have the greatest risk of predation?

foragers choose less rich patches

what are the changeable characteristics of individuals, such as hunger, age, or body size?

state

what will hungry scorpions do that well fed scorpions will not?

forage on bright nights

what ants live in texas and take leaves and other plant parts and grow fungi underground?

leaf cutter ants

what are two animals which build traps?

ant lions, spiders

what is the use of lures to capture prey called?

aggressive mimicry

what part of the body are the lures that fish have from?

modified first dorsal spine

what mimic signals of females of another species to attract males to eat?

fireflies

what mimic prey in the web of other species by vibrating the web and then eat the other species?

jumping spiders

what juvenile snake has a lure?

copperhead

what species use tools, such as rocks and sticks?

sea otters, chimpanzees, woodpeckers, crows

what is it called when foragers get information about food sources from one another, occurs in osprey, who watch their colony mates to learn where to find fish, forage in direction of successful birds, and this takes less time to find prey?

sharing information

what does this graph show?

directions of osprey returning with prey

what does this graph show?

time to capture prey decreases with more informed osprey

what is it called when some animals can take down larger and more dangerous prey when they hunt in groups?

cooperative hunting

lions use the hunt and stalk method of hunting, by hunting in groups, what two animals do they add to their diet?

giraffes and buffalo

what are the benefits of lions hunting together?

twice as successful, drive other predators and scavengers from food

what was shown in the experiment on why humans add spices to food?

decreases bacterial contamination

what is an action on the part of one organism that alters the behavior in another organism in a fashion that is adaptive to either one or both of the participants?

biological communication

what kind of communication is where both the receiver and sender benefit?

true communication

what kind of communication is where the sender benefits and the receiver is unaffected or harmed?

manipulation or deceit

what kind of communication is where the sender is unaffected or harmed, and the receiver benefits?

eavesdropping or exploitation

what is the physical form in which a message is coded for transmission through the environment?

signal

what kind of signal is all or nothing?

discrete

what kind of signal varies in intensity in proportion to the strength of the stimulus?

graded

what signal has short distance?

visual

what signal has long distance?

olfactory

what is an example of short lasting signals that fade rapidly?

olfaction alarm signals

what are some examples of long lasting signals, last entire breeding season?

bright plumage and antlers

what is combining 2 or more signals to indicate a new meaning?

composite signals

what is the sequence of displays called?

syntax

what did the upright ears of zebra show?

greeting

what means the same signal can have different meanings depending on what other stimuli are impinging the receiver?

context

what is the male lions roar used for?

maintain space between prides, aggressive display between males, maintain contact among pride members

what is communication about communication called, one display changes the meaning of those who follow, example being aggressive behaviors in play but have signals that show it is play?

metacommunication

what are functions of communication?

group spacing and communication, recognition, reproduction, aggression and social status

what signals are used in group spacing and coordination, maintain spacing in group, maintain contact with group members, and maintain distance between different groups?

calls, color patterns, chemical signals

what prevent attempted mating between different species?

species recognition

what is a geographically restricted subset of a population?

deme

what means species preferentially breed with members of their own deme (those who sound like them)?

deme recognition

what occurs mostly in social insects, signal is generally chemical, individuals in different castes are treated differently, queen gets preferential treatment, males receive less food from workers and may be driven off in times of scarcity?

class recognition

what is beneficial because animals often stay in the same area for a long time, prevents unnecessary response to neighbor, and white throated sparrows can recognize neighbors call and can associate it with their proper location?

neighbor recognition

what happens using chemical, auditory, and visual cues, and results in treating kin differently than unrelated individuals?

kin recognition

what means comparing your phenotype with the phenotype of a stranger to assess relatedness?

phenotype matching

what leads to correct species identification, assessment of potential mates condition, and coordinates the neuroendocrine system between sexes?

reproduction communication

how are aggression and social status calls beneficial?

reduce fights, save energy

what is a non serious fight between deer?

sparring

what are signals that convey honest information?

honest signals

what may small or weak individuals benefit by, indicates strength regardless of ability?

bluffing

as mimics become more common, natural selection would favor what individuals, leads to spread of honest signals?

those who ignored mimics

honest signals are used to evaluate competitors before possible aggression, and are energetically expensive why?

weak cannot mimic

what means illegitimate signalers use deception to reduce fitness of receiver?

deception

what is the thought that the cost of maladaptive response (being deceived) is less than the positive fitness gain associated with response?

exploitation theory

what use vocalization and chemicals to alert group members to danger?

alarm

what do vervet monkeys do when they hear leopard alarm calls?

climb trees

what do vervet monkeys do when they hear eagle alarm calls?

look up

what happens with the young in belding’s ground squirrel?

females remain with mothers, males disperse

how does the warning call to others benefit the caller in the ground squirrel, adult and yearling females more likely to call than males, females with relatives more likely to call than females without relatives?

increases indirect fitness

what are the biotic and abiotic conditions of a site called?

habitat

what is choosing where to live?

habitat selection

what is often an automatic reaction to key aspects of the environment?

choice

female aphids feeding on the leaves of cottonwood trees have a larger success while feeding on larger leaves, what does the feeding on leaves cause?

galls

what can prevent a species from occupying an apparently suitable habitat?

behavior

why do tree pipits not use treeless areas?

end aerial song on perch

what is the ability of an animal to spread everywhere quickly?

dispersal ability

what factors can restrict habitat use?

dispersal, behavior, other organisms, physical and chemical

what is an organisms habitat and functional role in the community?

niche

what is the full range of conditions and resources in which a species can maintain a viable population (in absence of competition)?

fundamental niche

what is in the presence of competing species a species will be restricted to a narrower niche?

realized niche

what are the main factors that limit the distribution of life on earth?

temperature and moisture

what are some important physical factors?

light, soil structure, fire

what are some important chemical factors?

oxygen, soil nutrients, pH

what means leave site of birth or social group, traverse unfamiliar environment, or settle into a new location or social group?

dispersal

what is the cost of inbreeding, can be described as reduced reproductive success and survival of offspring from closely related parents compared to offspring of unrelated parents, caused by the homozygosity of inbred offspring and the resulting expression of deleterious recessive alleles?

inbreeding depression