Animal Behavior Lecture Exam 3

Flashcards for Animal Behavior Lecture Exam 3

Parental Investment

Any parental expenditure that benefits the offspring at the cost of the parents’ ability to invest in other aspects of their own fitness

R. Trivers' Idea

The gender that provides more care to the offspring becomes the limiting resource while the other gender will compete for that resource

Indirect Parental Care

Indirect parental care mechanisms are used by one gender to evaluate how the other gender can provide long term gains when choosing a mate.

Direct Parental Care

Building a den or nest, feeding the young, defending critical resources, and defending the young from predators

Intrabrood Conflict

A conflict between members of the current brood

Obligate Siblicide

Siblicide which will occur regardless of the number of resources available to the competing offspring

Residual Reproductive Value Model

Model that evaluates the tradeoffs between reproduction, investing energy into the offspring, and investing energy into growth and fitness by the parent

Equation for Residual Reproductive Value Model

Current Reproduction + Residual Reproductive Value

Reproductive Strategy

A species likely to only reproduce once during its lifetime is expected to invest a greater percent of its energy into that reproductive event

Parental Care in Mammals

Female Only Parental Care

Factor Affecting Male Sunfish Parental Energy

Certainty of Paternity

Potential Reproductive Rate

Maximum number of offspring that each parent can produce per unit time

Brood Parasitism

Manipulation and use of host individuals, either of the same or different species, to raise the young of the other animal

Most Common Form of Monogamy

Social Monogamy

Social Monogamy Defined

An overtly observed living arrangement where a male and female share territory and engage in behavior indicative of a social pair, but does not imply any particular sexual fidelity or reproductive pattern

Polygyny

One male having exclusive mating rights to more than one female

Polygamous Systems

In polygamous systems where one male has exclusive mating rights to more than one female there is a strong selective pressure on the male to provide little to no parental care.

Resource Defense Polygyny

The male defending something that the females require access to for their own mating needs

Polygyny Threshold Hypothesis

Mating is beneficial to females when the benefits achieved by mating with a high quality male and by gaining access to his resources increase her reproductive fitness over the costs involved

Sexy Son Hypothesis

A female’s ideal mate choice among potential mates is one whose genes will produce male offspring with the best chance of reproductive success

Fastest Form of Communication

Vision

Audition

Sends a complex message, travels quickly, can travel a great distance, and can work well in dense forests or at night

Chemical Communication

The stimulus must be in solution for reception to occur

Tactile Communication

Rapidly transmitted, of short duration, and makes it easy to identify the sender of the signal, however, it cannot be complex and so conveys limited information

Electrical Communication

Found only in aquatic species

Infrasound

Sounds that are below the normal range of human hearing

Stridulation

The animal rubbing specialized body parts together

Substrate Vibrations

Uses seismic signals

Odor Mosaic

An olfactory signal that is a complex mixture of chemicals (glandular secretions, urine, feces) that can be used by conspecifics to identify the sender

Taste Communication

Works best in water

Pheromonal Communication

Uses a vomeronasal organ in some vertebrates

Aerial Chemoreception

Detection of chemical signals through the air

Tactile Communication

Includes allogrooming

Releaser

Pheromones that will trigger a short-term change such as the release of neurotransmitters

Primer

Pheromones that will trigger a change in certain developmental events of the recipient

Aggregation

Pheromones that will cause conspecifics to come together (for multiple purposes)

Redundant Communication

Messages produce the same response in the recipient each time it is received

Multimodal Communication

A signal that employs more than one mode of communication, such as contact transmission coupled with olfaction, to send a message

Round Dance

Communicate the location of a food source that is less than 30m from the hive

Dishonest Signals

If the sender of the signal and the recipient of the signal have matching goals, a signal is NOT likely to be dishonest

Dishonest Signals and Production Costs

If the signal is expensive to produce, a signal is likely to be HONEST

Dishonest Signals and Handicap Principle

If the signal follows the Handicap Principle, a signal is likely to be HONEST

Dishonest Signals and Sender Identification

If the sender of a dishonest signal cannot be identified, a signal is likely to be dishonest

Dishonest Signals and Assessment Costs

If the signal is costly to assess by the recipient, a signal is likely to be dishonest

Sender Driven Evolution

Focuses on the characteristics of the sender of the signal

Receiver Bias Mechanisms

Favored by Comparative Psychologists

Ritualization

Favored by Ethologists

Ritualization (Communication)

Involves intention movements, autonomic responses, and displacement activities

Intention Movements

Locomotory movements

Displacement Activity

Motor activities that occur when an animal experiences high motivation for two or more conflicting behaviors. The resulting behavior is usually unrelated to the competing motivators.

Emancipation

That motor activity has been divorced from its original purpose and is now used only for communication

Sensory Drive

The receiver’s characteristics are shaped by the environment that they live in

Sensory Exploitation

The signal will exploit an aspect of the receiver’s sensory system

Sensory Bias

Ties in with the idea of sensory bias that we discussed under mating behaviors

Physical Characteristics of Senders

Larger animal can afford to produce larger signaling structures

Agonistic Behavior

Any social behavior related to fighting

Stealing Food Example

Aggression

Aggression

Only intraspecific

Agonistic Behavior (Hierarchies)

The establishment and maintenance of social hierarchies in group living species

Agonistic Behavior Example

A beachmaster elephant seal driving a rival male from his harem

Challenge Hypothesis

Outlines the dynamic relationship between testosterone levels and aggression/agonistic behavior, particularly regarding mating behaviors

Hormone that Regulates Behavior During Times the Testes Do Not Produce Testosterone

DHEA

Threat Display

Any behavior that signifies hostility or intent to attack

Result of Indecisive #66 (Threat Display)

Agonistic Fighting

Submissive Display

A behavior where an individual indicates by an act or posture that it will not challenge a dominant individual in a social group

Territory vs Home Range

An animal will defend a territory from conspecifics

Being Alert to Neighbors

Reduce the overall fitness cost of maintaining a territory

Cost of Living in Groups

Increased interspecific competition

Altruism

A behavior by an individual that reduces its own inclusive fitness while increasing the fitness of the recipient of the behavior/action

Kin Selection

A behavior by an individual that reduces its own direct fitness while potentially increasing its indirect fitness because of who it is assisting

Coefficient of Relatedness

R

Coefficient of Relatedness Value

0.5

Reproductive Cost of the Action

C

Aspect of Kin Selection

Indirect Fitness

Location

Can lead to false kin recognition if the mother has adopted

Phenotype Matching

Shared physical traits

Reciprocal Altruism Limitation

There is an expectation of repayment

Reciprocal Altruism Proposer

R. Trivers

Alarm Calls In Belding's Ground Squirrels Example

Altruism

Cooperative Mate Acquisition in the Long Tailed Manakin Belief

Currently it is undetermined

Cooperative Rearing of the Young

Causes the helpers to increase their indirect fitness in the short term with the potential for increased direct fitness later in life resulting in an increase in inclusive fitness

Highest Level of Social Organization

Eusocial

Coined the term Eusocial

Wilson

Extreme Form of Eusocial

Kin Selection

Is not considered a requirement for Eusocial

Polygyny

Haplodiploid

The genetic term used for “supersisters” in a bee hive that share ~75% of their genes