Behavioral Ecology Exam 4

ZOO425 Exam 4

mutualism

benefits both parties immediately

kin selection

the evolution of characteristics that favor the survival (and reproduction) of close relatives of the affected individual

direct fitness

genes contributed by an individual via personal reproduction in the bodies of surviving offspring (a relative’s offspring)

indirect fitness

genes contributed by an individual via survival in the bodies of offspring of a related individual (a relative’s offspring)

coefficent of relatedness ®

the pathway that connects focal individuals

alarm calls

who calls - females
who are called to - offspring and other kin

direct reciprocity

prisoner’s dilemma

the prisoner’s dilemma

T>R>P>S

ESS - always defect (to avoid S)

Tit-for-tat strategy

starts with cooperation and then follows whatever move the other player used the next time

• retaliation for defections

• forgiving because it has a one move memory

tit-for-tat strategy

w = c/b

w

the probability of the two players interacting again

non-linear relationships

ex. vampire bats utility curve

indirect reciprocity (reputation)

reputation based on the last observed interactionsup

upstream indirect reciprocity

A helps B who helps C

downstream indirect reciprocity

indirect reciprocity

q > c/bq

q

the probability of knowing someone’s reputation

requirements for reciprocity

1. able to recognize individuals

2. information storage

   1. what someone did

   2. reputation

3. communication medium

   1. information transfer to learn about reputations

4. may select for strategic thinking including tactics of deception

   1. artificially changing reputations

5. may be most effective in certain sized groups

social brain hypothesis

positive correlation between group size and neocortex (the part of the brain associated with social systems and remembering individuals) ratio

E.O. Wilson’s definition of communication

the action on the part of one organism that alters the probability pattern of behavior in another organism in a fashion adaptive to either one or both of the participantsB

Bradbury and Vehrencamp’s definition of communication

the provision of information that can be utilitzed by a reciever to make a decision… an exhange of a signal between a sender and receiver to the benefit of both parties

lack of response

possible reasons:

• received the signal?

• understand the signal?

• ignore the signal?

components of communication

attenuation

reduction in the detectability of a signal (weakened)de

degredation

the quality of the signal is reduced and information content is alterned (changed or corrupted)

functions of communication

• recognition (neighbors, kin, intruders)

• reproduction (attracting mates, displaying social statuses)

• alarm

• foraging or food location

types of signals

• chemical

• auditory

• visual

• tactile

communication example

bee waggle dance

chickadee communication example

differences in alarm calls

• whether predators are moving or stationary

• wingspan’s negative correlation with the “D” note in a call

illegitimate receivers (“evesdroppers”)

the use of a signal’s information to their own benefits, often to the detriment of the original senders and receivers

• ex. aggressive mimicry

• ex. predatory firefly flashes to mimic another species mating flashes

• ex. predatory assassination bugs and spider web vibration frequency peaks and the spider’s response to the mibrations

plant communication

interspecies and intraspecies signalling with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and identifying signals (VOCs)

• detecting VOCs mean that a plant nearby was attacked and it could be that plant itself (slow nervous system)

• suggests it was evolved long time ago

changed behaviors of introduced species

• behavioral flexibility

• loss of aggression - evolutionary change promoting invasives

  • ex. fire ants - within their home range they have monogiant colonies (1 queen) and invaded ranges have polygiant colonies (miltiple queens)

• ex. increased bird brain sizes makes the birds more adapted to invasions

bullfrog and red-legged frogs

in populations where the species overlap, the red-legged have refuge behaviors to avoid predation

• possible conservation for non-overlapping species by introducing overlapping red-legged into the other population to “jump start” evolution/behavior changes

introduced species as evolutionary traps

• not recognized as dangerous

• creates novel environments

solutions to reduce extinction of invasive-induced evolutionary traps

• provide refuge to dampen population declines and allow for time for evolution

• move populations of prey species with the invaded species into a population without the invaded species to “jump start” evolution

honeysuckle and buckthorn

• possibly change temp, microclimate, food sources, refuge

• effect on human health

  • mosquito oviposition - decreased mosquitoes with increased invasions (even in grassy habitats)

  • tick-borne diseases (lone star tick) - increased invasion increases deer populations which increases ticks

    • found in both observation and experiment

• seasonal behavior chagnes

  • increased floor cover (refuge) - increases mice populations

  • chipmunk torpor

landscape

the mosaic of habitat patches in which a particular habitat patch (the focal patch) is embedded

• differs between organisms and depends on the scale

scaling up

individuals —> populations —> communities —> ecosystems/landscapes/biospheres

landscape ecology

understanding how spatial distributions of habitats in landscapes effect ecological processes

functional connectivity

the degree a landscape facilitates and impedes organism’s movements among patches

area sensitivity

the size of the patch affects the patch occupancy

• smaller patches hold smaller populations and larger patches hold larger populations

perceptual range

the amount of the environment the individual knows or can determine

determining perceptual range

releasing an individual a certain distance from a preferred habitat and observing where the individual goes

natal habitat preference induction (NHPI)

an individual will seek patches that are similar to it’s natal habitat

• individual knows that it can survive in a patch similar to the one it grew up in (even if it’s not the best habitat)

conspecific attraction

whether to settle in a patch increases if another conspecific is already in the patch (may be more likely to meet survival and reproductive needs)

behavior at habitat boundaries and patch use

patch edges (perimeter), patch cores (area), and matrix (outside of patches)

the corridor project

looked at patch and corridor use within different patch geometries

• butterfly edge behaviors - increased use when there is an increased edge-adverse turning

• deer patch movements - deer move parallel to edges and less likely to exit through an edge

• birds - follows edges

animal movements can cause plant movements as well

• pollinations

• seed dispersals

combining conspecific attraction and NHPI

cactus bugs and foraging behaviors

• males always prefer solitary foraging, no matter if raised socially or solitary

• females prefer what they were raised in

threats of biodiversity loss to humans

loss of ecosystem services and processes, humans are reliant on other species (one organism’s solutions may be our solutions)

trophic cascades

decrease of bigger animals due to needing bigger habitats, food sources, human conflicts, and life histories

• ex. fox removals and sea bird effecting vegetation, Yellowstone wolves, sea otters

threats to biodiversity

habitat degradation (destruction and modification), climate change, altered disturbance regimes, invasive species, overexploitation, disease

global changes

climate, habitat loss and fragmentation

changes in behavior as environment changes

all types of behaviors, population sizes, anti-predator behaviors, foraging, habitat selection

effective population size (N_e)

the size of an idealized population that would lose genetic diversity at the same rate across the actual population

• depends on mating system, habitat selection, and behaviors

• genetically diverse populations can respond to selection rather than drift

Burton et al. 2024

changes in human activity changes animal behaviors (COVID and mammal behaviors)

• nocturnality and activity

landscape vulnerabilities for evolutionary traps

high ratio of trap to non-trap habitats, rapid landscape changes, high rates of exotic species introductions

organism vulnerabilities of evolutionary traps

low ability of speed for evolutionary responses (slow evolution rates, low learning capacities, low within-population variations in behavior selection traits, low N_e, low perceptual range

degredation

a habitat patch is a lower quality than in the past

novel habitat

a habitat is introduced

outcomes of ecological trap

1. persist

2. escape - evolve new habitat selection behaviors

3. extinction

corridors

can connect/create metapopulations and increase N_e and can increase colonization rates (in plants and animals)

Tragedy of the Commons (Hardin 1968)

the exploitation of a shared finite resource where the costs are disproportionately shared across the population while the benefits are shared only by the exploiter (costs are passed off to someone else)

possible solutions of tragedy of the commons

regulate the commons, enact laws to make exploiters pay the cost of exploitation

the global commons climate game (Milinsky 2008)

people are given money and told to invest in the environment, so the group meets a climate investment threshold to not lose all their money, but their donations are not known by other players

• probability of investing increases when the risk of losing increases

  • even at 90% only about 50% of groups met the threshold

  • when it was 10% almost all of the groups failed to meet the threshold

Nowak 2008

cooperation and the strategy’s payoff matricies

• kin selection

  • r>c/b

• direct reciprocity - tic-for-tat

  • w>c/b

• indirect reciprocity - reputation

  • q>c/b

• network reciprocity

  • k<b/c

  • k = number of neighbors per individual

• group selection

  • 1+(n/m) < b/c

  • n = max group size

  • m = number of groups

Stewart et al. 2021

impacts of invasive plants on animal behaviors (selected dependence traps)

Guilden et al. 2019

human influences on predator prey interactions

• novel stages and novel actors

• systematically consider role of novelties in predator-prey interaction sequence