Ecology Quiz

Proximate behavior causes

immediate cause of behavior (environmental stimuli, genetic, physiologic, anatomic mechanisms)

Ultimate behavior causes

Evolutionary significance (how the behavior impacts reproductive fitness) 

Ethology? what are the four main questions asked?

the study of animal behavior

1. What is the mechanism/behavior

2. How does the development of the animal influence behavior

3. What is he evolutionary significance of this behavior

4. How does the behavior contribute to survival and reproduction

FAPS (fixed action patterns)

a sequence of unlearned, innate behaviors that once, started, go to completion, triggered by a sign simulus

imprinting

 time of bonding when offspring learn behaviors of the species and parents learn to recognize their offspring

innate behaviors and what are the three types?

behaviors that organisms are born with

1. Migration

2. Kinesis

3. Taxis

migration

regular, long-distance changes in location triggered by environmental cues

kinesis

change in activity in response to a stimulus

taxis

specifically oriented movemement based on a stimulus

positive: movement towards stimulus

negative: movement away from stimulus

communication methods

1. Pheremones: chemical signals (often related to reproduction and danger)

2. Auditory: sounds

3. Body language: physical postural displays

4. Agonistic: competition without risk of injury

altruism

behavior that may cause harm to an individual but will also benefit the population

inclusive fitness

an individual's overall contribution to the survival and reproduction of their genes, both directly through their own offspring and indirectly through their related individuals

Learning

A way to modify behavior based on past experiences and the environment

habituation

 Loss of response to a stimulus that is deemed to have a low importance

spatial learning

organism’s behavior is influenced by its spatial structures and arrangement

cognitive mapping

 Cognitive map is an internal or mental representation of landmarks that help animals navigate

associative learning

organisms acquire info about events or other organisms in their environment and then associate them

1. operant - trial and error

2. classical - reward or punishment

cognition

Most complex form of learning, which involves reasoning, memory, awareness, and judgement. It allows for problem-solving

aggressive vs cautious behavior

• Aggressive Behavior - Advantageous in a food when their is a poor environment

• Cautious Behavior - Advantageous if there is a risk of being eaten while looking for food

Foraging Behavior

reccognizing, capturing, searching for, and consuming food

goes hand-in-hand with natural selection

optimal foraging

Balances the risk of getting food with the potential benefit of getting that food.

Energy cost/benefit analysis

By selecting young, weak, old, or sick prey, the risk of getting food lowers

promiscuous

no long relationships or pair bonding

monogamous

1 male with 1 female

• offspring receive parental care

polygamous

individual or one gender mates with multiple of another

mate choice

mate choice of one gender influences behavior of the other gender

Agonistic behavior in relation to mating behavior

More used in intrasexual behavior in comparison to intersexual behavior

Population density

 # of individuals per unit area

two main ways of measuring population density

random sampling and mark and recapture

dispersion patterns

1. Clumped: animals live in groups

2. Uniform: animals require individual territories

3. Random: no set pattern

disadvantage of random sampling

distribution must be somewhat consistent

steps to mark and recapture

1. Individuals from a population are captured, marked in some way, and released

2. Another capture of the population is done and individuals with the “mark” are recorded

3. A formula can be used to estimate the population size

disadvantage of mark and recapture

most useful for closed populations that don’t change much in size