primatology quiz 1

operational sex ratio

-the concept that male reproductive potential is limited by access to fertile females

- males : fertile females

reproductive asymmetry

-males can make more babies than females since females must endure gestation and lactation before getting pregnant again

anisogamy

male and female gametes differ; eggs die off much quicker than sperm

debt-for-nature swaps

-thought of by thomas lovejoy in 1984 following the latin american debt crisis

-ameliorates debt and conserves land/species simultaneously

-buying reduced debt bills in exchange for conservation strategies by the debtor

what kind of mammal are primates?

placental

primate body plan trends

-generalized body plans

-clavicle (to give arm greater mobility)

-grasping hands and feet; opposable thumb in some species

-flat nails rather than claws or hooves

types of primate locomotion

-bipedal

-quadrupedal

-vertical climbing (leaping)

-brachiation (suspensory)

primate eating patterns

-frugivorous

-folivorous

-insectivorous

frugivorous

fruit eating

folivorous

leaf eating

insectivorous

insect-eating

primate neural sensory & trends

-increased reliance on vision rather than olfaction

-steroscopic vision

-trichromatic color vision

-large relative brain size

-facial expressions

primate life history trends

-relatively slow in general

-longer developmental period (altricial)

-usually single births

-heavy offspring investment

-relatively long gestation period

-long lifespans

two suborders of non-human primates

strepsirrhines and haplorrhines

strepsirrhines (promisians)

-rely more heavily on olfaction (larger, wet snout)

-more nocturnal, cryptic

-more female dominance

-more seasonal breeding

haplorrhines (anthropoid)

-reduced olfaction

-better vision

-smaller, dry snout

haplorrhines suborders

-platyrrhines (new world)

-catarrhines (old world)

platyrrhines

-new world (central and south america)

-almost exclusively arboreal

-

catarrhines

-two superfamilies (cercopithecoidea & hominoidea)

-relatively uniform in many aspects of morphology and behavior

-primarily quadrupedal walkers

-usually live in single male or multi-male groups (monogamy is rare)

-down turned nose

-terrestrial

-Africa and asia

cercopithecoidea subfamilies

-colobine

-cercopithecines

colobine

-specialized sacculated stomach divided into pouch like sections

-sharp shearing crested molars

-leaf eating monkeys

-mature more quickly than cercopithecines (more abundant food sources)

-many live in single-male groups but some live in large social groups

cercopithecines

-cheek pouches store unripe fruit

-females live in multi-male groups and have large sexual swellings thought to confuse paternity

-characterized by female philopatry

mamosets and tamarins

pair bonded

tarsiers

-lack a tapetum, strictly carnivorous (strepsirrhines)

macronutrients

nutrients organisms need in large quantities (carbs, proteins, fats)

micronutrients

nutrients that are needed in smaller amounts (vitamins, minerals)

when is female dispersal more common?

when food sources are widely dispersed (i.e. folivores)

why does the socioecological model begin with females?

because the amount of food available dictates how many offspring females can produce

dominance in relationships

pecking order; measured in terms of the direction of approach-retreat interactions or the direction of submissive and aggressive behaviors in agnostic interactions

linear dominance

ranks are relatively stable and reversals are rare

non-linear dominance

rank reversals are common, coalitions more common

coalitions

social bonds between relatives or non-relatives when there's competition over essential resources (food/females)

socioecology

concerned with understanding the relationship between ecological and social factors + variation in social systems

key factors in shaping group behaviors

predation and food distribution

egalitarian

dominance relation

-females have no detectable or poorly defined dominance relations

despotic

females have clearly defined dominance relationships

nepotistic

favoritism shown toward relatives; female relatives tend to have similar ranks as a result of coalitionary support

individualistic

ranks of females tend to be independent of one another

tolerance

as tolerance increases, severity of aggressiveness decreases, threats toward dominants increase and cohesion-enhancing behaviors increase

pros of group living

shared resources

shared knowledge

support/cooperation

defense/protection

enhanced group competitive ability

access to potential mates

cons of group living

competition for food and mates

disease transmission

cuckoldry of conspecifics parental investment (males unsure if offspring is theirs)

inbreeding

cannibalism

infanticide

dispersal

when one or both sexes leaves their birth group at sexual maturity; thought to avoid inbreeding

philopatry

when a sex, usually just one, remains in the natal community and another disperses; tends to be females

factors that influence food quality

maturity of food

deterrents within plants (physical and chemical)

anatomical specializations

body size energetics

high quality diet

rich in easily digestible energy, protein, and other nutrients

low quality diet

poor in easily digestible energy, protein and other nutrients

fallback foods

alternative, lower-quality foods that animals use when preferred foods are not available

socioecological model

1. group living is a strategy for reducing vulnerability to predation

2. females group around resources and groups are better at defending access to resources than are lone individuals

3. however, group living leads to feeding competition within and between groups

4. the type of feeding competition determines the nature of female social relationships

5. males distribute themselves according to the distribution and defensibility of females