AP Bio Ecology

Innate Behaviors

behaviors that occur naturally, no need to learn: fixed action patterns, instincts, reflexes, Inherited-DNA, Intrinsic-present in isolation, stereotypic- each individual same, inflexible- not mod. experience, consummate-fully developed

Taxis

Automatic movement toward or away from a stimulus. Positive=toward, Negative=away from, pos. chemotaxis=towards chemical stimulus

Kinesis

Change in rate of movement in response to a stimulus

Fixed Action Patterns

Sequence of behaviors unchanged and carried to completion once started. Triggered by a sign stimulus.

Innate Migration

Birds can navigate by sun, stars, Earth’s magnetic field

Foraging Behaviors

Mechanism to recognize, search for, and capture food items. Optimal foraging theory- costs of feeding are less than benefits

Learned Behaviors

Modified by experience, ability to learn is inherited, variable and flexible

Imprinting

Social attachments formed during critical/sensitive period (sensitive phase for optimal imprinting)

Associative Learning

Associate a stimulus with a consequence. Example: Blue jays avoiding monarchs and similar-looking butterflies because of bad taste

Operant Conditioning

trial & error learning, associate own behavior with reward or punishment

classical conditioning

Pavlovian conditioning, associate an “artificial stimulus” with an involuntary response

Piloting

Animal moves from one familiar landmark to another until it reaches its destination

Agnostic Behaviors

threatening & submissive rituals; symbolic, usually no harm done

Factors affecting distribution of organisms

species dispersal, behavior & habitat selection, biotic & abiotic factors, temperature, water

Species Dispersal

the distribution of individuals within geographic poulation boundaries

Global Climate Patterns

Determined largely by solar energy and movement of heat. Climatic factors: solar radiation & latitude, axis tilt/seasons, air/water circulation patterns

Global Air Patterns

Air rises when heated, sinks when cools; earth’s rotation causes zones to “twist”; rising air=wet, sinking air=dry, hadley cell- near equator, ferrel cell, then polar cell

Pheromones

Animals that communicate through odors or tastes emit this chemical substance.

Spatial Learning

Establishment of a memory that reflect’s the environment’s spatial structure

Cognitive Map

a representation in an animal’s nervous system of the spatial relationships between objects in its surroundings

Cognition

Process of knowing that involves awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgment.

Social Learning

Animals learn to solve problems by observing behavior of other individuals.

Mate choice copying

behavior where individuals in a population copy the mate choice of others

Game Theory

Evaluates alternative strategies in situations where the outcome depends on the strategies of all the individuals involved. ex: side-blotched lizards in California (3 diff. colors)

Antidiuretic Hormone (adh)

released during mating and binds to a specific receptor in the central nervous system

Altruism

Behavior that reduces an animal’s individual fitness but increases the fitness of other individuals in the population. Ex. squirrel alarm sound when it sees a predator

Inclusive fitness

the total effect an individual has on proliferating its genes by producing its own offspring and by providing aid that enables other close relatives to produce offspring

Hamilton’s rule

When rB>C; benefit of recipient multiplied by the coefficient or relatedness (fraction of genes—on average—that are shared) exceeds cost to altruist

Kin Selection

Natural selection favors altruism by enhancing the productive success of relatives, but weakens with hereditary distance.

Reciprocal Altruism

behavior of helping nonrelated companion because of the chance of receiving aid back

Microclimate

Very fine, localized patterns in climatic conditions.

Ecotone

Area of intergradation between biomses

Photic Zone

Region in aquatic biome where there is sufficient light for photosynthesis

Aphotic Zone

Region in aquatic biome where little light penetrates

Pelagic Zone

Includes the Aphotic & Photic Zone

Abyssal Zone

Region in aquatic biome deep in the aphotic zone

Benthic zone

Region in aquatic biome that consists of sand, organic, or inorganic sediments (the ocean/sea/lake floor)

Benthos

Organisms that live in the benthic zone, most east detritus

Thermocline

Layer of abrupt temperature change in an aquatic biome

Turnover

sends oxygenated water from the lake’s surface to the bottom and brings nutrient-rich water to the surface in the spring and autumn.

Littoral Zone

Shallow, well-lit waters close to shore, water is too deep to support rooted aquatic plants

Limnetic Zone

inhabited by variety of phytoplankton, including cyanobacteria

Oligotrophic Lake

Nutrient-poor and oxygen-rich

Dispersal

movement of individuals or gametes away from their area of origin or from centers of high population density

Cohort

A group of individuals of the same age, from birth until all of the individuals are dead

Survivorship Curves

Type:1 humans/k species Type 3: rabbits/r species Type 2: squirrels/constant mortality rate (linear graph)

Semelparity

Reproduces once during lifetime—”big bang reproduction”

Iteroparity

repeated reproduction, opposite of semelparity

Interspecific Interactions

Competition, predation, herbivory, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism

Resource Partitioning

Differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist in a community

Aposematic coloration

warning coloration

Cryptic Coloration

camouflage, makes prey hard to see

Batesian mimicry

harmless species mimics an unpalatable or harmful species to which it is not closely related

Mullerian mimicry

2 or more unpalatable species look like one another, so predators avoid them

Commensalism

Benefits one species but has no effect on the other