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Questions and Answers
Which type of selection involves competition among males for mates?
What is the primary characteristic of promiscuous mating systems?
Which factor is most closely associated with sexual dimorphism in polygamous species?
What hormone is known for helping to form pair bonds after mating?
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What best describes inclusive fitness in the context of kin selection?
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What is the difference between Chthamalus's fundamental niche and its realized niche?
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Which adaptation uses color to warn potential predators of toxicity?
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Which of the following contributes to the Simpson Diversity Index?
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What is an example of an invasive species mentioned?
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What caused the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s?
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What is a consequence of planting only one species of potato in Ireland?
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Which term describes the energy transfer from plants to herbivores and on to carnivores?
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What role do keystone species play in an ecosystem?
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What type of ecological succession occurs after a forest fire leaving soil intact?
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Which biogeographic factor is associated with increased species diversity?
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What distinguishes innate behaviors from learned behaviors?
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What does proximate cause in animal behavior refer to?
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Which of the following is an example of kinesis?
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Which statement best defines the circadian rhythm?
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What is the primary characteristic of imprinting?
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Which of the following best describes operant conditioning?
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What is a fixed action pattern?
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What does the concept of habituation refer to?
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What role do pheromones play in animal behavior?
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What is the function of foraging behavior in animals?
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What effect does size have on species diversity on biogeographic islands?
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Which process is primarily responsible for converting light energy into chemical energy in ecosystems?
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What defines Net Primary Production (NPP) in an ecosystem?
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What is the major limitation of energy transfer between trophic levels?
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What role do detritivores or decomposers play in an ecosystem?
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How do eutrophic lakes differ from other types of lakes?
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What is the primary source of energy for ecosystems?
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Which statement about the nitrogen cycle is correct?
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Study Notes
Ethology
- Ethology is the study of animal behavior, which is defined by what an animal does and how it does it.
- Behavior is influenced by genetic and environmental factors, and is essential for survival and reproduction.
- Changes in behavior can occur through natural selection.
- Behavioral Ecology is the study of the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior.
- Proximate Cause describes a behavior and explains "how" it occurs.
- Ultimate Cause explains "why" a behavior happens in the context of natural selection and reproduction.
Innate Behavior
- Innate Behavior is developmentally fixed and not learned, meaning it is expressed in most of the population.
- Fixed Action Patterns are innate behaviors that are not learned and are triggered by a sign stimulus.
- Kinesis is random movement, with the speed of movement increasing or decreasing to increase the likelihood of moving into a preferred environment.
- Taxis is oriented or automatic movement towards or away from a stimulus.
- Migration is an innate behavior of regular, long distance movement shared by a whole community.
- Circadian Rhythms are regulated by an internal biological clock.
- Long cycles maintain a 24-hour cycle and can be used to find position relative to the Sun or magnetic fields.
- Short cycles synchronize activity and rest with light and dark environmental conditions.
- Circannual Rhythms are behavioral rhythms associated with the yearly cycle of seasons, and are influenced by periods of darkness and light in an environment.
- Signals are behaviors that cause a change in behavior in other animals, which is a form of animal communication.
- Pheromones are chemical signals that affect other members of the same species.
- Visual signals can include bee wiggles and warning flashes.
- Tactile signals can include touch, such as male fruit flies tapping female fruit flies to mate.
- Auditory signals can include sounds like the screech of a blue jay.
Learned Behavior
- Learned Behavior is modified behavior based on specific experiences.
- Young-Fostering Studies involve placing young of one species into the care of adults from another species.
- Changes in the offspring’s behavior can reveal the impact of social and physical environment on behavior.
- Characteristics can change the behavior of generations, such as the example of mice leaving their children.
- Twin Studies compare identical twins who were raised in different environments to determine the influence of genetics and environment on behavior.
- Habituation is the loss of responsiveness to a repeated stimulus. For example, birds might not be afraid of humans in New York City.
- Imprinting is a learned behavior that is largely innate and occurs during a sensitive period. Imprinting involves forming a bond with an object or individual.
- The ultimate cause of imprinting is increased survival and reproductive success of offspring.
- Spatial Learning involves remembering the locations of resources and landmarks, essentially creating cognitive maps.
- Associative Learning involves associating one environmental feature with another.
- Classical Conditioning involves associating a random stimulus with a response.
- Operant Conditioning is a type of associative learning that uses trial-and-error to associate one’s own behavior with rewards or punishments.
- Cognition is the process of knowing and involves awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgment.
- Problem solving behavior requires cognition.
- Social Learning involves learning by observing others.
- Culture is formed through the sharing of information through social learning and teachings, which can influence the behavior of individuals in a population.
- Culture can alter behavioral phenotypes and influence the fitness of individuals within a population.
Food and Reproduction
- Foraging is the behavior of obtaining food, which involves recognizing, capturing, and consuming food.
- Successful forging strategies aim to minimize energy expenditure and maximize food benefits.
- Sexual Selection is the process of seeking, attracting, choosing, and competing for mates.
- Ornaments, such as bright feathers or large antlers, can signal to potential mates an individual’s health and vitality.
- Agonistic Behavior is a behavior that settles disputes over resources, such as mates.
- Sexual Dimorphism refers to the extent to which females differ from males in appearance.
- Monogamous species tend to have very similar appearances.
- Polygamous species tend to have more obvious differences in appearance between the sexes.
- Intersexual Selection involves members of one sex choosing a mate based on their characteristics.
- Intrasexual Selection involves competition between individuals of the same sex for mates.
- Lower Certainty of Paternity means that males have less investment in their offspring.
- Promiscuous Mating involves no strong pair bonds between animals and leads to higher reproductive success with a lower certainty of paternity.
- Monogamous Mating is a relationship between one male and one female, and results in a higher certainty of paternity.
- Polygamous Mating involves one sex mating with multiple members of the other sex, resulting in greater reproductive success but a lower certainty of paternity.
- Polygny is one male mating with multiple females.
- Polyandry is one female mating with multiple males.
Kin Selection
- Antidiuretic Hormone (ADH) also known as vasopressin, is a peptide that can contribute to pair bonding after mating.
- Altruism is selfless behavior that reduces individual fitness but increases the fitness of the population.
- Inclusive Fitness is an organism’s total effect on spreading its genes, including those found in close relatives.
- Kin Selection is a type of natural selection that favors altruistic behavior that increases the reproductive success of relatives.
- For example, Chthamalus barnacles would use the entire shore (fundamental niche), but the presence of Balanus barnacles limits their realized niche to a smaller portion of the shore.
Predation
- Defense Adaptations help organisms avoid predation.
- Cryptic Coloration involves camouflage using color.
- Aposematic/Warning Coloration involves brightly colored patterns that warn predators of a poisonous animal.
- Batesian Mimicry involves a harmless species mimicking the coloration of a harmful species.
- Mullerian Mimicry involves two unpalatable species resembling each other, increasing the likelihood of both being avoided by predators.
- Herbivory is when plants are eaten by herbivores, and plants have evolved various defense mechanisms to avoid it, such as producing toxins or developing spines and thorns.
Community Structure
- Species Diversity is measured by both the number of different species (Species Richness) and the relative abundance of each species.
- The Simpson Diversity Index is a calculation used to measure species diversity by incorporating both species richness and abundance.
- Highly diverse communities are more resistant to invasive species.
Invasive Species
- Invasive Species are organisms that become established outside of their native range.
- Kudzu, a vine plant from Japan, is a noxious weed that kills off trees and shrubs.
- Dutch Elm Disease is a fungus carried by beetles that arrived in the US from logs from the Netherlands. It has led to the death of many elm trees in the US, Europe, and Canada.
- Currently, efforts are being made to cultivate resistant strains of elm trees.
- Potato Blight is a fungus disease that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s.
- It likely traveled to Ireland from ships coming from the US.
- The Irish population was particularly vulnerable because they heavily relied on a single potato species, which made them susceptible to the disease.
- The potato blight led to the death of over 1 million people.
- The Irish Potato Famine demonstrates the problems associated with monoculture and the lack of genetic diversity.
Trophic Structures
- Trophic Structure is determined by the feeding relationships between organisms.
- Trophic Levels are the links in a trophic structure.
- Food Chains illustrate the transfer of energy from plants (producers) to herbivores (primary consumers) to carnivores (secondary and tertiary consumers) and eventually to decomposers.
- The Length of Food Chains is limited by the inefficiency of energy transfer along the chain – only about 10% of energy moves to the next trophic level – and because longer food chains are less stable.
- Food Webs are interconnected food chains, and species can occupy multiple trophic levels within a food web.
- For example, a secondary consumer might consume both primary producers and primary consumers.
- Dominant Species are species that have the highest biomass or are the most abundant in the community.
- Keystone Species are species that exert control on community structure by affecting crucial ecological niches.
- For example, the loss of sea otters can lead to an increase in sea urchins, which can decimate kelp forests.
- Similarly, a decline in grizzly bears can disrupt nutrient transfer within an ecosystem.
- Prairie dogs maintain their environment by keeping vegetation trimmed.
Ecological Transitions
- Disturbance is an event that removes organisms or changes resource availability.
- Ecological Succession is the transition in species composition in a particular area over ecological time.
- Primary Succession occurs when plants and animals colonize an area where soil has not yet formed.
- For example, this can occur on a volcanic island or after a glacier recedes.
- Secondary Succession involves plants and animals recolonizing an area after a disturbance that leaves the soil intact.
- For example, this can happen in an abandoned field or after a forest fire.
Biogeographic Factors
- Biogeographic Factors are abiotic factors that influence the distribution and diversity of species.
- Latitude: species diversity is generally higher in the tropics.
- Area: larger areas tend to have higher species diversity.
- Biogeographic Islands are isolated islands or bodies of water that are natural laboratories for studying species diversity.
- Islands are particularly influenced by their size and distance from the mainland:
- Larger islands tend to have higher immigration rates and lower extinction rates.
- Islands further from the mainland tend to have lower immigration rates and higher extinction rates.
- Islands are particularly influenced by their size and distance from the mainland:
Ecosystem
- An ecosystem is a sum of all living organisms (biotic community) within a defined area and their interactions with the abiotic factors in that area.
- Ecosystems are characterized by energy flow and chemical cycling.
Energy Flow in an Ecosystem
- Energy cannot be recycled and must be constantly supplied by the Sun.
- Autotrophs, also known as primary producers, obtain their energy through photosynthesis.
- They convert inorganic matter (CO2 and water) into organic matter (sugars and organic compounds).
- Heterotrophs cannot make their own food.
- They are located in trophic levels above primary producers and depend on the photosynthetic output of producers.
- Primary Consumers are herbivores that consume primary producers.
- Secondary Consumers are carnivores that consume herbivores.
- Tertiary Consumers are carnivores that consume secondary consumers.
- Detritivores or Decomposers are a crucial group of heterotrophs that obtain energy from detritus (nonliving organic material).
- They are important for nutrient recycling.
Primary Production
- Primary Production is the amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by autotrophs.
- It is affected by factors such as light availability and nutrient availability.
- Temperature and moisture are also key regulators of primary production.
- Gross Primary Production (GPP) is the total amount of energy produced by autotrophs in an ecosystem.
- Net Primary Production (NPP) is the amount of energy stored by producers after accounting for the amount of energy used in their respiration.
- NPP = GPP - R
- NPP is the amount of chemical energy stored by producers that is available to consumers in an ecosystem.
- Eutrophic ecosystems are nutrient-rich and often support high levels of algae growth.
Trophic Level Energy Transfer
- Only 10% of energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next, meaning 90% is lost due to respiration or metabolic processes.
- Production Efficiency refers to the fraction of the energy assimilated by an organism that is stored for growth.
- Most energy is ultimately lost as heat through respiration.
Ecological Pyramids
- Ecological Pyramids are diagrams that illustrate energy flow in food chains.
- They highlight the loss of energy with each increasing trophic level, which limits the number of top-level carnivores.
- Most food webs only have 4-5 trophic levels.
- Humans can obtain more energy by consuming plants directly rather than by consuming animals (which are several levels up the food chain).
Biogeochemical Cycles
- Biogeochemical Cycles are cycles of nutrients that involve both biotic and abiotic components.
- They transform organic matter into inorganic matter and vice versa.
- Carbon Cycle: CO2 is removed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and added to the atmosphere through respiration, decomposition, and burning fossil fuels.
- Nitrogen Cycle:
- Nitrogen Fixation: N2 from the atmosphere is converted into ammonia (NH3) by nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
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Description
Test your knowledge on the principles of ethology, including animal behavior's genetic and environmental influences. Explore concepts such as fixed action patterns, kinesis, and taxis in the study of behavior. This quiz covers both proximate and ultimate causes of behavior, providing insight into the ecological and evolutionary aspects of animal actions.
