BIOL 459 final 94 Ques ons and answers Newest RATED
A+ 2025/2026 UPDATED
what is a social behaviour - Ans - have fitness effects on actor (performs the behaviour) and
recipient (another individual)
- coopera ve (benefit recipient, increase fitness) /conflict (hurt the recipient, decrease fitness)
- certain types of social behaviours lead to sociality
what cons tutes a coopera ve behaviour - Ans the costs of coopera on is less than the benefit
of coopera ng - selec ve advantage
- mutualism and altruism
what are the four types of intraspecific interac ons? who benefits, who is harmed for each -
Ans - mutualism -> both actor and recipient benefits
- altruism -> recipient benefits, but actor harmed
- selfishness -> actor benefits, but recipient is harmed
- spiteful -> both actor and recipient is harmed
what are the five main explana ons for why coopera ve behavior evolves? - Ans - kin selec on
(most common) -> not just about the fitness of the individual but about shared genes of rela ve
- bi-product benefits -> ar fact of a selfish behaviour
- reciprocity -> social contract. return on investment at a future date
- enforcement -> coercion. rewards coopera on and punishes chea ng system
- group selec on - not o'en
what is diplodiploidy? - Ans both males and females are diploid
- normal set up
,what is haplodiploidy? - Ans total number of chromosomes is what dictates the sex of the
organism
- haploid - male
- diploid - female
be able to calculate the coefficient of relatedness for a diploidiploid family (as far out as first
cousins) - Ans r = sum (0.5)^L
sum of all possible pathways - possible shared parents/mates/nodes
approxima ng % shared genes
r = relatedness
L - # of genera onal links (# of me gene cut in half between genera ons)
what is meant by inclusive fitness - Ans direct fitness + indirect fitness
what are the components of inclusive fitness? - Ans - direct fitness -copies of alleles passed
down through genera ons/having offspring: darwinian
- indirect fitness (copies of alleles passed by rela ves, aiding related individ./ KIN SELECTION)
what is Hamilton's rule? - Ans an altruis c gene can increase in freq. in a popula on if it
increases the fitness of rela ve.
rB>C
Benefits/Cost > r(actor to own offspring)/r(actor to recipient offspring)
,kin selec on likely to evolve if the benefit to the recipient, adjusted for the relatedness, is
greater than the cost to the actor
- less related more benefit needed to overcome the cost to the actor or cost is really small
ex. If individual could either have its own offspring or take care of its siblings
B/C > 0.5/0.5 = 1
B/C > 1
to be favoured the mother would have to have one extra kid due to its help for it do be an
advantage for it to do it.
why do animals give alarm calls? - Ans give an alarm call to signal to other individuals of the
same species of a predator
- signal to predator
- reduce predator success and make future a?acks less likely
- signal to conspecifics
-> increase preda on risk for sender. draws a?en on to itself and predator may be able to pick
it out.
-> benefits receivers by ge@ng an early warning (altruis c component)
-> signals others to be more vigilant or induce an predator avoidance strategy
ex. ground squirrels
- females > male giving alarm calls
- females more likely to give alarm calls when rela ves nearby (offspring and non-descendants)
- when le' group less likely to give alarm calls - kin selec on component
ex. prairie dogs
, - same results as ground squirrels
- also unrelated immigrants give alarm calls if newly enter group (show they are a benefit to
group and good to have?)
in (Krakauer, 2005), why are turkeys displaying in pairs? what does the subordinate male have
to gain? how did they demonstrate this? - Ans - one is dominant and gets all ma ngs from
females. subordinate doesn't get any
- r = 0.42 -> they are half related to each other. brothers displaying as a pair
- dominant paired males had about 6.1 more offspring on average than solitary males B=6.1
- solitary males produced one offspring
- subordinate pair males produce 0 offspring
rB>C
0.42(6.1)>0.9
2.562>0.9
- kin selec on at work
- altruism favoured
- would s ll be favoured by kin selec on if half brothers
- lower favoured limit by kin selec on is 0.15 relatedness
how do individual animals recognize kin? - Ans social recogni on - species, gender, social
group, individual (mammals/birds most important type for forming social behaviours), kin
selec on
condi onal vs fixed strategies
- condi onal - involve kin discrimina on
-> behaviours may be different depending on how related
A+ 2025/2026 UPDATED
what is a social behaviour - Ans - have fitness effects on actor (performs the behaviour) and
recipient (another individual)
- coopera ve (benefit recipient, increase fitness) /conflict (hurt the recipient, decrease fitness)
- certain types of social behaviours lead to sociality
what cons tutes a coopera ve behaviour - Ans the costs of coopera on is less than the benefit
of coopera ng - selec ve advantage
- mutualism and altruism
what are the four types of intraspecific interac ons? who benefits, who is harmed for each -
Ans - mutualism -> both actor and recipient benefits
- altruism -> recipient benefits, but actor harmed
- selfishness -> actor benefits, but recipient is harmed
- spiteful -> both actor and recipient is harmed
what are the five main explana ons for why coopera ve behavior evolves? - Ans - kin selec on
(most common) -> not just about the fitness of the individual but about shared genes of rela ve
- bi-product benefits -> ar fact of a selfish behaviour
- reciprocity -> social contract. return on investment at a future date
- enforcement -> coercion. rewards coopera on and punishes chea ng system
- group selec on - not o'en
what is diplodiploidy? - Ans both males and females are diploid
- normal set up
,what is haplodiploidy? - Ans total number of chromosomes is what dictates the sex of the
organism
- haploid - male
- diploid - female
be able to calculate the coefficient of relatedness for a diploidiploid family (as far out as first
cousins) - Ans r = sum (0.5)^L
sum of all possible pathways - possible shared parents/mates/nodes
approxima ng % shared genes
r = relatedness
L - # of genera onal links (# of me gene cut in half between genera ons)
what is meant by inclusive fitness - Ans direct fitness + indirect fitness
what are the components of inclusive fitness? - Ans - direct fitness -copies of alleles passed
down through genera ons/having offspring: darwinian
- indirect fitness (copies of alleles passed by rela ves, aiding related individ./ KIN SELECTION)
what is Hamilton's rule? - Ans an altruis c gene can increase in freq. in a popula on if it
increases the fitness of rela ve.
rB>C
Benefits/Cost > r(actor to own offspring)/r(actor to recipient offspring)
,kin selec on likely to evolve if the benefit to the recipient, adjusted for the relatedness, is
greater than the cost to the actor
- less related more benefit needed to overcome the cost to the actor or cost is really small
ex. If individual could either have its own offspring or take care of its siblings
B/C > 0.5/0.5 = 1
B/C > 1
to be favoured the mother would have to have one extra kid due to its help for it do be an
advantage for it to do it.
why do animals give alarm calls? - Ans give an alarm call to signal to other individuals of the
same species of a predator
- signal to predator
- reduce predator success and make future a?acks less likely
- signal to conspecifics
-> increase preda on risk for sender. draws a?en on to itself and predator may be able to pick
it out.
-> benefits receivers by ge@ng an early warning (altruis c component)
-> signals others to be more vigilant or induce an predator avoidance strategy
ex. ground squirrels
- females > male giving alarm calls
- females more likely to give alarm calls when rela ves nearby (offspring and non-descendants)
- when le' group less likely to give alarm calls - kin selec on component
ex. prairie dogs
, - same results as ground squirrels
- also unrelated immigrants give alarm calls if newly enter group (show they are a benefit to
group and good to have?)
in (Krakauer, 2005), why are turkeys displaying in pairs? what does the subordinate male have
to gain? how did they demonstrate this? - Ans - one is dominant and gets all ma ngs from
females. subordinate doesn't get any
- r = 0.42 -> they are half related to each other. brothers displaying as a pair
- dominant paired males had about 6.1 more offspring on average than solitary males B=6.1
- solitary males produced one offspring
- subordinate pair males produce 0 offspring
rB>C
0.42(6.1)>0.9
2.562>0.9
- kin selec on at work
- altruism favoured
- would s ll be favoured by kin selec on if half brothers
- lower favoured limit by kin selec on is 0.15 relatedness
how do individual animals recognize kin? - Ans social recogni on - species, gender, social
group, individual (mammals/birds most important type for forming social behaviours), kin
selec on
condi onal vs fixed strategies
- condi onal - involve kin discrimina on
-> behaviours may be different depending on how related
