BIOL 459 Midterm 1 Exam Questions with 100% Verified
Answers Latest Update
Question: How are psychology and ethology different?
Answer:
psychology links what people do to their brain ethoogy is animal behavior
Question: What is behavioural ecology?
Answer:
a large subdivision of ethology, looks at behaviour, interactions within a populaion and
comunity. usually evoluntoary context
Question: -causation: why does an animal act a certain way (cause/physioloigcal
mechansim)
-ontongeny (developmental history): why do calls change with development
-function (adaptation): how does this set of behaviours arise? is it adaptive
-phylogeny; how did this trait/behvaiour eveolve?
Answer:
Know tinbergens 4 levels of analysis
Question: what are proxmiate questions/mechansims?
Answer:
Question: what are ultimate questions/mechansims?
Answer:
Question: know the requirement for natrual selection
Answer:
-reproduction
-heritable variation
-differential fecundity/survival
-competition
Question: what forces other than natural selection result in evolutionary change?
Answer:
-mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, natural selectoin.
Question: be able to explain how gene might produce/influence behvaiour
, Answer:
differences in behaviour are affected by genes. cake analogy:
-change one ingrediant, might drastically change the cake. determined by genes interaction
between genetic and envrionmental nfluence make up behaviour. look into fly example.
Question: how do foraging genes affect behaviour in Drosophilia, Apis?
Answer:
behaviour can be influenced by different alleles or differences in expression: some flies are
sitters, others are rovers (move around) for R - higher PKG activty in the brain - forager for r
- lower PKG activty (recessive)-sitter protein produced by the foraging gene is PKG which
turns genes on and off by phosphorylating other genes. Apis (bees) pleiotropy; one gene
with multiple expresison bees change their behaviour epdning on how old they are because
as they age their gene becomes more expressed. increasing PKG switchs them to a foraging
behabour. as they get older more PKG expressed, they leave the nest and search for nectar.
Question: be able to explain the wynne-edwards model of group selection
Answer:
a level of selection happening on top of normal selection (group selection) model to explain
how Alturistic genotype could go to fixation and could be stabel. could occur if little
migration happens, and the selfish genotype goes extinct very quickly after fixation this
would result in selection for the alturistic genotype. group selection does not occur often but
it can.
Question: if group selection is possible, why is it probably rare?
Answer:
only occurs if migration is rare. indiv selection occurs more quickly and migration is hard to
block therefore alturism rarely occurs. too many constraints. higher density = more group
selection
Question: What is an example of a tradeoff?
Answer:
if you have. clutch size too large you could end up dying sooner in life before your
reproductyl done. so then you have to decide hw to maximize successful offspirng. smaller
clutch has less babies but a longer life ot make even more... but you also want to make
babies before you die... trade-offs.
Question:
Answer:
Question:
Answers Latest Update
Question: How are psychology and ethology different?
Answer:
psychology links what people do to their brain ethoogy is animal behavior
Question: What is behavioural ecology?
Answer:
a large subdivision of ethology, looks at behaviour, interactions within a populaion and
comunity. usually evoluntoary context
Question: -causation: why does an animal act a certain way (cause/physioloigcal
mechansim)
-ontongeny (developmental history): why do calls change with development
-function (adaptation): how does this set of behaviours arise? is it adaptive
-phylogeny; how did this trait/behvaiour eveolve?
Answer:
Know tinbergens 4 levels of analysis
Question: what are proxmiate questions/mechansims?
Answer:
Question: what are ultimate questions/mechansims?
Answer:
Question: know the requirement for natrual selection
Answer:
-reproduction
-heritable variation
-differential fecundity/survival
-competition
Question: what forces other than natural selection result in evolutionary change?
Answer:
-mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, natural selectoin.
Question: be able to explain how gene might produce/influence behvaiour
, Answer:
differences in behaviour are affected by genes. cake analogy:
-change one ingrediant, might drastically change the cake. determined by genes interaction
between genetic and envrionmental nfluence make up behaviour. look into fly example.
Question: how do foraging genes affect behaviour in Drosophilia, Apis?
Answer:
behaviour can be influenced by different alleles or differences in expression: some flies are
sitters, others are rovers (move around) for R - higher PKG activty in the brain - forager for r
- lower PKG activty (recessive)-sitter protein produced by the foraging gene is PKG which
turns genes on and off by phosphorylating other genes. Apis (bees) pleiotropy; one gene
with multiple expresison bees change their behaviour epdning on how old they are because
as they age their gene becomes more expressed. increasing PKG switchs them to a foraging
behabour. as they get older more PKG expressed, they leave the nest and search for nectar.
Question: be able to explain the wynne-edwards model of group selection
Answer:
a level of selection happening on top of normal selection (group selection) model to explain
how Alturistic genotype could go to fixation and could be stabel. could occur if little
migration happens, and the selfish genotype goes extinct very quickly after fixation this
would result in selection for the alturistic genotype. group selection does not occur often but
it can.
Question: if group selection is possible, why is it probably rare?
Answer:
only occurs if migration is rare. indiv selection occurs more quickly and migration is hard to
block therefore alturism rarely occurs. too many constraints. higher density = more group
selection
Question: What is an example of a tradeoff?
Answer:
if you have. clutch size too large you could end up dying sooner in life before your
reproductyl done. so then you have to decide hw to maximize successful offspirng. smaller
clutch has less babies but a longer life ot make even more... but you also want to make
babies before you die... trade-offs.
Question:
Answer:
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