PBSI 311 Exam 1 questions with
verified answers to pass
Ethology - correct answer ✔✔the study of animal behavior
behavior - correct answer ✔✔coordinated response a given organism generates in reaction to a
stimulus
Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907-1988) - correct answer ✔✔Dutch evolutionary biologist, developed
four types of questions to analyze animal behavior
mechanistic, developmental, survival value, evolutionary/phylogenetic
Mechanistic questions - correct answer ✔✔answered by describing how an animal is
biologically organized and equipped to carry out the behavior
What stimuli elicits behavior?
How does an animal physiologically respond?
Developmental questions - correct answer ✔✔concerns how the behavior changes due to
maturation and age
how does behavior change as animal matures?
how do influences on development affect behavior in adulthood?
Survival value questions - correct answer ✔✔how does behavior affect reproduction and
surviva;
Evolutionary/Phylogenetic questions - correct answer ✔✔how does behavior vary across the
phylogeny of the animal?
,when did the behavior first appear in the species?
Proximate analysis - correct answer ✔✔analysis based on asking questions that focus on
immediate causation
mechanistic and developmental questions
Ultimate analysis - correct answer ✔✔analysis based on asking questions that relate to the
evolution of a trait
survival value and developmental forces
Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) - correct answer ✔✔researcher who focused on critical attachment
periods in baby birds, a concept he called imprinting
Karl von Frisch (1886-1982) - correct answer ✔✔Austrian ethologist who pioneered studies in
bee communication and foraging.
Demonstrated that honey bees have color vision.
Honey bees use a dance language to communicate the location of resources to other bees.
Natural Selection - correct answer ✔✔an increase in the frequency of certain heritable traits
within a species
loss of chirping in crickets - correct answer ✔✔there was a loss of courtship singing in male
pacific field crickets in Hawaii due to a physical change in structure of the wings
these chirps are used by parasitic flies to locate a host and lay eggs in the crickets
within 20 generations, the selection pressure eliminated courtship singing
xenophobia in common mole rats - correct answer ✔✔common mole rats usually live in close-
knit family colonies
, rejection of same-sex outsiders is more common in mole rats in an arid environment since
resources are more scarce and there is a greater need to be competitive
MF pairings were less aggressive, even though they still compete for resources, they are
potential mates
same-sex pairings compete for resources and mates
individual learning - correct answer ✔✔the alteration of behavior as a result of an individual's
own experience
individual learning in grasshopper foraging - correct answer ✔✔in the learning treatment, visual
(green or brown) and olfactory (citrol or vanilla) cues were paired with nutritionally balanced or
nutritionally unbalanced diets
in the random treatment, cues were not consistently paired with either diet
learning grasshoppers had a higher proportion of visits to the balanced diet dish than those in
random treatment and grew much faster than the random grasshoppers
random grasshoppers eventually preferred the balanced diet, but it took more trials
cultural transmission in Norway brown rats scavenging - correct answer ✔✔demonstrator rats
were exposed to a certain flavor of food, and then put in a cage with an observer rat
the observer began to prefer the food that the demonstrator rat was exposed to
empirical approach to ethology - correct answer ✔✔analysis based on observation and
experimentation
ex) how the presence of a predatory hawk affects the behavior of redwing blackbirds can be
investigated by releasing a hawk in wetland habitat of redwings and observing
conceptual approach to ethology - correct answer ✔✔putting disparate ideas together
WD Hamilton put together the ideas of kinship and natural selection together to create kin
selection
verified answers to pass
Ethology - correct answer ✔✔the study of animal behavior
behavior - correct answer ✔✔coordinated response a given organism generates in reaction to a
stimulus
Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907-1988) - correct answer ✔✔Dutch evolutionary biologist, developed
four types of questions to analyze animal behavior
mechanistic, developmental, survival value, evolutionary/phylogenetic
Mechanistic questions - correct answer ✔✔answered by describing how an animal is
biologically organized and equipped to carry out the behavior
What stimuli elicits behavior?
How does an animal physiologically respond?
Developmental questions - correct answer ✔✔concerns how the behavior changes due to
maturation and age
how does behavior change as animal matures?
how do influences on development affect behavior in adulthood?
Survival value questions - correct answer ✔✔how does behavior affect reproduction and
surviva;
Evolutionary/Phylogenetic questions - correct answer ✔✔how does behavior vary across the
phylogeny of the animal?
,when did the behavior first appear in the species?
Proximate analysis - correct answer ✔✔analysis based on asking questions that focus on
immediate causation
mechanistic and developmental questions
Ultimate analysis - correct answer ✔✔analysis based on asking questions that relate to the
evolution of a trait
survival value and developmental forces
Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) - correct answer ✔✔researcher who focused on critical attachment
periods in baby birds, a concept he called imprinting
Karl von Frisch (1886-1982) - correct answer ✔✔Austrian ethologist who pioneered studies in
bee communication and foraging.
Demonstrated that honey bees have color vision.
Honey bees use a dance language to communicate the location of resources to other bees.
Natural Selection - correct answer ✔✔an increase in the frequency of certain heritable traits
within a species
loss of chirping in crickets - correct answer ✔✔there was a loss of courtship singing in male
pacific field crickets in Hawaii due to a physical change in structure of the wings
these chirps are used by parasitic flies to locate a host and lay eggs in the crickets
within 20 generations, the selection pressure eliminated courtship singing
xenophobia in common mole rats - correct answer ✔✔common mole rats usually live in close-
knit family colonies
, rejection of same-sex outsiders is more common in mole rats in an arid environment since
resources are more scarce and there is a greater need to be competitive
MF pairings were less aggressive, even though they still compete for resources, they are
potential mates
same-sex pairings compete for resources and mates
individual learning - correct answer ✔✔the alteration of behavior as a result of an individual's
own experience
individual learning in grasshopper foraging - correct answer ✔✔in the learning treatment, visual
(green or brown) and olfactory (citrol or vanilla) cues were paired with nutritionally balanced or
nutritionally unbalanced diets
in the random treatment, cues were not consistently paired with either diet
learning grasshoppers had a higher proportion of visits to the balanced diet dish than those in
random treatment and grew much faster than the random grasshoppers
random grasshoppers eventually preferred the balanced diet, but it took more trials
cultural transmission in Norway brown rats scavenging - correct answer ✔✔demonstrator rats
were exposed to a certain flavor of food, and then put in a cage with an observer rat
the observer began to prefer the food that the demonstrator rat was exposed to
empirical approach to ethology - correct answer ✔✔analysis based on observation and
experimentation
ex) how the presence of a predatory hawk affects the behavior of redwing blackbirds can be
investigated by releasing a hawk in wetland habitat of redwings and observing
conceptual approach to ethology - correct answer ✔✔putting disparate ideas together
WD Hamilton put together the ideas of kinship and natural selection together to create kin
selection
