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 A ECL 365 SIWorksheet 22: BehaviorBehavior is defined as the action or reaction of individuals in response to an internal or external stimulus.We explain behavior using two different factors: proximate and ultimate factors. What is the difference between the two?Proximate causes are mechanisms within the individual that operate to make behavior possible. Things like genetics, physiology, and development.Ultimate causes are the evolutionary advantage of a behavior and the evolutionary mechanisms that cause it. Things like selective advantage of the behavior.Ethology is the study of animal behavior.Behavioral ecology is the study of inter-relationships between animal behavior and the environment.Sociobiology is the study of social behavior in animals.What is the nature vs nurture debate? What is the current consensus?The historical view is behavior is either fully genetic or fully influenced by environmental factors.We now know that it is a combination of the two.Innate behaviors are developmentally fixed and instinctive instead of being based on prior experience.Learning is an experience-based modification of behavior while maturation is change in behavior caused by development of the neuromuscular system. Classical conditioning is the association of one stimulus with another unrelated stimulus. Operant conditioning is commonly thought of as trial-and-error learning or associating actions with a consequence.The hawk-dove game is commonly used to visualize interactions between two individuals. It involves two strategies: hawk and dove. Describe each strategy.Hawk strategy: escalate encounter until the opponent retreats or until injury.Dove strategy: display, but then retreat if the opponent escalates.For each possible combination, explain what the possible outcomes. Is an all dove population ESS? What about an all hawk population?HawkDoveHawkHawk wins 50% of the time and is injured 50% of the timeHawk always wins, the dove fleesDoveDove never wins and is never injuredDove wins 50% of fights. Is never injured, but wastes timeAll dove populations are never ESS because a hawk can come in and outcompeteAll hawk populations can be ESS if the benefit of victory outweighs the cost of defeatIdeally, you’d want a mixed strategyTrue or False: Even solitary animals will still have social interactions.True or False: All aggregations of animals are social in nature.Altruistic behaviors reduce the fitness of the individual preforming the behavior but increases the fitness of other individuals. Typically directed at family members.Agonistic behaviors are ritualized behaviors meant to determine which competitor gains access to a resource. Meant to minimize expenditure of energy and reduce injury.Dominance hierarchies are commonly thought of as a “pecking order” of individuals in a group. Why would this be beneficial for a social species?Saves energy by reducing the number of conflicts.Territoriality is when an individual defends an area to exclude other members of the species.What are some costs and benefits of sociality?Benefits: Facilitates mate finding, synchronizes reproductive behavior and rearing of young, allows sharing of resources, improved defense, division of labor.Costs: More difficult to hide, Increased competition, increased parasitism and petition occurs when multiple species use the same limited resource. Eventually causing a decrease in growth rates, decrease in birth rates, and increase in death rates. What is niche partitioning and how does it allow animals to avoid competition?Niche partitioning is the avoidance of competition by specializing on resources or shifting activity time. What is the theory of limiting similarity state? How can similar species avoid this?It describes how similar two competing species can be and still coexist.Character displacement: similar species overlap in characters when allopatric, but do not overlap in characters when petitive exclusion is when a local species goes extinct due to competition. This generates a predictable pattern of absence and presence across communities. The less fit species is going to be present only when the stronger competitor is absent.We talked about 3 types of symbioses in class: commensalism, mutualism, and parasitism. Define and give an example of mensalism: One member benefits while one is neither helped nor harmed. Gopher tortoise and other burrowersMutualism: Both members benefit.Ungulates and oxpeckersParasitism: One member is harmed while one benefits.Cowbirds and song birdsWhat is a keystone predator and what are some examples?A keystone species is a single species that provides enough for the ecosystem that the entire community will change if taken away.Wolfs in Yellowstone: Without wolves, the elk population can grow uncontrollably, drastically affecting the plant communities. Sea star: when the sea star is removed, diversity reduced from 15 to 2 because they outcompeted each other. Lower populations of two species allow them to coexist, even if they share the exact same resources. Competition only occurs if there is a LIMITED resource.Based on the graph below, what is happening to the lynx and hare populations? What is driving this trend?As the hare population increases, the lynx population increases as well. The increase in predation decreases the hare population. The decrease in food resources decreases the lynx population. This reduction in predation allows the hare population to increase.What are some examples of predator avoidance strategies seen in vertebrates?Running awayCrypsisTaking coverFreezingAposematic colorationConfrontingChemical defenses ................
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