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General Biology: Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Ecosystems

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  • What are the four questions Nico Tinbergen proposed to understand animal behavior?

    1. What stimulus elicits the behavior and what physiological mechanisms mediate it?
    2. How does experience during growth influence the response?
    3. How does the behavior increase survival and reproduction?
    4. What is the behavior's evolutionary history?

  • Define proximate causation in animal behavior.

    Proximate causation explains how a behavior occurs, focusing on physiological and anatomical responses to stimuli derived from genes.

  • Define ultimate causation in animal behavior.

    Ultimate causation explains why a behavior occurs, focusing on its adaptive advantage and evolutionary significance.

  • What is a fixed action pattern (FAP)?

    A fixed action pattern is an unchangeable, innate behavior triggered by a specific external cue (sign stimulus) and carried to completion once started.

  • Give an example of a fixed action pattern in animals.

    Male three-spined stickleback fish attack anything red due to a fixed action pattern triggered by the red belly (sign stimulus).

  • What is taxis and how does it differ from migration?

    Taxis is movement toward or away from a stimulus. Migration is a regular, long-distance movement often linked to seasons or circadian rhythms.

  • Name three environmental cues animals use for orientation.

    Animals orient using the position of the sun and circadian clock, the position of stars, and Earth's magnetic field.

  • What is the waggle dance in honey bees?

    The waggle dance is a communication behavior that conveys the distance and direction of a food source using the angle relative to the sun.

  • Define imprinting in animal behavior.

    Imprinting is a learned behavior occurring during a sensitive period early in life, where an animal forms a strong attachment to a specific stimulus or individual.

  • What is associative learning?

    Associative learning is when an animal links one environmental feature with another, such as avoiding certain colors after a bad experience.

  • Describe the difference between r-selected and K-selected species.

    R-selected species reproduce early with many offspring and little parental care. K-selected species reproduce later with fewer offspring and more parental care.

  • What is the carrying capacity of an environment?

    Carrying capacity is the maximum population size an environment can sustain indefinitely.

  • Explain the difference between exponential and logistic population growth.

    Exponential growth is rapid, unlimited growth (J-shaped curve). Logistic growth levels off as population reaches carrying capacity (S-shaped curve).

  • What are density-dependent limiting factors?

    Factors that affect population size more strongly as population density increases, such as competition, predation, and disease.

  • What is competitive exclusion in interspecific competition?

    Competitive exclusion occurs when two species compete for the same limited resource and one species outcompetes and excludes the other.

  • Define resource partitioning.

    Resource partitioning is when species evolve to use different parts or times of a resource to reduce competition.

  • What is Batesian mimicry?

    Batesian mimicry is when a harmless species mimics the appearance of a harmful or unpalatable species to avoid predation.

  • Describe mutualism with an example.

    Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship where both species benefit, e.g., acacia trees and stinging ants.

  • What is a keystone species?

    A keystone species has a large impact on community structure despite low abundance, often by controlling populations of other species.

  • Explain the 1st law of thermodynamics in ecosystems.

    Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or transformed within an ecosystem.

  • What is net primary production (NPP)?

    NPP is the energy remaining after autotrophs use some for respiration; it represents energy available to consumers.

  • Why is only about 10% of energy transferred between trophic levels?

    Because energy is lost as heat and used for metabolism, only about 10% of energy is converted into biomass at the next trophic level.

  • What role do nitrogen-fixing bacteria play in ecosystems?

    They convert atmospheric nitrogen into forms usable by plants, enhancing soil fertility (e.g., Rhizobium in legume root nodules).

  • What is ecological succession?

    Ecological succession is the gradual process of change in species composition in a community over time after a disturbance.

  • Differentiate primary and secondary succession.

    Primary succession occurs where no soil exists (e.g., after a volcanic eruption). Secondary succession occurs where soil remains after disturbance (e.g., after a fire).

  • What is altruism in animal behavior?

    Altruism is behavior that reduces an individual's fitness while increasing the fitness of others, often relatives.

  • Explain Hamilton's rule in kin selection.

    Hamilton's rule predicts altruism occurs when \(rB > C\), where r is relatedness, B is benefit to recipient, and C is cost to actor.

  • What is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis?

    Moderate levels of disturbance increase species diversity by preventing competitive exclusion and allowing coexistence.