Chapter 51: Animal Behavior
Week 12, Session 2
Supplemental Instruction
IowaStateUniversity / Leader: / Kelsey
Course: / Bio 211 (5)
Instructor: / Dr. Holscher
Date: / 11-12-09
  1. What is ethology?
    The scientific study of how animals behave in their natural environment
  2. Give an example of a proximate and an ultimate causation question:
  3. proximate causation: “how” questions which usually explain internal or triggering mechanisms in animals
  4. example: How does a chameleon change colors? (answer would include the physiological explanation for this event)
  5. ultimate causation: “why” questions that explain the evolutionary basis for something occurring
  6. example: Why does a chameleon change colors? (answer would explain the beneficial reason for a chameleon doing this)
  7. What is a fixed action pattern?
    A sequence of events that is unlearned, triggered by a sign stimulus, and cannot be stopped once it has started.
  8. True or false: A sign stimulus is internal.
    FALSE- sign stimuli are external.
  9. Match the definition to the term:
  10. an oriented movement toward or away from a stimulus _taxis______
  11. a simple change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus _kinesis____
  12. a regular, long-distance change in location ___migration______
  13. What is a pheromone?
    A substance emitted by one member of a species that causes a response in another member of the same species.
  14. example: sex pheromones, which are noticed by members of the opposite sex; alarm pheromones, which are released when one member of a species is attacked so that other members know to help fight
  15. Match the definition with the learning style:
  16. a loss of responsiveness to a stimuli that conveys little or no new information
    ___habituation______
  17. establishment of memory based on how things are oriented __spatial learning____
  18. knowing represented by awareness, reasoning, and judgment ___cognition_____
  19. dependent on a critical period __imprinting______
  20. association of one environmental feature with another ___associative learning___
  1. In polygamous relationships, ___polygyny______refers to a male having multiple female partners, and ___polyandry______refers to a female having multiple male partners.
  2. Describe agonistic behavior.
    “all bark and no bite”: aggressive behaviors performed by members of one sex during mate selection (example from class: polar bears), form of intrasexual selection
  3. What are the three key variables in an altruistic act?
  4. benefit to recipient (B)
  5. cost to altruist (C)
  6. coefficient of relatedness (r)
  7. Explain Hamilton’s rule.
    Natural selection favors altruism when the benefit to the recipient times the relatedness is greater than the cost.
    rB>C
  8. What is inclusive fitness?
    the total effect an individual has on spreading its genes by producing its own offspring and helping relatives produce their offspring