Exam 1: An Introduction to Animal Behavior

What are the proximate and ultimate explanations for the adaptive value of a male langur's harming the offspring of females in his group?

Refer to the figure. Which relationship indicated on the phylogeny illustrates divergent evolution?

In what way does the theory of descent with modification differ from the theory of evolution by natural selection?

"If female lizards with reddish throats produce more eggs than females with orangish throats, then the reddish throat is an evolved adaptation." This statement

In a gene-centered view of evolution by natural selection

Consider the following observation: Male song sparrows sing more at dawn than during any other time the day. With regard to this observation, the statement "Males sing to provide accurate information to mates about their physical condition" is an example of

A researcher is interested in understanding the different alarm calls and responses given by Japanese tits to different predators. The researcher hypothesizes that Japanese tits give different alarm calls depending on the type of predator that they see (for instance, a snake versus a crow) in order to illicit a different antipredator response. Briefly describe how the researcher could study this behavior using an observational, an experimental, and a comparative approach, and note a cost and benefit of each approach.

The statement "Lemmings disperse from areas of high population density because they inherited this ability from a lemming-like ancestor in the past" is a hypothesis about

Refer to the figure. The graph displays the impact of gull behavior on crows foraging for chicken eggs (mock gull eggs) that were placed outside, on the border, or inside the gull colony. Do the data below support the predator distraction hypothesis?

The existence of workers among honey bees and other eusocial insects is considered a Darwinian puzzle because

Deceptive signaling is widespread in nature. For example, certain orchids lure pollinator wasps to them with flower petals that smell like receptive female wasps. This case is a Darwinian puzzle because

Consider the following observation: Male song sparrows sing more at dawn than during any other time the day. With regard to this observation, the statement "Males that receive a 'care package' of extra food the day before should produce more songs during the dawn hour than those that do not receive supplemental food" is an example of

We observe a frog that carries its babies on its back away from where the eggs hatched. Here are two questions about this observation: X- Does the frog do this to move the babies to a place where they will be safer and more likely to survive? Y- Does the frog have specific morphological traits that enable it to hold and transfer its babies in this way? Which of the two is a proximate question?

In order for Darwinian natural selection to cause evolutionary change, a population must contain individuals that differ hereditarily in some characteristic because

Refer to the figure. Colonial swallows and ground-nesting gulls both exhibit predator mobbing behavior, while solitary nesting swallows and kittiwakes do not. Which relationship indicated on the phylogeny illustrates convergent evolution?

Consider the following observation: Male song sparrows sing more at dawn than during any other time the day. With regard to this observation, the statement "What is the evolved function of the pattern of song production by the song sparrow?" is an example of

We observe a frog that carries its babies on its back away from where the eggs hatched. Here are two questions about this observation: X- Does the frog do this to move the babies to a place where they will be safer and more likely to survive? Y- Does the frog have specific morphological traits that enable it to hold and transfer its babies in this way? Which of the two is an ultimate question?

If an adaptation is the product of natural selection, the trait will

The infanticide hypothesis, which posits that infanticide is a reproduction-enhancing tactic practiced by males, is called a hypothesis because it

We observe variation in a population of lizard with respect to how fast individuals can run. We attempt to select for the ability to run slowly, not quickly. After six generations of selective breeding of only the slowest with the slowest, the mean running speed of the lizards has not changed. What is the appropriate scientific conclusion based on this work?