Exam 51: Behavioural Ecology

You have captured a number of rats from a wild population and quickly surmise with tests that they are very good at avoiding food with poisons.What would best explain this observation?

The recognition and manipulation of facts about the world is termed

In the size-advantage hypothesis,if a group of fish are living in a territory dominated by a single male,females should switch from female to male when they become very large.Which of the following observations best supports this hypothesis?

In testing a hypothesis that "territorial defense in European robins is a fixed action pattern that is released by the sight of orange feathers," researchers found that robins defended their territory by attacking anything that was of similar size and had an orange patch.How would you show that it was indeed color that initiated the defense responses?

How would self-sacrifice of male redback spiders be an adaptive behaviour?

You observe that by flashing a small light in a particular sequence,you can attract male fireflies of a certain species.You begin to think how this signal may be used against these males.Which of the hypotheses seems to be the most logical?

Figure 51.6 Use the following information and the figure below when answering the corresponding question(s). The following are an abstract and figure from a paper that explores the evolutionary relationship between a protein kinase and behavior (M. Fitzpatrick and M. Sokolowski. 2004. In search of food: Exploring the evolutionary link between cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG)and behaviour. Integrative and Comparative Biology 44:28-36). Abstract: Despite an immense amount of variation in organisms throughout the animal kingdom many of their genes show substantial conservation in DNA sequence and protein function. Here we explore the potential for a conserved evolutionary relationship between genes and their behavioural phenotypes. We investigate the evolutionary history of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG)and its possible conserved function in food-related behaviours. First identified for its role in the foraging behaviour of fruit flies, the PKG encoded by the foraging gene had since been associated with the maturation of behaviour (from nurse to forager)in honey bees and the roaming and dwelling food-related locomotion in nematodes. These parallels encouraged us to construct protein phylogenies using 32 PKG sequences that include 19 species. Our analyses suggest five possible evolutionary histories that can explain the apparent conserved link between PKG and behaviour in fruit flies, honey bees and nematodes. Three of these raise the hypothesis that PKG influences the food-related behaviours of a wide variety of animals including vertebrates. Moreover it appears that the PKG gene was duplicated some time between the evolution of nematodes and a common ancestor of vertebrates and insects whereby current evidence suggest only the for-like PKG might be associated with food-related behaviour. Neighbour joining trees depicting the evolutionary relationships of 32 PKG kinase domain and C-terminal amino acid sequences spanning 19 species of protozoans and metazoans. Values at the nodes represent the results of 5000 bootstrap replications. Lineages with known behavioral links with PKG are indicated by grey branches. -Using the information above,and knowing that the PKG encoded by the foraging gene has recently been associated with the maturation of out-of-nest behavior in honeybees,what would be a logical explanation for this relationship?

Figure 51.3 -What does the figure above show about the nature of the "waggle dance"?

Figure 51.5 -In the figure above,which is the most logical conclusion from the data?

Which of the animals listed below is best known for migration using chemotaxis?

Which of the following statements about imprinting is FALSE?

Figure 51.1 -In Figure 51.1,in which quadrant would the egg-rolling behavior of a goose be plotted?

Which of the following experiments best addresses the hypothesis that moths stop flying in response to high-intensity bat sounds?

Figure 51.2 -Which of the following conclusions is most logical based on the data above?

Migration in birds is guided in part by

A lizard's bobbing dewlap (a colorful flap of skin hanging from an Anolis lizard's throat)is an example of a

Any process in which a signal from one individual modifies the behavior of a recipient individual is termed

Which one of the following examples best illustrates classical conditioning?

How would you classify the genetic basis for most behavioral traits in the animal kingdom?

If phototaxis is orientation toward light,what would be the proper term to describe ants following a trail of their own pheromones?