Deck 14: Habitat Selection, Territoriality, and Migration

Question 1

Which of the following prediction(s) arise from the ideal free distribution model?

A) Distribution of individuals matches the distribution of competitors across patches.
B) At equilibrium, individuals that move to another patch will obtain fewer resources.
C) Distribution of individuals matches the distribution of resources across patches.
D) At equilibrium, moving to a new patch yields more resources.
E) Habitat choice decisions should be based on the decisions of others.

Answer 1

Distribution of individuals matches the distribution of resources across patches.

Question 2

Of the following conditions, which one favors staying on a territory to help raise young?

A) Available territories are abundant.
B) Breeding opportunities outside the natal territory are abundant.
C) Few competitors exist outside the natal territory.
D) Breeding opportunities outside the natal territory are scarce.
E) When an individual is distantly related, or unrelated, to the young.

Answer 2

Breeding opportunities outside the natal territory are scarce.

Question 3

Abiotic factors that can influence the habitat an animal chooses include:

A) availability and location of mates.
B) distribution of prey items.
C) availability of shelter.
D) distribution of putative predators.
E) parasite density.

Answer 3

availability of shelter.

Question 4

In its simplest form, the conspecific cueing hypothesis examines whether:

A) animals actively communicate information about territory quality to one another.
B) juveniles acquire information about how to properly defend territories by watching their parents.
C) females prefer to mate with males that occupy superior territories.
D) animals learn about the characteristics of a territory from their interactions with other individuals.
E) animals learn about the relative quality of many territories by comparing the health of the individuals occupying those areas.

Question 5

Males that do not establish a territory of their own but are sometimes tolerated on a territorial male's residence in exchange for assistance in territorial defense are referred to as:

A) sneakers.
B) streakers.
C) bourgeois.
D) mimics.
E) satellites.

Question 6

Irruptive migration refers to a situation in which:

A) migration occurs only when conditions are poor.
B) annual migration is obligatory.
C) millions of animals migrate at the same time.
D) animals migrate over distances that exceed 3,000 kilometers.
E) certain species migrate multiple times during the same year.

Question 7

Territorial defense is economically feasible when:

A) the benefits of defense are approximately equal to the costs of defense.
B) the benefits of defense are greater than the costs of defense.
C) the benefits of defense are lower than the costs of defense.
D) the benefits of defense vastly outweigh the costs of defense.
E) there are no costs to territorial defense.

Question 8

Which of the following factors has NOT been implicated as a means by which fish migrate back to their natal stream as adults?

A) magnetic compass
B) learning via exposure to chemical cues
C) celestial cues
D) food availability
E) drifting currents

Question 9

If the ideal free distribution is achieved, then individuals who move from their current patch will:

A) gain significantly more access to resources.
B) suffer reduced payoffs relative to individuals that stay put.
C) be punished by individuals from the patch that it left.
D) not be able to enter a new patch until the next breeding season.
E) migrate to an area with less predation risk.

Question 10

Stress hormones like corticosterone typically:

A) impair spatial memory.
B) enhance spatial memory just a little bit.
C) increase performance in spatial memory tasks by orders of magnitude.
D) cause the animal to become completely immobile and unable to perform spatial tasks.
E) have no effect on spatial memory tasks.

Question 11

Read the article by Moczek & Emlen (2000) entitled "Male Horn Dimorphism in the Scarab Beetle, Onthophagus taurus: Do Alternative Reproductive Tactics Favor Alternative Phenotypes?" (Animal Behaviour, vol. 59, pp. 459-466). In this beetle species, two male morphologies exist-one with horns and one without. Horned males are incredibly adept at defending their territories, which are intricate tunnels that often contain breeding females. With that said, how can hornless male phenotypes be maintained in the population? How do you suppose the small, hornless males gain equal reproductive success as horned territorial males?

Question 12

What type of information is important for a territorial animal to learn before versus after territorial establishment?

Question 13

Why is the relationship between territory holders and satellites sometimes considered to be a case of conditional cooperation? Under what circumstances will this cooperative interaction break down?

Question 14

Read the article by Detto and colleagues (2010), "When and Why Do Territorial Coalitions Occur? Experimental Evidence from a Fiddler Crab" (American Naturalist, vol. 175, pp. E119-E125). What is a territorial defense coalition? What rules determine the formation of coalitions in these fiddler crabs? Relate the authors' findings to what you learned about "paths to cooperation" in Chapter 10 of Principles of Animal Behavior.

Question 15

Read the article by Altizer and colleagues entitled "Animal Migration and Infectious Disease Risk" (Science, vol. 331, pp. 296-302). Discuss at least two hypotheses regarding how migration might lower the risk of parasite/pathogen infection. How might anthropogenic activities generate "hot spots" for pathogen transmission, and how might this have an adverse effect on human health?

Question 16

What is the difference between piloting, path integration (dead reckoning) and true navigation? Read the article by Jorge and colleagues (2012), "Homing in Rocky Intertidal Fish. Are Lipophrys pholis l. Able to Perform True Navigation?" (Animal Cognition, vol. 15, pp. 1173-1181). Describe the experimental approach used by the authors and discuss which homing mechanism the fish use. If the fish use true navigation, this implies some sort of "map and compass" approach. Given that compasses rely on the magnetic field, do you think animals have the ability to detect the magnetic field? Generate at least two hypotheses regarding how animals might use a magnetic sense for navigational purposes.