Deck 16: Brains and Behavior

Question 1

What is the coefficient of relatedness of two sisters of eusocial ants, a haplodiploid Hymenoptera?

A) 1
B) 0.75
C) 0.5
D) 0.25

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is an example in which predators benefit from group living?

A) Adélie penguins dive off ice sheets together.
B) Fish form schools in the ocean.
C) Ostrich chicks surround themselves with other chicks.
D) American white pelicans paddle on the water together.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Certain animals can communicate in ways that suggest complex social cognition. Which of the following correctly pairs the animal with its mode of communication?

A) bottlenose dolphin-whistles
B) vervet monkey-screams that are predator specific
C) chimpanzee-sounds and gestures
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following is an incorrect pairing of genes and associated behaviors?

A) for-onset age of foraging in honeybees
B) Gp-9-courtship communication in fruit flies
C) egr-1-mothering style in rats
D) egr-1-male dominance in male cichlids

Question 5

Which of the following is an example of behavior in plants?

A) The trap of a Venus flytrap snaps shut in less than a second.
B) Tobacco plants produce nicotine and shunt it to their leaves when neighboring sagebrush are attacked by herbivores.
C) Plants release pheromones to attract natural enemies of the herbivores attacking them.
D) all of the above
E) Plants do not behave; seeing behavior in plants is anthropomorphic.

Question 6

What evidence does not support the hypothesis of independent evolution of the nervous system in ctenophores?

A) Ctenophores are the basal animal group.
B) Sponges are the basal animal group.
C) Ctenophores do not express all the proteins that are present in other animal nervous systems.
D) Ctenophores use molecules as neurotransmitters that are not present in other animal nervous systems.

Question 7

Animal groups termed "selfish herds" most often result from what benefit of group behavior?

A) increased vigilance
B) dilution
C) group defense
D) cooperative foraging
E) There is no benefit.

Question 8

What is the coefficient of relatedness of an uncle to his niece?

A) 0.5
B) 0.25
C) 0.125
D) 0.0625

Question 9

What do sensory maps of the human somatosensory cortex show?

A) The hands are likely the most sensitive region, which reflects tool use.
B) The mouth is sensitive, reflecting language.
C) The feet are sensitive, likely reflecting our bipedal nature.
D) a and b
E) all of the above

Question 10

How might learning and innate behaviors be connected?

A) Learning enables animals to optimize innate behaviors to a changing environment.
B) Innate behaviors occur after learning has been established.
C) Innate behaviors are always completely independent of learned behaviors.
D) a and b

Question 11

Why is haplodiploidy thought to predispose hymenopteran lineages to eusocial behavior?

A) Daughters have a higher r than in diploid species.
B) Females have higher inclusive fitness from helping mothers than from reproducing.
C) Sisters are more closely related to each other than to their own offspring.
D) b and c
E) a, b, and c

Question 12

Which of the following is not a part of the human brain?

A) cerebellum
B) prefrontal cortex
C) hypothalamus
D) cervical vertebrae

Question 13

Which of the following could be an ultimate explanation for the behavior of migration in birds?

A) Decreasing day length in the fall influences a bird's circadian rhythm, which triggers flight behavior.
B) Birds use a sun compass to orient as they fly south in the fall.
C) Birds fly south in the fall because food resources are more plentiful there in the winter.
D) none of the above

Question 14

How does a Venus flytrap respond to stimuli?

A) A signal is sent after a fly touches any of three or four small trigger hairs on the leaf pad.
B) Neurons send a signal to close leaf pads.
C) Intercellular electrical signals collapse the leaf pads by rapid change in turgor pressure.
D) a and b
E) a and c

Question 15

Which of the following is not true?

A) Sponges (Porifera) lack a true nervous system.
B) Sponge larvae have hairs that act like "proto-neurons."
C) Comb jellies (Ctenophora) lack a nervous system.
D) Researchers do not agree on the basal group of animals; they are divided between Porifera and Ctenophora.

Question 16

Which of the following statements is not accurate?

A) Direct fitness results from personal reproduction.
B) Altruistic behaviors decrease inclusive fitness.
C) Indirect benefits accrue through helping relatives produce extra offspring.
D) Kin selection refers to selection on traits that increase indirect fitness.

Question 17

What does the following figure on aggressive behavior in foxes suggest?

A) Aggressive behavior is heritable.
B) There is variation in aggressive behavior.
C) Aggression affects the fitness of foxes.
D) a and b
E) a, b, and c

Question 18

Why is it important to avoid anthropomorphism?

A) Objectivity in science is crucial, and anthropomorphism can lead a person to assume an animal exhibits a behavior for the same reason a human would.
B) Animals are cognizant of what they are doing.
C) Animals make decisions without knowing what they are doing.
D) a and b
E) a and c

Question 19

The figure below shows the amount of time it takes pigeons in groups of varying size to respond to a potential predator. Based on this graph, pigeons experience what benefit from grouping?

A) increased vigilance
B) dilution
C) group defense
D) cooperative foraging
E) There is no benefit.

Question 20

How might a behavior affect fitness?

A) A behavior could influence how much food an animal can find.
B) A behavior could affect the reproductive success an animal has.
C) A behavior could influence how likely an animal is to avoid accidents.
D) all of the above

Question 21

Researchers think that the animal nervous system evolved through the co-opting of genes with other functions, such as cell-to-cell communication. This is an example of

A) novel traits.
B) complex adaptations.
C) promiscuous proteins.
D) gene recruitment.

Question 22

What does Haikouichthys, a fossilized early vertebrate, have in common with other living vertebrates?

A) a spinal canal surrounded by vertebrae, which was supported by a notochord
B) dark spots at the front of the body, resembling eyes
C) a skull that may have held a primitive brain
D) all of the above

Question 23

How do mountain laurels, Kalmia latifolia, behave in response to pollinators?

A) When a bumblebee crawls into their flowers, it can trigger sudden loss of turgor pressure to close the flower to aid pollination.
B) When a bumblebee crawls into their flowers, it can trigger an explosive release of pollen.
C) When a bumblebee approaches their flowers, it can trigger sudden loss of turgor pressure to close the flower to prevent pollination.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 24

An allele can increase in frequency in a population if

A) on average, individuals in the population that have the allele have higher reproductive success than individuals with other alleles.
B) the allele causes behaviors that result in other individuals in the population that carry the allele having higher reproductive success.
C) the allele increases longevity, but the average lifetime reproductive success is lower for individuals that have the allele than for individuals with alternative alleles.
D) a and b
E) a, b and c

Question 25

Which of the following of Nikolaas Tinbergen's questions about behavior address(es) an ultimate level of behavior?

A) How does it work?
B) How does it develop?
C) How did it evolve?
D) a and b
E) b and c

Question 26

How does brain size vary among the different vertebrate lineages?

A) Only primates evolved an expansion of the cerebral cortex.
B) Tetrapods evolved a larger cerebellum after moving onto land.
C) Mammals evolved an expansion of the cerebral cortex.
D) Tetrapods evolved a larger optic tectum after moving onto land.

Question 27

Which of the following is an example of an innate behavior?

A) an association between color and distasteful prey
B) a spider spinning its web in order to catch its prey
C) a chick learning the song of its parents
D) a digger wasp using spatial clues to remember the location of its nest

Question 28

Which of the following is not an ultimate explanation for behavior?

A) Birds migrate south because resources are more plentiful there during the winter months.
B) A fruit fly orients toward a patch of rotting fruit when odor molecules bind to receptors on its antennae.
C) A gazelle jumps in the air when a predator approaches to signal that it is healthy and not worth approaching.
D) A jellyfish migrates up toward light during the day because food resources are plentiful there.

Question 29

What do Maynard Smith and Williams argue about group selection?

A) Group selection will be strong when there are limited resources.
B) Most organisms are reproductively altruistic.
C) Individual selection is stronger than group selection.
D) Group selection is stronger than individual selection.

Question 30

What do(es) the following figures suggest about learning in Drosophila flies?

A) Learning may impose an evolutionary trade-off between its costs and benefits.
B) Long-lived flies were slower at learning than wild-type flies.
C) Fast-learning flies have shorter life spans than control flies.
D) b and c
E) all of the above

Question 31

How did Tinbergen test the innate pecking behavior in herring gull chicks?

A) presenting chicks with a cutout of the parent's head and various other shapes
B) presenting parents with a cutout of the chick's head with assorted colors of dots on the bill
C) presenting chicks with other species of birds with assorted colors of dots on their bills
D) presenting chicks with a cutout of the parent's head with assorted colors of dots on the bill

Question 32

A behavior can evolve through natural selection if

A) there is variation in the behavior among individuals in the population.
B) the behavior influences the fitness of an individual possessing it.
C) the behavior is heritable.
D) a and b
E) a, b, and c

Question 33

Key functions of neurons are

A) sensing the environment, but not responding to it.
B) responding to the environment with a behavior, but not sensing it.
C) sensing the environment and responding with a behavior.
D) sensing the environment, responding with a behavior, and adapting to the environment.

Question 34

Hamilton argued that altruistic behavior would increase in a population if

A) the benefit to the donor, which was adjusted by the chance that recipient and donor share alleles, outweighed the cost to the recipient.
B) the benefit to the recipient outweighed the cost to the donor, which was adjusted by the chance that recipient and donor share alleles.
C) the benefit to the recipient, which was adjusted by the chance that recipient and donor share alleles, outweighed the cost to the donor.
D) none of the above; Hamilton did not support the evolution of altruistic behaviors.

Question 35

Myelin is to a neuron as

A) insulation is to a wire.
B) an electrical plug is to an appliance.
C) milk is to cereal.
D) eating is to survival.

Question 36

Which of the following could be a proximate explanation for the behavior of singing in birds?

A) Neurons produce the necessary muscle contractions to produce the song.
B) Singing in birds allowed males and females to acquire mates.
C) Song structure in different bird species has changed over time as revealed by phylogenetic analysis.
D) none of the above

Question 37

What type of selection permits the coexistence of several reproductive strategies in side-blotched lizards?

A) directional
B) stabilizing
C) disruptive
D) negative frequency-dependent

Question 38

Which of the following statements is/are true?

A) The ecological intelligence hypothesis argues that some foods are more cognitively challenging than others.
B) The social intelligence hypothesis argues that keeping track of social information is cognitively demanding.
C) The ecological intelligence hypothesis and social intelligence hypothesis are not mutually exclusive.
D) a and b
E) a, b, and c

Question 39

What is true about species with complex cognition?

A) They are apes only.
B) They tend to have a large brain to body size ratio.
C) They tend to have a large body size to brain ratio.
D) They are mammals only.

Question 40

Which of the following is not an example of animals using tools?

A) Chimpanzees crack nuts with rocks.
B) Crossbills pry open pinecones with their bills.
C) Gorillas use a stick to test water depth.
D) Crows use sticks to reach food.

Question 41

The earliest nervous system fossils are from a little over half a billion years ago, yet the earliest fossilized life is known from 3.5 billion years ago. Do you think behavior could have emerged before the origin of a nervous system? Give examples to support your answer.

Question 42

How does Dictyostelium discoides, a cellular slime mold, demonstrate behavior?

A) When resources are limited, cells swarm to form a slug-like mass.
B) When resources are abundant, cells enter a dormant state.
C) When resources are limited, cells sporulate to increase the likelihood of producing offspring.
D) When resources are abundant, cells swarm to form a slug-like mass.

Question 43

Which of the following is not a behavior that likely evolved because it has a positive effect on the indirect component of inclusive fitness?

A) A female wasp helps an unrelated dominant female reproduce so that she will take over the reproductive role when the dominant female dies.
B) A bird remains on its natal territory, helping to rear brothers and sisters.
C) A human female loses fertility in middle age, but helps rear grandchildren.
D) all of the above

Question 44

How are memories created in the sea slug Aplysia?

A) They are formed through the lengthening of the axon.
B) They are formed through the thickening of the myelin sheath.
C) They are formed through changes in the synapses that allow neurons to communicate.
D) all of the above

Question 45

Explain how the vertebrate brain can reflect the evolutionary history and ecological specialization of a species.

Question 46

Based on Kawecki's experiments on learning in fruit flies, would you expect fast learning to more readily evolve in populations characterized by high or low extrinsic mortality (assuming that it does provide an advantage)? Explain your reasoning.

Question 47

The mouthless jellyfish, Mastigias paupua, has a symbiotic relationship with the photosynthetic organisms that live inside its tissues and can absorb nutrients from the soil at the bottom of a body of water. The jellyfish migrates upward in the water column toward the surface during the day and descends at night. Provide one proximate and one ultimate explanation for this behavior.

Question 48

Mexican colonial web-building spiders nest in colonies that range in size from ten to thousands of individuals, with each individual occupying their own web within the colony. Colonies are frequently attacked by predatory wasps. Individuals in larger colonies suffer lower predation than those in smaller colonies. The data in the graph below are from a study performed by Uetz et al. (2002), where they measured the distance at which spiders responded to potential predators. Open bars are for spiders on the interior, and colored bars are for spiders on the periphery of the colony. What type of grouping benefit is demonstrated here?

A) dilution
B) group defense
C) increased vigilance
D) cooperative foraging

Question 49

What do sensory maps of the somatosensory cortex of burrowing mammals show?

A) The burrowing niche is reflected in highly sensitive facial features and forelegs.
B) The naked mole rats use their teeth to dig tunnels, but their noses are more sensitive than their teeth.
C) The nose of a star-nosed mole is more sensitive than the rest of its entire body.
D) a and c
E) all of the above

Question 50

You are studying crickets and notice that some male crickets produce long songs, while others produce shorter songs. Describe one method that would allow you to determine whether these differences have at least a partial genetic basis.

Question 51

In the paper wasp, although all females in a nest are physiologically capable of reproducing, a single female monopolizes almost all reproduction, while other females help rear her offspring. In some nests, female helpers are unrelated to the reproducing female. The most likely explanation for this is that these helpers gain ________ benefits, such as ________.

A) indirect; an increase in the reproductive output of the reproducing female
B) direct; an increase in the reproductive output of the reproducing female
C) direct; the possibility of taking over the reproductive role when the reproducing female dies
D) indirect; the possibility of taking over the reproductive role when the reproducing female dies

Question 52

Describe the two hypotheses related to the evolution of nervous systems in animals. Be sure to include discussion of the sister groups of animals and mention specifically how sponges and ctenophores play a role in each hypothesis. Feel free to sketch a phylogeny for either or both hypotheses if it helps.

Question 53

Dictyostelium discoides, also known as cellular slime mold, is a

A) multicellular eukaryote that lives in the soil.
B) single-celled prokaryote that preys on bacteria.
C) single-celled eukaryote that lives in the soil.
D) multicellular prokaryote that preys on bacteria.

Question 54

Critique the following statement: Some individuals in nearly all species do not breed. A reasonable explanation for this is that species maintain non-breeding individuals as insurance. Non-breeding individuals are hardier and exist to replenish the population after a period of harsh conditions.

Question 55

Which of the following is true regarding the evolution of neurons?

A) All proteins involved in the formation of neurons evolved after the lineages leading to bilaterians and cnidarians split from the lineage leading to sponges.
B) All proteins involved in the formation of neurons evolved after the lineage leading to bilaterians split from the lineage leading to Cnidarians.
C) Some proteins involved in the formation of neurons are found in plants.
D) none of the above

Question 56

The figure below shows the number of predatory attacks per individual in water skater groups of different sizes. The information in the graph demonstrates which benefit of grouping?

A) increased vigilance
B) dilution
C) group defense
D) cooperative foraging
E) There is no benefit.

Question 57

A new altruistic allele arises in a population such that individuals with the allele give up some personal reproduction in order to help their parents raise offspring. Instead of producing six offspring of their own, individuals with the allele produce only three offspring. The parents would also normally produce six offspring, but are able to produce 12 with the help of the altruistic individual. Using Hamilton's rule, determine whether this altruistic allele is likely to increase in frequency in the population. Show your work.

Question 58

When population density is high and food availability is low, stress steroids are elevated in snowshoe hares, preventing females from reproducing. A biologist argues that this mechanism has evolved because it keeps the population from overexploiting its food resources and driving itself to eventual extinction. Do you agree with this argument? Why or why not?

Question 59

Is it theoretically possible for altruistic behavior to evolve if relatedness is very low (for example, r = 0.05)? Why or why not?

Question 60

In what way(s) do(es) Aplysia flexibly respond to stimuli?

A) social learning
B) associative learning
C) spatial learning
D) a and b
E) b and c