Intro/Methods
An internally coordinated, externally visible pattern of activity that responds to changing external or internal conditions
What is a behavior?
This is what changes in frequency in a population over generations when evolution occurs.
What are alleles?
A behavior that displays little variation and once started is continued until complete
What is a fixed action pattern?
The part of a neuron that receives signals from other neurons
What is a dendrite?
A stimulus produced by an animal (ind #1) that influences the behavior of another animal (ind #2) in a way that benefits the stimulus producer (ind #1)
What is a signal?
A formal description or inventory of an animal’s behaviors
What is an ethogram?
This is the expected reproductive success (number of offspring produced) of a genotype
What is fitness?
A behavior that is consistent across contexts or that is associated with a suite of other behavior (e.g., individuals that are more aggressive may also tend to explore more quickly)
What is a behavioral syndrome?
A chemical released by an animal that affects the behavior or physiology of another animal of the same species
What is a pheromone?
A striking stimulus (such as bright colors) that indicates the animal is toxic or distasteful to predators
What is an aposematic signal?
A method where you observe and record the behavior of an organism without manipulating the environment or the animal
What is the observational method?
The proportion of variability in a trait that is due to genetic variation
What is heritability?
When we think a gene may have a large effect on a trait but are not yet sure, we called it a ___________.
What is a candidate gene?
These are the two types of chemoreception
What are gustation and olfaction?
A phenotype that is expressed beyond the body and often includes modification of the environment (e.g., stickleback nests)
What is an extended phenotype?
Together, these are the three R's of ethical animal behavior research
What are Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement
A pattern of selection where how common a genotype is in a population determines its fitness relative to other genotypes
What is frequency-dependent selection
These two techniques help us determine whether genes different in expression between two behavioral states
What are microarrays and RNAseq studies?
These are a type of photoreceptor that is sensitive to a wide range of wavelengths and mainly serves to detect light/dark rather than color
What is a rod?
A change in behavior due to the presence of bystanders
What is an audience effect?
One example of these 4 questions is: "How does the behavior affect survival and reproduction?"
A pattern of selection where altruistic individuals become more common in the population because they greatly increase the number of offspring produced by their close relatives
What is kin selection?
A type of study that involves making a gene nonfunctional to determine whether it plays an essential role in a given trait
What is a gene knockout study?
This is a sense that humans lack but it very helpful for animals that migrate long distances and need to orient themselves in a particular direction
What is magnetoreception?
Three conditions when we would expect honest signals
What are: 1. the signaler and receiver sharing the same fitness interests, 2. the signal cannot be faked, and 3. it is very costly to produce the signal?