33 - Behavioral Ecology
What is kin selection?
"Close relatives share many of your genes; it may make evolutionary sense to self-sacrifice to save them."
For an electrically neutral atom that has seven protons (Nitrogen), how many electrons would it have?
Seven
What is a blind study?
The participants do not know which group they are in during a study.
Put the following in order of levels of ecological organization: Ecosystem, Population, Community, Organism, Species
Organism -> Species -> Population -> Community -> Ecosystem
Autotrophs are organisms that make their own food.
Autotrophs are organisms that make their own food. Heterotrophs are organisms that cannot make their own food.
How does studying the fosB gene help us understand the interaction between genetics and environment in shaping behavior?
fosB-lacking mice do not exhibit maternal behavior. This demonstrates the complex genetic influences of behavior in living organisms.
Explain how polar covalent bonds can produce hydrogen bonds.
In polar covalent bonds, the electrons are shared unequally. This causes a weak attraction between the oxygen of one molecule to the hydrogen bond of another nearby water molecule.
What are three strengths of science?
Publicly understandable, antiauthoritarian, self-correcting, reliable, predictive.
In logistic growth, when are birth-deaths about equal?
Stable equilibrium and/or carrying capacity.
Explain why most energy fails to be converted to a usable form when one organism eats another.
Most energy (90%) is lost as heat to the environment due to inefficiencies in consumption and digestion.
A bright and colorful peacock spider dances and tries to attract a less colorful spider they want to mate with. What are some potential disadvantages of this kind of mating behavior?
Bright colors = more easy to be identified by predators.
Dances = may attract predators from afar
Sucrose is a disaccharide formed from the synthesis of glucose and fructose. What kind of molecular reaction is involved in building this molecule?
Dehydration.
In an experiment testing whether increasing fertilizer leads to faster plant growth, what would be your null hypothesis (H₀) and alternative hypothesis (Hₐ)?
Null: Increasing the amount of fertilizer has no effect on plant growth.
Alternative - Increasing the amount of fertilizer leads to faster plant growth/there is an effect/relationship on the two variables being studied.
What are at least two major influences of biotic potential?
Reproductive potential of current population, availability of food, presence/absence of disease, presence/absence of predators.
The phosphorus cycle is a big deal, as phosphorus is a major component of many bodily structures like teeth and bones. When an animal dies and releases phosphate ions, where are they released to?
The soil, which is then absorbed by plants.
Why might fixed action patterns (FAPs) be advantageous for animals in terms of survival and reproduction?
They provide a consistent and predictable response to stimuli; e.g. egg retrieval in birds.
What are the two different kinds of secondary structure an amino acid chain can have?
Alpha Helix, Beta Sheet
Honeybees regulate hive temperature by fanning their wings to create airflow and evaporate water, helping to keep the hive cool and stable, even on hot days. This an example of what defining characteristic of life?
Homeostasis.
What does it mean to be density-dependent, versus independent?
Dependent - factors in a population influenced by population density (resources, disease)
Independent - factors that affect populations regardless of density (weather, natural disaster, climate change)
What is the natural reservoir for the water cycle?
The ocean (or other large bodies of water).
A child grows in a household with chores. Whenever they complete a chore, they receive a small reward such as extra screen time or an allowance. What kind of associative learning is this?
Operant conditioning.
What letter bases are in DNA? What letter bases are in RNA?
DNA - A, T, C, G
RNA - A, U, C, G
In a study to evaluate the effect of a new sleep aid on sleep quality, researchers administer the sleep aid to one group of participants and a placebo to another group. Identify the experimental and control group in this experiment.
Experimental - the group that gets the sleep aid.
Control - the group that gets the placebo.
Barnacles attach themselves to the skin of whales. The barnacles get free transport to feeding grounds, while the whale unaffected by the barnacle's presence. What kind of symbiosis is this?
Commensalism.
In a simple food chain with the following organisms:
grass → grasshopper → frog → snake
explain how a change in the population of the grasshopper might impact the entire food chain
More grasshoppers -> more frog food -> more frogs -> more food for snakes -> more snakes.