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Chapter 51
Behavioral Ecology
Vocab & Focus Questions
Bozeman Videos:
Animal Behavior
Information Exchange
Behavior & Natural Selection
Campbell Animations:
Self Quiz
Activities Quiz
Animation Quiz
Vocab:
agonistic behavior
altruism
associative learning
animal behavior
classical conditioning
communication
ethology
fixed action pattern
foraging
habituation
imprinting
inclusive fitness
innate behavior
kin selection
kinesis
monogamous
operant conditioning
optimal foraging theory
pheromone
proximate cause
reciprocal altruism
sensitive period
sign stimulus
taxis
ultimate question
opportunity cost
parental investment
courtship
individual fitness
Focus Questions:
1. Explain the difference between the proximal cause for a behavior and the ultimate
cause for a behavior. How are each of these behavior categories affected by natural
selection?
2. With regard to animal behavior, explain the expression “nature versus nurture.” How
do genes and the environment contribute to behavior?
3. When a male robin is ready to reproduce, it has bright red breast feathers. It will
aggressively attack other male robins, but it will also attack a tuft of red feathers
attached to a stick. Describe how this seemingly maladaptive behavior relates to
concepts of fixed action patterns and releasers. Describe another organism that
exhibits such behavior, and the behavior it displays.
4. Distinguish between operant conditioning and classical conditioning.
5. Describe an example of each one of the following types of behavior and explain why
it is an adaptive behavior for the organism performing it:
a. Imprinting
b. Migration
c. Classical conditioning
d. Operant conditioning
e. Altruism
f. Fixed action pattern
g. Innate behavior
6. In his “Animal Behavior” video, Mr. Andersen discusses mirror neurons and
observational behavior. Describe how your teachers use observational behavior to
teach you about new things in class.
7. Create a graphic organizer that illustrates at least one advantage and one
disadvantage of visual, acoustic, mechanosensory, and chemical communication.
8. When an animal such as a cat is learning to hunt, it often will bat around its prey as
though it were playing with it. Explain how play behaviors can be of adaptive value.
9. Choose a specific behavior from the list below and create an illustration that
represents the energetic cost, risk cost and opportunity cost of that behavior.
a. Singing a mating song
b. Building a shelter
c. Migrating from one location to another
d. Sounding a warning call when predators approach
10. Explain how parental investment can influence the evolution of monogamy or
promiscuity of a species.
11. Explain how fitness of a population is enhanced when kin selection takes place.