Ch 51 Behavioral ecology
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Created by:
eagleswings59 Plus on May 2, 2012
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campbell
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AP Biology CCHS, malonek ahs ap biology
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43 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 behavior | the way an organism reacts to changes in its internal condition or external environment |
| ethology | the branch of zoology that studies the behavior of animals in their natural habitats |
| fixed action pattern | AKA FAP, innate behavior that occurs as an unchangeable sequence of actions |
| sign stimulus | an external sensory stimulus that triggers a fixed action pattern |
| behavioral ecology | examines the ways in which behavior is adaptive, how behavior varies, how it evolves |
| foraging | the act of searching for food and provisions |
| optimal foraging theory | The basis for analyzing behavior as a compromise of feeding costs versus feeding benefits, anticipating that animals will attempt to maximize energy obtained as a function of time and/or eneergy spent |
| learning | a relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience |
| maturation | the process of an individual organism growing organically |
| habituation | decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation |
| imprinting | the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life |
| sensitive period | A limited phase in an individual animal's development when learning of particular behaviors can take place. |
| associative learning | learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning). |
| classical conditioning | a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus (US) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. Also called Pavlovian or respondent conditioning. |
| operant conditioning | conditioning in which an operant response is brought under stimulus control by virtue of presenting reinforcement contingent upon the occurrence of the operant response |
| cognition | the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning |
| cognitive ethology | The scientific study of cognition; the study of the connection between data processing by nervous systems and animal behavior. |
| kinesis | A change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus. |
| taxis | a locomotor response toward or away from an external stimulus by a motile (and usually simple) organism |
| landmarks | A point of reference for orientation during navigation |
| cognitive maps | mental representations of how a physical space is organized |
| migrations | The regular back-and-forth movement of animals between two geographic areas at particular times of the year. |
| social behavior | Any kind of interaction between two or more animals, usually of the same species. |
| agonistic behavior | A type of behavior involving a contest of some kind that determines which competitor gains access to some resource, such as food or mates. |
| reconciliation behavior | usually animals in permanent social groups will reconcile after a conflict |
| ritual | a ceremonial act |
| dominance hierarchy | ranking of individuals in a group based on aggressive behavior |
| territory | any area that an animal defends against other animals |
| courtship | when an animal sends out stimuli in order to attract a member of the opposite sex |
| parental investment | What each sex invests-in terms of time, energy, survival risks, and forgone opportunities-to produce and nurture offspring. |
| promiscuity | each sex has two or more mates with no pair bonds. |
| monogamous | a mating relationship wherein one male and one female mate only with each other |
| polygamous | a type of relationship in which an individual of one sex mates with several of the other |
| polygynous | refers to a social group that includes one adult male, several adult females, and their offspring |
| polyandrous | mating system in which one female mates with multiple males |
| signal | communicate silently and non-verbally by signals or signs |
| communication | The exchange of information between organisms |
| pheromones | odorless chemicals that serve as social signals to members of one's species |
| altruism | the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others |
| Hamilton's rule | The principle that for natural selection to favor an altruistic act, the benefit to the recipient, devalued by the coefficient of relatedness, must exceed the cost to the altruist. |
| coefficient of relatedness | The probability that a particular gene present in one individual will also be inherited from a common parent or ancestor in a second individual. |
| kin selection | the idea that evolution has selected altruism toward one's close relatives to enhance the survival of mutually shared genes |
| reciprocal altruism | behavior that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future |
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