BIOL1007 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Gut Flora, Gelada, Herbivore
Document Summary
Gelada banoob (theropithecus gelada), foraging behaviour is linked to its: morphology (teeth, guts, physiology (capacity to digest plant cell wall in grass, social behaviour (group size, conflict between feeding, safety, mates) Appreciate ecological and evolutionary significance of behaviour: behaviour is interaction with environment (abiotic and biotic), involves stimulus/response. Insect herbivores consume vegetative parts of plants (e. g. leaves) Foraging strategies to be linked to predator avoidance strategies. Understand various behavioural strategies for reproduction: courtship and mating behaviour; parental care; trade-off costs versus benefits, relevant to sexual reproduction. Involves: male-male competition, female choice, results in non-random mating (and non-random offspring, e. g. the male peacock and its tail: Important related concept: sexual selection: high costs of such a tail (think energy in production and maintenance; risk of predation) Access to mates (female behaviour: choosy about mates: darwin hypothesised: male peacock tail arises from natural selection, via selective pressure associated with sexual reproduction, two types of sexual selection:
