BISC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Rock Sparrow, Proximate And Ultimate Causation, Aphid
11 Apr 2019
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Members of the same species share the same niche and compete vigorously for limiting shared resources. Individuals may posture, meaning that they will make displays of strength, and stylized combat without actually fighting. If the postures are costly displays of real strength and ability, they allow animals to determine who would win a real fight without risking injury or death. Encounters leading to injury or death for one participant carry considerable risk to both participants. If animals can assess their relative strength, it is to the advantage of both partners to avoid the actual combat. Thus, animals that posture, assess each other"s strength, and then act on that assessment without fighting will have greater fitness: when attacked, aphids release an alarm pheromone that warns nearby aphids of their peril. Explain why this behavior is adaptive in aphids. Adaptive behavior is behavior that increases the fitness of an individual relative to other individuals without the behavior.
