BMEN 515 Lecture Notes - Opportunity Cost, Circadian Clock, Lightdark
26 Feb 2013
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Benefits of behaviour are improvements in survival and reproductive success; 3 costs. Energetic cost: difference btwn energy at rest and energy used to perform behaviour. Opportunity cost: sum of benefits the animal forfeits by not performing other behaviours. Moore and marler: male lizards with more testosterone spent more time patrolling territories, doing advertising displays, used 1/3 risk cost: increased change of getting killed/injured when performing behaviour more energy than control males. Males often use so much energy that less tired males eventually evict them) foraging theory: helps us understand survival (ultimate) value of feeding choices; benefits = nutritional value, and costs similar to those for territorial defense. But eating spoiled food could be dangerous, and natural selection is not likely to have favored ppl who ate rancid food, no matter how tasty. Most animals associate with others for mating partners and/or for resources it controls.
