BIOL 112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Reciprocal Altruism, Eusociality, Inclusive Fitness
Document Summary
Ecology: the study of interactions between organisms and their environment: behavioral ecology examines how and why animals act as they do in response to stimuli. Organismal: adaptations that enable organisms to live in their biotic and abiotic environment. Behavioral: behaviors that have evolved in response to selection pressure. Biological causation: proximate: mechanistic: how actions occur, genetic, neurological, hormonal, skeletal, muscular mechanisms, ultimate (evolutionary) why actions occur, evolutionary consequences and history, behaviors and phenotypes under selection, adaptive behaviors increase fitness. Learned: change in behavior resulting from a specific experience; flexible behaviors. Innate: inherited, genetically hardwired; fixed behaviors (arent likely to change) Flexible, learned behaviors involve choice: each behavior has costs and benefits, cost benefit analysis to understand animal behavior. Individuals make decision that maximize nutrition and minimize energetic cost and risk. Seasonal mating behavior increases fitness: male traits. Synchronizing readiness means individuals are more likely to bear offspring. The costs: maximizes feeding opportunities, energy for reproduction, minimizes predation risk for offspring.
