ANTA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Basal Metabolic Rate, Sexual Selection, Harry Harlow
Document Summary
Behavior - anything organisms do that involves action in response to internal or external stimuli; the response of an individual, group, or species to its environment. Such responses may or may not be deliberate, and they aren"t necessarily the result of conscious decision making. Ecological - pertaining to the relationships between organisms and all aspects of their environment (temperature, predators, non-predators, vegetation, availability of food and water, types of food, disease organisms, parasites, etc. Behavioral ecology - the study of the evolution of behavior, emphasizing the role of ecological factors as agents of natural selection. Behaviors and behavioral patterns have been favored because they increase the reproductive fitness of individuals (i. e. , they are adaptive) in specific environmental contexts. Social structure - the composition, size, and sex ratio of a group of animals. The social structure of a species is, in part, the result of natural selection in a specific habitat, and it guides individual interactions and social relationships.
