1
Q
What are some examples of primary literature?
A
Primary research articles, dissertations, technical reports, conference proceedings
2
Q
What are some examples of secondary literature?
A
Monographs (books dealing with specific areas of research), literature reviews, magazine articles
3
Q
Which review process does primary literature go through?
A
Peer review process
4
Q
What review process does secondary literature go through?
A
Review process
5
Q
What is a scientific journal?
A
Public page that researchers submit primary or secondary literature to, for purpose of making conncetion with that specific publication
6
Q
What does it mean to have a high impact factor?
A
Science is being talked about because work is being cited by others
7
Q
What is primary literature?
A
original source of scientific info
8
Q
What is peer review?
A
editors of scientific journals use experts to decide whether to accept or reject research
9
Q
What is secondary literature?
A
reports that summarizes and interprets the primary literature
10
Q
What are some key questions to determine if a publication is peer reviewed?
A
- What is name of publication and is it endorsed by a scientific society?
- Who are the authors and their institutional affiliations?
- Is it written in the standard scientific format?
- Does it cite the primary literature in the references?
- Does the publication indicate that it is peer-reviewed?
11
Q
What is the order of the scientific process?
A
Observation, research question, research hypothesis, prediction, methodology (test of predictions), analysis of data (results), hypothesis rejected OR supported
12
Q
What is descriptive statistics?
A
Analyzes data collected on a sample
13
Q
What is a sample?
A
a subset of a population or group that is chosen to be representative of the entire population being studied
14
Q
What does the p value tell?
A
if the results are being seen by simply chance? - number changes depending on science
15
Q
Why are large sample sizes important?
A
Large sample size has better results and leads to some sort of valid conclusion
16
Q
What is a measure of central tendency, what is most common?
A
One number that indicates the centrality of the data values, mean is most common
17
Q
Can the mean be influenced by extreme values?
A
Yes
18
Q
What is the median?
A
The middle value of a set of ordered data
19
Q
What is range?
A
Describes the variation in the data, is the difference between the highest and lowest of measurements
20
Q
What is variance (S2)?
A
a non-negative number that provides information on spread in the data. the larger the variance, the more dispersion there is
21
Q
what is standard deviation (S)?
A
the square root of the variance
22
Q
what are the measures of dispersion?
A
range, variance, standard deviation, standard error
23
Q
what is standard error?
A
of a sample mean is simple the standard deviation of the data divided by the square root of the sample size (n)
24
Q
is desired standard error usually larger or smaller?
A
smaller - gets smaller as we collect more data (smaller means have large enough sample size)
25
what type of chart or graph allows for generalized trenfs to be displayed?
line charts or graphs
26
when are pie charts useful?
when describing proportion
27
what are proximate explanations?
focus on understanding the immediate causes of behaviour
28
what are ultimate explanations?
focus on understanding the ultimate (evolutionary) causes of a behaviour
29
What did the video about bonobos want to see?
Why bonobos are less aggressive than male chimpanzees and why chimpanzees are much more aggressive than bonobos (since bonobos, chimpanzees and humans have a common ancestor)
30
Why are bonobos less aggressive than chimpanzees?
if male bonobo is aggressive, females group together leading to decrease aggressiveness in male bonobos
31
What did the researchers hypothesis as to why chimpanzees are more aggressive?
Because females don't band together and decrease aggression
32
What are some challenges of remote areas?
weather can sometimes pause research, conflict among locals
33
What needs to be done to make an animal comfortable in a lab setting?
Acclimatize
34
Why was Darwin's research considered controversial?
suggested humans were like animals in time where humans were believed to be superior
34
What did Darwin's book talk about?
try to answer question origins of humans by making comparisons with non human animals
35
What did Washburn's book talk about?
Sensory perception
36
Who started to establish psychology as a discipline?
Thorndike
37
How do behaviourists record data?
Record observations only, very strict about not making any assumptions
38
What is the response rate?
number of responses/time
39
What is natural selection?
Differential reproduction and survivorship among individuals within a population
40
Where did Darwin do extensive studies and what did they lead to?
Galapagos Islands - lead to theory of natural selection, adaptation, and extinction
41
What is the key to natural selection?
Differential reproductive success because of heritable variants; everyone has ancestors but not everyone leaves descendants
42
What does heritable mean?
A genetically-based trait that can be passed from parents to their offspring
43
What is evolution?
Changes in allele frequency in a population overtime
44
What are Darwin's conditions required for evolution by natural selection?
1. Variation among individuals in a population in the traits they possess
2. Individuals' different traits are, at least in part, heritable
3. Traits confer in differences in survivorship and reproduction, a measure we call fitness
45
What are the basis of phenotypic traits?
gene alleles
46
Which traits increase and decrease over time?
traits that confer high fitness will increase, confer low will decline over time
47
what is a trait value?
number describing range that occurs for particular trait (ex: if trait is height, can be tall and small)
48
What are the 3 key answers provided by natural selection?
1. descent with modification
2. adaptive function
3. united all species into one grand tree of descent
49
what does decent with modification mean?
traits that get modified based on environment
50
what does adaptive function mean?
trait is favourable for environment organism is in, trait is allowing individual relative to reproduction and survivorship
51
What are two measures of heritability?
1. parent-offspring regression analysis
2. selection experiment method
52
what is a regression analysis?
examines the similarity between parents and their offspring in terms of the traits they possess, stats technique seeing relationship between 2 variables
53
What is something researchers do in a regression analysis to minimize environmental influence?
takes individuals very young to minimize influence affecting the relationship they might see
54
what is a selection experiment method?
different groups of individuals are subjected to differential selection on the trait in question
55
what is differential selection?
pick individuals based off specific traits, and continue to mate individuals with specific desired traits
56
what is Ariane Mutzel's PhD project about?
personality in great tits and blue tits
57
How can we explain variation?
1. differences in: genetic composition (gene recombination/new alleles/mutations) OR in environmental conditions
2. genetic-environment interactions
3. differences in learning
4. also possible, little to no variation in fitness over certain behaviours
5. the fitness of a trait may be related to frequency
5. trait differences can lead to behaviour differences
58
what is the bee example for differences in learning?
trial and error learning results in bees increasing rate of food delivery because learned about environment
59
what is the example for little to no variation in fitness over certain behaviours?
eastern screech owls show great variation in dispersal direction, lots of variation no impact on survivorship or reproductive capability
60
what is adaptation?
- a trait that enhances fitness
- an evolutionary process that results in a population of individuals with traits best suited to the current environment
61
what is fitness?
survivorship and reproduction
62
what are the main way researchers approximate fitness (asides survivorship and reproduction)
body size, growth rate, feeding effiency
63
what are the modes of natural selection and population changes?
directional selection, disruptive selection, stabilizing selection
64
what is stabilizing selection?
intermediate trait values have highest fitness
65
what is disruptive selection?
situation in which individuals with either of two extreme (highest or lowest) trait value in a population possess the highest fitness
66
what is directional selection?
a situation in which individuals with one extreme (highest or lowest) trait value in a population possess the highest fitness
67
Can frequency-dependent selection maintain polymorphisms?
yes
68
what is it called when the fitness of a trait may be related to frequency?
frequency-dependent selection
69
what is an optimal trait value?
the trait that confers with the highest fitness in a population in a particular environment
70
cost-benefit approach
identify costs and benefits of different traits to determine which trait confers the highest net benefit
71
why is group selection done?
in context of helping other survive and reproduction
72
what is group selection?
favours particular groups of individuals over other such groups of the same species (not widely accepted as a primary mechanism of evolution)
73
what is individual selection?
at the level of the individual
74
what is kin selection?
individuals can increase their fitness by helping close relatives
75
what is include fitness
both individual and the fitness gained by helping close relatives
76
who decided on middle ground of most likely to help close relatives?
W.D Hamilton
77
what is sexual selection?
type of natural selection that acts on heritable traits that affects reproduction in particular (mate choice, mating, reproductive behaviour)
78
what are the subtypes of sexual selection?
intrasexual and intersexual selection
79
what is intrasexual selection?
aggressive competitions between males, females commonly make decisions
80
what are sexually dimorphic traits?
specific traits appearing after sexual maturity, differentiating between males and females
81
what is intersexual selection?
males try to impress females (colours, dancing, etc,) and females chooses who to mate with
82
what is artificial selection?
humans breeding specific breeds for certain characteristics
83
why is Darwin famous for evolutionary theory?
he along with Wallace described first plausible mechanisms, natural selection, by which evolution can occur
84
what does heritable mean?
characteristic of a trait that can be passed from parents to their offspring because it is genetically based
85
what are some behavioural traits that are heritable?
aggression, mating behaviour, overall activity level, feeding behaviour
86
in a parent offspring regression analysis, how can we tell if a trait is heritable?
offspring trait values are plotted against parent trait values, slope of resulting regression indicates heritability (should be positive for heritable)
87
what /how was done in the maternal defense behaviour in mice?
parent-offspring regression analysis and selection experiment were conducted. 2 groups - control and selection. mice mated, some days after postpartum random male put in female cage. most aggressive females were chosen as selection line. in control, random were allowed to mate. repeated for 8 generations. for regression analysis, analyzed maternal aggression of initial mice and their offspring - found positive correlation. in selection experiment, found significant increase in maternal aggression in treatment family line of 8 generation than control group.
88
why do individuals differ in their genetic composition?
1. each generation introduced new variation through gene recombination
2. many behaviours develop as a consequence of both genetic and environmental effects
3. complex behaviours require learning and are modified with experience
4. may be little or no variation in fitness over a wide range of behaviours
5. individuals in all populations typically differ in size, nutritional status, health, and other traits
6. fitness of a behaviour may be related to its frequency
89
what is dispersal?
process of moving away from the natal area, or place of birth, to find an adult breeding area or territory
90
what is a frequency-dependent selection?
an evolutionary process in which the fitness of a trait is related to its frequency in a population
91
what is a phenotype?
the observable traits of an individual
92
what is an adaptation?
a trait that enhances fitness (survivorship and reproduction). Also, an evolutionary process that results in a population of individuals with traits best suited to the current environment
93
explain the directional selection in juvenile ornate tree lizards study
- studied locomotor performance (function of stride lenght) to see if directional selection acts on speed of movement
- collected lizards and quantified their locomotor performance by calculuating mean and burst velocity over a small distance they ran, repeated 8 times
- also measured body size, mass, stride lenght
- survivorship was measured by collected them again and repeating experiment
- found larger heavier individuals had high survivorship and so did individuals with higher burst velocity and longer stride lenght
- regression analysis showed locomotor performance was more important than body lenght for survival
- strong directional selection on limb lenght - longer, longer strides, greater velocities, higher survivorship
94
what is competition?
an interaction that results in a reduction in fitness for one or both individuals
95
explain the cichlids stabilizing selection experiment?
- wanted to see if intermediate size terriroty would have highest fitness
- created different sized food patches and put one dominant fish with one patch
- added 4 intruders to see territorial defense behaviour and growth rate
- saw that w/big territory, fish spent too much time and energy fighting off intruders
- with small territory, didn't have enough food to eat
- intermediate sized territory fish had highest growth rate
96
what is the optimal trait value?
trait value that confers the highest fitness in a population in a particular environment
97
what is the cost-benefit approach?
a method used to study behavioural adaptation in which the fitness benefits and costs of different traits are examined to determine which has the highest net benefit (calculated as benefit - cost)
98
what is game theory?
a cost-benefit modelling approach in which an individual's fitness is affected by the behaviour of others
99
what are the variables in a game theory in terms of animal behaviour?
players are animals, strategies are different behaviours, payoffs are described in terms of fitness
100
what is an evolutionary stable strategy (ESS)?
a strategy that, if adopted by a population, cannot be invaded by another strategy because it yields the highest fitness
101
when is fitness usually frequency dependent?
when the fitness of a behaviour depends on the behaviour of others
102
why is game theory used?
to predict the proportion of each behaviour that one should observe in the population
103
what is cooperative behaviour?
a mutually beneficial interaction between individuals
104
what did Wynne-Edwards suggest as to why animals do not overexploit resources?
suggested they can regulate breeding and populating size by defending widely spaced territories or establishing dominance hierarchies in which only dominant individuals (who establish a successful territory) reproduce
- said if all maximized fitness by reproducing, resources would be overexploited leading to extinction
105
what were George Williams thoughts on why individuals cooperate?
individuals complete for resources, any individual that did not limit its reproduction (a cheater) would have a fitness advantage, and their offspring would become a larger and larger portion of the population until no individuals exhibited cooperative behaviour
106
what is direct fitness?
genes contributed to the next generation by an individual due to its own reproduction
107
what is indirect fitness?
the genes contributed to the next generation by an individual as a result of helping non-offspring kin produce additional offspring
108
what is inclusive fitness?
sum of individual's direct and indirect fitness
109
what is kin selection?
Hamilton's idea - a form of natural selection in which individuals can increase their fitness by helping close relatives, who share the helper's genes
110
what is multilevel selection?
a form of selection that can act simultaneously on individuals and groups. In some circumstances, selection may be stronger on groups than individuals
111
why was the multilevel selection model created?
not all cooperating social insects display a close genetic relationship (e.g 2 or more queens produce offspring)
112
are kin selection and multilevel selection mutually exclusive?
no, both can effect the evolution of behaviour within a species
113
what is sexual selection?
a form of natural selection that acts on heritable traits that affect reproduction
114
explain the research of sexual selection in widowbirds
- investigated whether sexual selection through female choice could explain the evolution of dramatic coloration and long tails in males
- collected male birds - measured tail lenght, colour patch size
- males observed daily to estimate their territory size and to determine number of females thast nested within each male's territory
- found male mating success most positively and strongly correlated with male's tail lenght, not with territory size or colour patch
- female choice explains evolution of tail lenght - energytically costly to produce and in terms of flight, only males in best condition and quality can survive, defend a territory and display actively to females
- data cannot explain evolution of bright colour in males by female choice
115
how do male widowbirds attract females to mate with?
- males perform elaborate courtship flight showing off tail
- females visit territories of multiple males before selecting which one to mate with, build a nest, and raise offspring
116
can multiple females breed in a single male territory for widowbirds?
yes
LifeSci 2D03
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