Question 1

A study of how chimpanzee feeding behavior changes with age and can be modified by learning addresses (proximate/ultimate) _______ causes of behavior.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A study of how chimpanzee feeding behavior...

Question 2

Choose the incorrect match of animal and mating system.

Accepted Answer

Red-winged blackbirds are primarily polygynous, where males mate with multiple females, rather than monogamous.

Question 3

Which of the following does not characterize eusocial species?

Accepted Answer

Eusocial species typically have close genetic relatedness among group members, not unrelated individuals.

Question 4

Which of the following best explains why naked mole-rats are eusocial?

Accepted Answer

Naked mole-rats have high predation risk associated with dispersing to establish new colonies and a high failure rate of newly established colonies. This encourages the development of eusociality as individuals remain in the colony and assume specialized roles to support the colony as a whole.

Question 5

Which of the following does not characterize most group-living situations?

Accepted Answer

Most group-living situations are characterized by increased competition for food and mates, contrary to option E which suggests decreased competition. Living in groups can indeed lead to enhanced acquisition and defense of food, earlier detection of predators, and increased risk of disease transmission, but it typically also results in greater competition for resources, including food and mates.

Question 6

In a situation where one relative helps another, the fitness benefit to the recipient of the altruistic act is 10 and the fitness cost to the performer is 2.According to Hamilton's rule, it would be least adaptive to help which relative?

Accepted Answer

According to Hamilton's rule, an altruistic act is most adaptive when the benefit to the recipient multiplied by their degree of relatedness is greater than the cost to the performer. In this scenario, the benefit is 10 and the cost is 2, resulting in a net benefit of 8.

For a full sibling or identical twin, the degree of relatedness is 0.5 or 1, respectively, and so the net benefit is at least 4 or 8, depending on the degree of relatedness. For a parent or grandparent, the degree of relatedness is 0.5 or 0.25, respectively, resulting in a net benefit of at least 16 or 32, respectively.

However, for a first cousin, the degree of relatedness is only 0.125, resulting in a net benefit of only 1, which is not as adaptive as the other options. Therefore, it would be least adaptive to help a first cousin in this scenario.

Question 7

Most prairie vole offspring stay at their natal (birth) burrow and help their parents raise the next litter(s).Which statement most likely does not characterize this example of "helpers at the nest"?

Accepted Answer

Helpers are not maximizing their direct fitness by staying home and helping; instead, they are maximizing their inclusive fitness by ensuring the survival of their siblings, who share a portion of their genes. Direct fitness refers to an individual's own reproductive success, whereas inclusive fitness includes the reproductive success of relatives.

Question 8

Choose the incorrect match of mating system and description.

Accepted Answer

Monogamy is typically characterized by low variance in male fitness because each male generally pairs with only one female, leading to more equal reproductive opportunities among males. This contrasts with systems like polygyny, where a few males may mate with many females, creating high variance in male fitness.

Question 9

Which statement about haplodiploidy is false?

Accepted Answer

Haplodiploidy is not always a mechanism of sex determination, as there are haplodiploid species where females are diploid and males haploid. However, in species where haplodiploidy is the mechanism of sex determination, the statement that diploid individuals are male and haploid individuals are female is true.

Question 10

Which mating system would a species likely display if offspring survival is low when only the mother is present at the nest and fathers have almost no chance of finding another mate?

Accepted Answer

Monogamy would be favored in this scenario as it would ensure that both parents are present to care for the low-survival offspring, increasing their chances of survival. Additionally, there is little opportunity for males to find another mate, so a monogamous pair bond would be advantageous for both parents in terms of reproductive success.

Question 11

During your field observations you notice that many of the social groups of your study species consist of multiple males that provide care to the offspring of one female.The mating system of your study species is likely

Accepted Answer

The presence of multiple males providing care to the offspring of one female suggests a polyandrous mating system, where one female mates with multiple males and each male provides care for the offspring.

Question 12

Which of the following would increase an individual's direct fitness?

Accepted Answer

Producing offspring directly increases an individual's fitness as it ensures the transmission of their genes to the next generation. Helping relatives or unrelated individuals can increase an individual's indirect fitness, but producing offspring directly increases their direct fitness.

Question 13

Which statement about alarm calling in Belding's ground squirrels is false?

Accepted Answer

Males are actually less likely than females to give alarm calls in Belding's ground squirrels. This behavior is more common among females, particularly because they are more likely to be related to the nearby individuals they are warning, thus increasing the inclusive fitness by helping relatives survive.

Question 14

Inclusive fitness equals

Accepted Answer

Inclusive fitness is a concept in evolutionary biology that includes an individual's direct fitness (the number of offspring an individual produces and supports) and its indirect fitness (the additional reproductive success an individual gains from helping relatives, who share some of its genes, to reproduce).

Question 15

Selection for behaviors that enhance the reproductive success of relatives is called _______ selection.

Accepted Answer

Kin selection refers to selection for behaviors that increase the reproductive success of genetically related individuals, including both direct descendants (such as offspring) and more distant relatives (such as cousins). This can result in the evolution of altruistic behaviors that benefit the group or the species as a whole, even if they come at some cost to individual fitness.

Question 16

Which statement about scrub jays helping at the nest is false?

Accepted Answer

Scrub jays' offspring are not forced by their parents to help rear subsequent broods. Instead, helping behavior is a voluntary action that increases the helper's inclusive fitness by ensuring the survival of genetically related individuals.

Question 17

Whereas the field of animal behavior known as behaviorism focused on controlled laboratory studies of a small number of species, the field of animal behavior known as _______ concentrated on comparative studies of diverse animals in their natural environments.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Whereas the field of animal behavior known...

Question 18

In which species would sexual dimorphism in body size be most extreme? (Note: The makeup of a typical social group is provided after the species name.)

Accepted Answer

In species 4, where there is one male with 20 females in a social group, sexual dimorphism in body size would likely be most extreme. As the number of females increases in relation to the male, there is often increased competition among males for access to females, leading to selection for larger body size in males. Thus, the male in species 4 would likely be much larger than the females.

Question 19

In Tinbergen's research on begging by gull chicks, the red dot on the parent's bill is the releaser for the chick's pecking response, which is stereotypic and considered a _______.

Accepted Answer

The answer of In Tinbergen's research on begging by gull...

Question 20

Consider a situation in which an offspring helps its parents (degree of relatedness = 0.50), who gain a fitness benefit of 10.According to Hamilton's rule, it would be adaptive for the offspring to help its parents when the fitness cost to the offspring performing the help is

Accepted Answer

Hamilton's rule states that an altruistic act is favored by natural selection if the cost to the altruist (C) is less than the benefit to the recipient (B) multiplied by the coefficient of relatedness (r), mathematically represented as rB > C. Here, with a relatedness (r) of 0.50 and a benefit (B) of 10, the condition becomes 0.50 * 10 > C, simplifying to 5 > C. Therefore, it would be adaptive for the offspring to help its parents when the fitness cost to the offspring is less than 5.

Quiz 52: Animal Behavior