Communication, foraging and mating behaviour
17 important questions on Communication, foraging and mating behaviour
What is defined as a signal?
- Signals are emitted by living things
- Signals have evolved because their effects benefit the signaller
What is an example of informative signals?
Explain the costs and beneits of signals
- Honest signals: interests of sender and receiver align: accurate information
- Dishonest signals: interests of sender and receiver conflict: deception, manipulation
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What are false alarms used for and name two examples?
- Example to gain food: Tufted capuchin monkeys subordinates produce false alarm calls to distract group members and gain access to food
- Example to gain mates: Topi males produce false alarm calls to keep females on territory and gain additional matings
What is aposematic ('warning') colouration?
What is Mullerian mimicry
What are the conditions that favour the evolution of honest signals?
- Fitness interests of signaler and receiver are similar: dishonesty does not provide benefits
- Signals cannot be faked
- Signals are costly to produce or maintain
Signal receivers will be selected to resist manipulation (e.g. Better discrimination abilities)
Co-evolutionary arms race
Name an environmental influence on signal evolution
- Frogs that live near waterfalls stop calling but have bright coloured feet to communicate to rivals and females, as the traditional calls cannot be heard above the noise of a waterfall.
- Birds in noisy environments sing with a higher frequency than in quiet environments.
Name the two communication networks and what they mean
- Bystanders (eavesdroppers): a third party individua that detects a signal transmitted between a signaler and receiver
- Audience effects: occurs when the presence of bystanders influences the behaviour of a signaler
Why does frequency-dependent selection occur in terms of foraging?
Explain the optimal foraging theory
Explain the optimal diet model
What explains ornaments and armaments, and describe this phenomenon?
What causes asymmetry between sexes? Explain these theories
- Trivers' parental investment theory: Females make a larger parental investment, starting already with anisogamy and followed by pregnancy and/or prolonged care
- Bateman's principle: Males can increase their reproductive success by increasing their number of mating partners, whereas females increase their reproductive success mainly by improving the quality of their mates.
--> The sex which invests the most in offspring will become a limiting resource over which the other sex competes
Explain intra- vs intersexual selection
- Intra: mating success is determined by within-sex interactions (e.g. Male-male competition over access to females)
- Inter: mating success determined by between-sex interactions (e.g. Female choice of males)
What is true about courtship traits?
- Courtship traits can be learned; experienced individuals are more successful
- Preferences can be learned or copied; experienced individuals make better choices
How does sexual selection take place after mating?
- Through mate guarding: when a male follows his mate to prevent her from mating with rivals to avoid production of extra-pair young: offspring of a pair-bonded female produced outside the pair bond by a third-party male
- Through sperm competition: competition between sperm of different males to fertilize eggs. Often depends on swimming speed
- Through cryptic female choice: females discriminate between sperm of different males. Female ovarian fluid favours sperm from specific males, resulting in embryo's that survive better
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