Evolution and the study of animal behavior

11 important questions on Evolution and the study of animal behavior

What is natural selection and what is the relation with Darwin?

a process in which some individuals in a population survive and reproduce while others do not
Darwin was the first to describe natural selection by which evolution can occure

What are Darwins 3 conditions required for evolution by natural selection?

1. variations exists among individuals in a population in the traits they possess
2. individuals traits are heritable
3. traint confer differences in survivorship and reproduction

What are 2 measures of heritablity?

-parent offspring regression: analysis the similarity between parents/offsprings in traits
-selection experiment: different groups of individuals are subjected to different selection on the trait in question
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Why do individuals in populations vary in behaviour? name 6

1. individuals differ in genetic composition
2. many behaviours develop as a consequence of both genetic and environmental effects
3. many complex behaviours require learning and so are modified with experience
4. little or na variation in fitness over a wide range of behaviours -> dispersal behaviour
5. individuals in all populations typically differ in size/health/status
6. the fitness of a traint may be related to its frequency

What is narrowsence heritability?

the proportion of phenotypic variance that is due to solely to additive genetic values.
The greater the narrowsense heritability of a trait, a closer resemblance between offspring and their parents in that trait

What is slope of regression and what do higher and lower slopes indicate?

a range from 0 to 1.
the higher the slope value, the more offspring resemblance their parents.
lower slope values indicate that less of the phenotypic variance is due to additive genetic variance and so is not transmitted to offspring

A behaviour that displays almost no variation and is not stopped until complete is called a:

fixed action pattern

What is pleiotropy in genes?

major genes can affect multiple traits

What is the knockout technique in relation to genes?

disable a gene and examine the effect on behaviour. this technique requires a researcher to know the location of a gene and its DNA sequence in order to alter the gene so it cannot function

What are quantitative trait loci?

QTL, stretches of DNA that either contain or are linked to genes influencing a trait such as behaviour

What is QTL, quantitative trait loci, mapping?

a statistical technique that combines genetic information with trait information to determine which regions of the genome contain the genes that influence the trait

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