AP BIO: Chapter 51 Vocab

Selflessness

Behavior that reduces an animal's individual fitness but increases the fitness of other individuals in the population

The ability to associate one environmental feature with another

Classical & operant conditioning

An action carried out by muscles under control of the nervous system

The way an organism reacts to changes in its internal condition or external environment

Change in activity of an organism in response to a stimulus

A type of associative learning where something not usually associated with that behavior

Stimulus becomes associated with a particular outcome

The probability that two individuals with a common ancestor will share a copy of a particular gene

Represented by r in Hamilton’s rule

The process of knowing that involves awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgment

The scientific study of animal behavior particularly in natural environments

A sequence of unlearned acts directly linked to a simple stimulus

Essentially unchangeable and carried to completion

Food obtaining behavior

• recognizing, searching for, capturing, consuming food

Involves a loss of responsiveness to unimportant stimuli or stimuli that do not provide appropriate feedback

When rB > C

• C = cost to the altruistic party

• r = genetic relatedness

• B = fitness benefit to recipient of altruism

The establishment of a behavioral response to a particular individual or object

During the sensitive period

The sum of an individual's own reproductive success plus the effects the organism has on the reproductive success of related others

Provides an explanation for altruism (adaptive benefit of transmitting genes)

A behavior that is developmentally fixed in a population

A simple change in activity or movement in response to a stimulus

Ex: Sowbugs more active in dry areas and less active in humid areas

Natural selection that favors altruistic behaviors by enhancing reproductive success of relatives

The modification of behavior as a result of specific experiences

Regular long-distance change in location

One male mating with one female

Trial-and-error learning; when an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or a punishment

Views foraging behavior as a compromise between the costs and benefits of obtaining food

Chemical signal for communication between animals

Individual mating with one sex mating with several of the other

Altruistic/selfless behavior toward others who are not relatives

An external cue that triggers a behavior

Learning by observing others

The systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior

Behavioral characteristics exist through expressions of genes, perpetuated by natural selection

The establishment of a memory that reflects the environment's spatial structure

An automatic, oriented movement toward or away from a stimulus