Animal Behavior & Psychology Flashcards
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Read the first 7 Animal Behavior & Psychology flashcards as text
Which experimental technique is most commonly used to study the role of a specific pheromone component in insect mating behavior?
Answer: Electroantennography (EAG) combined with field trapping tests
EAG identifies antenna-active compounds and field bioassays then confirm their behavioral role in attracting or eliciting mating responses.
The 'dear enemy' phenomenon, in which territorial insects respond less aggressively to familiar neighbors than to strangers, is a form of:
Answer: Habituation-based discrimination of individual recognition
Familiar neighbors represent a known, stable threat boundary, so habituation leads to reduced aggression compared to an unfamiliar intruder.
Mating disruption as a pest management tactic works by:
Answer: Flooding the environment with synthetic pheromone to prevent males from locating females
Pervasive synthetic pheromone eliminates the concentration gradient females produce, so males cannot orient to a true source.
A beetle larva that moves upward through the soil in spring to a food source is displaying:
Answer: Negative geotaxis
Moving upward is negative geotaxis — movement directed against gravity — typical of larvae ascending to roots or shoots in spring.
In the context of vector-borne disease management, understanding the host-seeking behavior of mosquitoes is critical because it helps identify:
Answer: Peak biting times and preferred host cues to optimize repellent use and trap placement
Knowing when and how mosquitoes seek hosts allows targeted deployment of repellents, bednets, and traps during peak host-seeking activity.
Which of the following best describes 'superorganism' theory as applied to social insect colonies?
Answer: The colony functions as a single integrated unit analogous to an individual organism, with division of labor replacing organ differentiation
Superorganism theory views the colony as a higher-level individual where the division of reproductive and worker castes parallels the specialization of organs in a body.
Which behavioral cue do German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) use to aggregate preferentially in specific harborage sites?
Answer: Aggregation pheromones present in fecal deposits at the site
German cockroaches deposit aggregation pheromones in their feces, and these chemical signals attract other individuals to established harborage sites.