Ecology Behavioral Ecology Concepts 4

Question 1

In the marginal value theorem, an optimal forager should leave a patch when:

Accepted Answer

The instantaneous rate of gain drops to the average rate across the habitat

Answer

All food items in the patch are consumed

Answer

Travel time between patches exceeds foraging time

Answer

A predator is detected nearby

Question 2

Leks are arenas where males aggregate to display to females. The 'hotspot' hypothesis explains lek formation by proposing that males cluster:

Accepted Answer

At sites where female traffic is naturally highest

Answer

Around the highest quality food resources

Answer

Near the largest dominant male

Answer

In areas with the fewest predators

Question 3

What does the term 'phenotypic plasticity' mean in the context of animal behavior?

Accepted Answer

The ability of one genotype to produce different behaviors in different environments

Answer

Fixed behavioral responses independent of environment

Answer

Rapid genetic evolution across generations

Answer

Learning behaviors from observing conspecifics

Question 4

Which type of mimicry occurs when a harmless species resembles a harmful one to deter predators?

Accepted Answer

Batesian mimicry

Answer

Müllerian mimicry

Answer

Aggressive mimicry

Answer

Automimicry

Question 5

An organism exhibits 'conditional strategy' when it:

Accepted Answer

Switches tactics based on its own condition or environmental cues

Answer

Always uses the same tactic regardless of circumstances

Answer

Randomly alternates between two behaviors each generation

Answer

Cooperates only with genetically identical individuals

Question 6

Mobbing behavior, in which prey animals collectively harass a predator, is most likely maintained by:

Accepted Answer

Kin selection and dilution of individual risk in groups

Answer

Purely selfish benefits to each individual mobber

Answer

Predator confusion from visual overload alone

Answer

Sexual selection favoring bold males

Question 7

In game theory applied to behavioral ecology, a 'dove' strategy that always retreats from conflicts would be evolutionarily stable when:

Accepted Answer

Resources are superabundant and not worth contesting

Answer

Hawks are absent from the population

Answer

Injury costs of fighting are very low

Answer

The frequency of doves in the population is low