Ecology Behavioral Ecology Concepts 5

Question 1

Which of the following is the best definition of 'reciprocal altruism'?

Accepted Answer

Providing benefits to unrelated individuals with an expectation of future return

Answer

Reciprocal altruism (Trivers 1971) describes cooperation between unrelated individuals where current helpers are likely to receive return benefits from those they helped.

Question 2

Why do subordinate male salmon that adopt a 'sneaker' tactic fail to displace dominant males even when sneakers are more numerous?

Accepted Answer

Sneakers gain fitness only near dominant males and cannot monopolize females alone

Answer

Sneaker tactics are parasitic on the dominant male's mate-attraction effort; without dominant males attracting females, sneakers have no opportunities to intercept matings.

Question 3

The 'eavesdropping' phenomenon in animal communication refers to:

Accepted Answer

Females overhearing male-male contests to assess male quality

Answer

Eavesdropping allows females to assess male quality by observing male-male contests without directly interacting, reducing their own assessment costs and risks.

Question 4

A population of animals that defends individual feeding territories in winter but not in summer is demonstrating that territoriality is favored when:

Accepted Answer

Resources are economically defensible relative to defense costs

Answer

Territories are maintained only when the benefits of exclusive resource access exceed the time and energy costs of defense—a calculation that changes with resource density and distribution.

Question 5

Which feature of eusocial insect colonies most directly satisfies Hamilton's kin selection conditions for altruism?

Accepted Answer

High relatedness among colony members sharing the same queen

Answer

High relatedness (r) among colony members means helping siblings reproduce can yield greater inclusive fitness returns than personal reproduction, satisfying rB > C.

Ecology Practice Test

Ecology Practice Test

Ecology Behavioral Ecology Concepts 5