Question 1

In many species of lizards the males have elaborate displays that communicate the "health" of their condition to other males that may be looking to increase the size of their own territories into the displaying male's territory during mating season. Having never seen a specific pattern of display for a particular species of lizard, which of the following are you MOST likely to observe in the field?

Accepted Answer

Displays in many lizard species are used to communicate fitness and territorial claims to other males, rather than varying with territory size or being contingent on the presence of females or continuous activity. These displays are a form of communication to deter rivals.

Question 2

Song in white-crowned sparrows is learned by imprinting, and even if deprived of hearing the adult male song during the sensitive period, the young males will always sing the father's song.

Accepted Answer

White-crowned sparrows learn their songs by listening to the adult males around them during a sensitive period early in life. If deprived of hearing these songs during this critical period, they will not be able to accurately reproduce the adult song, including their father's song.

Question 3

Male salamanders do a species-specific dance that lures females to follow males. As females follow males, they will walk over a spermatophore left by the male that holds sperm to fertilize the females' eggs. The mating dance by the males of a specific species is likely the result of:

Accepted Answer

Ritualization is the process by which a behavior becomes more specialized for a particular function, through evolution. In this case, the specific mating dance has evolved over time to increase the chances of reproductive success for the males of the species. Imprinting, sensitization and conditioning refer to learning processes rather than evolutionary processes.

Question 4

A male cricket creates sounds that we call "chirps" by rubbing one wing against the other. When is this considered an act of communication?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A male cricket creates sounds that we...

Question 5

Which of the following factors are communicated by bees performing the waggle dance?

Accepted Answer

The waggle dance communicates the distance and direction to the food source.

Question 6

Males of many species of ducks have very ritualized mating displays. The pattern and movements of their mating display provide a:

Accepted Answer

The ritualized mating displays of male ducks serve as a species-specific communication signal to females of their species. These displays allow males to showcase their strength and genetic quality in order to increase their chances of being chosen as a mate.

Question 7

Imagine that you are in the midst of World War I and are with a group of Allied forces trapped behind enemy lines. You and your group are stranded, and the only way to message for help is to send a homing pigeon to your base. How will the homing pigeon find its destination?

Accepted Answer

Homing pigeons have the ability to use a combination of landmarks, map information, Earth's magnetic field, the position of the sun and stars, and olfactory cues to navigate their way back to their home base. They are able to create a "map" of their surroundings, and then use their innate ability to find their way home. Therefore, the best choice is E, as the pigeon will likely utilize all of these cues to make its way back to base.

Question 8

The bright-colored patterns of a flower's petals act as signals to an insect that nectar and pollen are available, and in this way the sender manipulates the behavior of the receiver.

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. The bright-colored patterns of a flower's petals act as a visual signal to pollinators that nectar and pollen are available, and this is a way for the flower to manipulate the behavior of the insect to achieve successful pollination.

Question 9

A young woman hears cicadas chirping outside of her window. The last time she heard this noise, she was a teenager in middle school (about 13 years ago). The fact that these insects emerge every 13 years is due to the fact that cicadas have _____ clocks.

Accepted Answer

Cicadas have annual clocks, meaning they emerge from the ground after a period of 13 or 17 years. This cycle allows them to avoid predators and take advantage of the availability of food and mating opportunities.

Question 10

Male crickets create sounds that we call "chirps" by rubbing one wing against the other. Female parasitic flies are attracted to the chirps and lay their eggs on the male once they locate him. Is this an example of communication?

Accepted Answer

The male cricket's chirping is intended to attract female crickets, not parasitic flies. The flies exploiting this signal is incidental, not intentional communication.

Question 11

When humans experience jetlag, this is a result of their lunar clocks being disrupted.

Accepted Answer

Jetlag is caused by the disruption of the body's circadian rhythm, which is primarily regulated by exposure to light and darkness, not by lunar clocks.

Question 12

Anaerobic bacteria that sense magnetic fields in the northern hemisphere swim toward the North Pole, while those in the southern hemisphere swim toward the South Pole. This allows them to orient and swim deeper to avoid oxygen-rich environments.

Accepted Answer

Anaerobic bacteria that sense magnetic fields do swim towards the North Pole in the northern hemisphere and towards the South Pole in the southern hemisphere to avoid oxygen-rich environments.

Question 13

The "waggle dance" of honeybees conveys what information about a food source to other foragers in the hive?

Accepted Answer

The waggle dance of honeybees conveys information about the direction and distance from the hive to a food source.

Question 14

If group selection, the differential survival and reproduction of groups, is an evolutionarily stable strategy, then:

Accepted Answer

For group selection to be an evolutionarily stable strategy, the characteristics that give a group its competitive advantage must be heritable. This ensures that these advantageous traits can be passed down to future generations, allowing the group to maintain or enhance its fitness over time.

Question 15

Male crickets create sounds that we call "chirps" by rubbing one wing against the other. If another male presents himself to the singing male, the two males will fight. First they interlock antenna, then they spread their jaws, and finally they wrestle. _____ is/are examples of communication _____.

Accepted Answer

All of the actions mentioned involve information being sent and received by the two crickets, either through visual or physical cues. The initial song is an intraspecific signal, but the subsequent actions by the males are also forms of communication.

Question 16

A hummingbird is attracted to the red, tubular flowers of a trumpet vine. It drinks nectar from the flower and, in doing so, collects pollen that it transfers to the next flower. In this form of communication, who is the sender, who is the receiver, and what information is being transferred?

Accepted Answer

The flower communicates the availability of nectar to the hummingbird through its color and shape, attracting the bird to feed and inadvertently pollinate other flowers.

Question 17

Male crickets create sounds that we call "chirps" by rubbing one wing against the other. A female cricket is attracted to the chirps and mates with the male once she locates him. Why would biologists consider this an example of communication?

Accepted Answer

Communication is the exchange of information between individuals that results in a change of behavior. In this scenario, the male cricket produces chirps which contain information about his location and readiness to mate. The female cricket is able to locate the male based on these chirps and then alters her behavior to mate. Therefore, the exchange of information from the male cricket to the female has resulted in a change of behavior and would be considered a form of communication.

Question 18

A teacher has set up a demonstration in her class. She has blindfolded some of her students and set up a space heater in the corner of the classroom. She tells the blindfolded students to find the warm spot in the classroom. Most of her students move randomly before (eventually) finding the space heater. The movements of the blindfolded students MOST accurately represent:

Accepted Answer

Kineses is a random movement response to a stimulus, and the blindfolded students in this scenario are moving randomly until they find the warm spot. Taxes, on the other hand, are directional responses to a stimulus, and symbioses refers to a close and long-term interaction between two organisms. "Mapses" and "vectors" are not valid terms in this context.

Question 19

Two forager bees return to the hive. Forager A does a dance that goes in rapid circles for approximately 2 minutes. Forager B does a dance that moves in a straight line before it circles back and starts again. The whole time he is waggling his abdomen. The second forager waggles for more than 5 minutes. Which forager is conveying a food source that is close to the hive?

Accepted Answer

Forager A's rapid circular dance indicates a food source close to the hive, as this is characteristic of the "round dance" used by bees to communicate nearby resources.

Question 20

In male white-crowned sparrows, the sensitive period for song learning is:

Accepted Answer

The sensitive period for song learning in male white-crowned sparrows is when they must hear adult male song if they are later to be able to sing a proper adult male song of their own. This is because they need to hear and learn the specific species-specific song during this sensitive period in order to accurately produce it as adults.

Quiz 45: Animal Behavior