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4.2 Behavioural Ecology — Test 1
Q1. A common cuckoo chick that, soon after hatching, instinctively pushes the host's eggs out of the nest is displaying:✓ Innate (instinctive) behaviour
Q2. The fact that the Asian koel (a brood parasite) gives its species-specific call even when raised by foster parents shows that the call is:✓ Innate and not learned
Q3. A male sparrow reared in isolation, but allowed to hear the song of a different species (Y) during its critical period, will later:✓ Sing an abnormal song resembling neither species exactly
Q4. Gull parents remove broken eggshells from the nest after the chicks hatch. The adaptive function of this behaviour is to:✓ Minimise detection of the nest by predators
Q5. A statement that includes BOTH a proximate and an ultimate explanation for a behaviour is:✓ Social communication through odours and increased group survival
Q6. According to the acoustic adaptation hypothesis, birds singing in dense forests are expected to use songs with:✓ Low frequency and narrow bandwidth
Q7. A decrease in response to a repeated, harmless stimulus is termed:✓ Habituation
Q8. The rapid, largely irreversible learning that occurs during a sensitive (critical) period early in life, as when goslings follow the first moving object they see, is called:✓ Imprinting
Q9. A proximate explanation of a behaviour describes its:✓ Immediate physiological or developmental mechanism
Q10. Guppies in habitat A are preyed upon (as adults) by pike cichlids. If these guppies are moved to a habitat where predators take mainly juveniles, they are expected to evolve to:✓ Mature earlier at a larger size
Q11. A predator forages on a high-value prey A and a low-value prey B. According to optimal foraging theory, if prey A becomes hard to find (long search time), the predator should:✓ Eat both A and B as encountered
Q12. A leopard killing and eating an antelope is an example of:✓ Predation
Q13. A genetically programmed, stereotyped behaviour that runs to completion once triggered (such as egg-rolling in geese) is called a:✓ Fixed action pattern
Q14. An ultimate (evolutionary) explanation for a feeding preference would be that:✓ Past individuals that fed this way left more descendants
Q15. Animals that show both innate and learned components in their behaviour include:✓ Complex animals such as elephants and bees
Q16. The simplest evidence that a behaviour has a learned component is that it:✓ Can be modified by experience
Q17. In classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, an animal learns to:✓ Associate a neutral stimulus with a meaningful one
Q18. In operant (instrumental) conditioning, behaviour is shaped by:✓ Its consequences (reward or punishment)
Q19. A sign stimulus (releaser) is best described as:✓ A specific cue that triggers a fixed action pattern
Q20. Match each behavioural concept with its description and select the correct option.✓ A-iii, B-ii, C-i, D-iv