MOCK EXAM BHE20303 (26-5-2022)

1. Which of the following is in correct temporal sequence?

a) Prediction, test, research hypothesis, research question
b) Research hypothesis, test, prediction, research question
c) Research hypothesis, prediction, research question, test
d) Research question, research hypothesis, prediction, test

2. Ethograms allow a researcher to calculate which of the following?

a) Adaptive behaviour
b) Selection on a behaviour
c) Density-dependent selection on a behaviour
d) A time budget

3. Which of the following approaches would provide the strongest evidence of the
hypothesis that calling by male crickets functions to attract females?
a) Linking field recordings of male calling with their reproductive success
b) A demonstration that calling is highest during the breeding season
c) An experiment that tests female responses to playback of male calls
d) An experiment where females are placed in an arena with different calling males

4. Wagtails (a songbird) settling near streams defend territories from other

individuals. Researchers observed that in streams with low insect abundance,
wagtails defended larger territories, while in streams with high insect abundance,
individuals defended smaller territories. Territory size was intermediate in streams
with moderate levels of insects. What can you conclude from these data?
a) Territoriality in this species functions to prevent starvation
b) Insect abundance is correlated with territory size
c) Insect size affects territory size
d) Insect abundance affects territory size

5. Which of the following allows a researcher to conclude that genetic factors may
have strong effects on behaviour?
a) Genetically different individuals raised in the same environment behave differently
b) Genetically similar individuals behave the same in different environments
c) Genetically similar individuals raised in the same environment behave differently
d) Genetically different individuals raised in different environments behave similarly

6. A set of full-sibling juvenile wolf spiders was divided into two groups. One set was
reared in lowtemperature conditions, while the other set was reared in high-
temperature conditions until they were adults. As adults, each individual was
exposed to a predator at a moderate temperature and the groups exhibited very
different escape behaviour—those reared in low-temperature conditions fled sooner
than those reared in high-temperature conditions. Which of the following can be
concluded from these data?
a) Antipredator behaviour is heritable
 b) Antipredator behaviour exhibits a gene-environment interaction
c) There is an early environmental influence on antipredator behaviour
d) Genes and the environment affect antipredator behaviour

7. Animals differing genetically often behave in contrasting ways in different

environments. We here talk about:
a) Learning
b) Epigenetic effects
c) Gene-environment effects
d) Innate behaviour

8. The terms "Nature and nurture" refer to the following

a) The role of food and foraging strategies on development
b) Age-related changes in behaviour
c) The combined influence of genes and the environment
d) Gene-environment interactions

10. What distinguishes local enhancement (LE) from public information (PI) with
respect to learning about food patches?
a) LE refers to the kind of food in the patch, while PI refers to food abundance in the
patch
b) LE involves learning the specific location of a patch, while PI involves learning the
general location of the patch
c) LE involves learning about the size of a patch, while PI involves learning its location
d) LE involves learning about the location, while PI involves learning about quality

11. An animal is trained to associate an initially irrelevant stimulus with a relevant

stimulus (e.g. a reward). This form of learning is termed:
a) Classical conditioning
b) Habituation
c) Operant conditioning
d) Imprinting

12. Which of the following is NOT associated with evidence for behavioural
traditions?
a) Insight learning
b) Social learning
c) Animal culture
d) Tool use

13. When an animal over time responds less to a stimulus, this effect is an example of
what form of learning?
a) Habituation
b) Social learning
c) Sensitisation
d) Operant conditioning
14. An animal is trained to perform an action by repeatedly giving it a reward when
the action is performed. This is an example of:
a) Classical conditioning
b) Discrimination
c) Insight learning
d) Operant conditioning

15. You observe variation in the visual signals that males use to attract females. Which
of the following would be true if the signal is an accurate indicator of male quality?
a) Females will use auditory signals to verify if the visual signal provides accurate
information
b) Only the highest-quality females prefer the highest-quality males
c) The highest-quality males have the most elaborate form of the signal
d) The highest-quality males have the most common form of the signal

17. Birdsong has been important in understanding female preferences for male
signals. An experimental advantage has been that females “work to hear song” and
have been shown in experimental setups to peck on keys to release a computer to
play song. These kinds of preference tests are an example for..
a) Cognitive Learning
b) Habituation
c) Classical conditioning
d) Operant conditioning

18. Which of the following is NOT a condition that favours the evolution of signals
that are accurate indicators of conditions?
a) The signal is a function of body size, and large size is associated with quality
b) The fitness interests of signaller and receiver are similar
c) The signal cannot be faked
d) Signal production is frequency-dependent

19. Which of the following best describes what signals are:

a) Behaviours that elicit responses by receivers.
b) Require a visible response by a receiver
c) Have evolved specifically to transfer information
d) Conspicuous displays

22. Which of the following is NOT true of optimal foraging theory (OFT)?
a) Many OFT models assume fitness is a positive function of energy intake rate
b) It assumes that natural selection has favoured feeding behaviours that maximize
fitness
c) It assumes that animals have evolved optimal strategies when competing for food
d) The behaviour predicted by OFT models is called the optimal behaviour
23. Which of the following is involved in the foraging trade-off between the
probability of being killed by a predator and the risk of starvation?
a) Search image formation
b) Vigilance
c) Public information
d) Orientation

24. In some species animals perform an extended display to predators, despite a lack
of physical or chemical defences. Why might they do this?
a) Pursuit deterrence
b) Foraging/Predation trade-off
c) Startle predator
d) Mating/Predation trade-off

25. One of the optimal foraging models, the marginal value theorem, is used to
determine..
a) the time it takes to find a new patch
b) which food items to select within a patch
c) how long to stay in a food patch
d) the cumulative reward while staying in a patch

26. A researcher determines that in mockingbirds, juvenile females disperse much

farther than males. What is a likely explanation for this observation?
a) Inbreeding avoidance
b) Differences in their ability to navigate
c) Differences in their size
d) Differences in orientation ability

27. Natal dispersal...

a) is another term for breeding dispersal
b) is affected by an individual’s reproductive success
c) occurs once in the lifetime of an individual
d) is similar for male and female birds and mammals

28. A researcher examines captured birds migrating north. Over a one-week period,
she clock-shifts them 12 hours in a laboratory (so that they experienced sunrise when
there was sunset outside). If these birds use a magnetic compass to orient, which
direction would be predicted they will fly when released?
a) North
b) South
c) East
d) West

29. On what is the evidence based that sea turtles orient using magnetoreception?
a) Discovery of magnetite in the sea turtles’ brains
b) Sea turtles orient in different directions in the North Atlantic water current
 c) Discovery of chryptochromes in the sea turtles’ eyes
d) Sea turtles orient in the opposite direction in a reversed magnetic field

30. Eurasian reed warblers migrate northeast during spring. What evidence suggests
that they are capable of bicoordinate navigation after individuals were captured
during spring migration and experimentally displaced to 1000 km east of their
regular breeding area?
a) They continued migrating to the northeast
b) They began migrating to the southwest
c) They began migrating to the northwest
d) They began migrating to the west

31. Which of the following is required for bicoordinate navigation?

a) Two types of sensory receptors
b) A resident and a migrant population
c) Magnetite and chryptochromes
d) Two varying environmental gradients

32. In an experiment birds are clock-shifted indoors so that they experience the sun
in the South at the time when outside it actually rises in the East. Birds using the sun
compass would normally migrate South. In which direction would the clock-shifted
birds initially orient when using the sun compass when in the morning being released
to the wild
a) they woud be disoriented and show no specific direction
b) South
c) West
d) East

33. Animals are very mobile and many disperse or migrate. Dispersal is:
a) A round trip exploring different habitats
b) One way trip to a similar habitat
c) Movements including specific compass systems
d) A long distance movement to a different habitat

34. Which of the following is NOT an assumption of the ideal free distribution model?
a) Individuals can move between patches at no cost
b) Individuals have equal competitive ability
c) All patches contain the same amount of resources
d) Individuals attempt to maximize fitness

35. What data would suggest that animals distribute themselves in two food patches
according to the ideal free distribution model?
a) Competition was more intense in the high-quality patch
b) Fitness of individuals was a function of food patch quality
c) Dominant individuals settled in the high-quality patch
d) The ratio of individuals matched the ratio of food provided in the two patches
39. In many territorial species, some individuals use the presence of conspecifics to
settle nearby (conspecific attraction), while others settle independently from the
presence of conspecifics. These latter individuals are more likely
a) non-reproducing individuals
b) more competitive individuals
c) unexperienced birds
d) experienced adults

40. What is NOT an assumption of the Ideal Free Distribution Model?

a) Individuals move between patches
b) Individuals have complete knowledge about the fitness pay-offs
c) Individuals differ in competiveness
d) Habitats differ in quality

41. Which of the following is NOT involved in sexual selection?

a) Anisogamy
b) Primary sexual characteristics
c) Mate choice¯
d) Mate competition

42. Based on sexual selection theory, you can predict that parental care in a species
will be lower in the sex that...
a) possesses the greatest anisogamy
b) produces the fewest gametes
c) possesses elaborate ornaments
d) has the higher testosterone level

43. You quantify mean egg size for three species of fish. For species A, mean egg size
is 0.6 mm diameter; for species B, mean egg size is 0.4 mm diameter; and for species
C, mean egg size is 0.2 mm diameter. What prediction can you make about relative
levels of parental care in these species?
a) A will exhibit the greatest level of care
b) B will exhibit the greatest level of care
c) C will exhibit the greatest level of care
d) All species will exhibit the same low level of care

45. Male-only care is rare in birds but relatively common in fish. Which two factors are
hypothesized to explain this difference?
a) Evolutionary age and body size
b) Mode of fertilization and termination of growth
c) Reproductive potential and length of the breeding season
d) Mating system and sex ratio

46. In many species, there is variation between the parents in the amount of care
provided to offspring. Which hypothesis explains this variation?
 a) Predation risk–energy intake rate trade-off theory
b) Parent-offspring conflict theory
c) Parental care theory
d) Sexual conflict theory

47. When a female chooses a specific male without him providing resources for the
breeding attempt, she is probably gaining:
a) Indirect benefits
b) More offspring
c) Direct benefits
d) Fewer offspring

48. Which hypothesis explains higher disease transmission rates in female compared
to male guppies?
a) Females associate in tighter schools
b) Females have lower levels of genetic variation
c) Females spend more time in habitats that harbour diseases
d) Females are larger than males

49. Selection for behaviours that increase the fitness of relatives characterizes which
of the following?
a) Directional selection
b) Kin selection
c) Sexual selection
d) Offspring selection

50. Based on Hamilton’s rule, an individual is the least likely to help which of the
following?
a) Sibling
b) Cousin
c) Niece
d) Grand-offspring

51. Social queuing refers to which of the following?

a) Waiting for access to food in a social group
b) The time to find food in groups of different size
c) The changing of an individual’s sex over time
d) The ability to move up in dominance rank over time

52. One mechanism for group formation under predation pressure is the “selfish
herd”. What explains best the selfish herd as mechanism for group formation?
a) Relying on others to spot a predator
b) Moving to the centre of a group
c) Decreasing the distance to nearest neighbours
d) Defending own individual space
53. Which of the following are key benefits of group living?
a) Predator confusion and dilution
b) Predator avoidance and mimicry
c) Health and safety
d) Reproduction and safety

Answer Key
1-d 2-d 3-c 4-b 5-b 6-c 7-c 8-c 10-d 11-a 12-a 13-a 14-d 15-c 17-d 18-d 19-c 22-c 23-b 24-a
25-c 26-a 27-c 28-a 29-d 30-c 31-d 32-c 33-b 34-c 35-d 39-d 40-c 41-b 42-c 43-a 45-b 46-d
47-a 48-a 49-b 50-b 51-d 52-c 53-a