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86 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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How do we study mammals? |
catch/trap, hunter harvest, observation (visual), and fecal sampling |
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7 characteristics of all mammals |
produce milk/mammary glands, live birth, some sort of hair/fur, endothermic, internal fertilization, teeth (with some exceptions), invest time in offspring/parental care. |
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What is hair composed of? |
dead epidermal cells and keratin (protein) |
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Term for an animal's coat |
pelage |
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List the 2 types of hair/fur. |
guard hair- top coat (long, silky, keep water off skin). underfur - fuzzy (like downy feathers on birds). |
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Define endothermy in mammals. |
Maintain stable body temperature through metabolic activity, fat storage, brown adipose tissue, and behaviors (shivering, huddling, nesting). |
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Explain the mammalian respiratory system. |
large lungs, many alveoli for greater gas transfer. Air moves into lungs through diaphragm expansion (unique to mammals) and expansion of intercostal muscles around the ribs. |
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Vivipary |
'live birth' fetus develops in utero |
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Define precocial young |
more developed, fully furred, open eyes, can walk in a day |
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Define altricial young |
less developed, naked, closed eyes, crawl around |
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Sensory organs in mammals (4) to help with navigating in the dark |
smell (vomeronasal organ) Flehmen-moose/elk hearing (pinna, middle & inner ear) - Fennec fox (enlarged pinna) tactile (vibrissae)- whiskers -rat vision (tapetum lucidum) - eyes shine at night, reflect light = see better in the dark. |
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Homologous structures |
same thing, but different species; evolved over time. Similar by phylogenetic origins/ decent |
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Analogous structures |
similar by function alone (wing of bat and bird). |
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Define evolution |
change in genetic structure of a population through time. |
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Define allele |
version of a gene (trait) |
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Define gene |
alleles in a gene pool of a population |
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What are the mechanisms of evolution? (4) |
mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, natural selection. |
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Define mutation |
Changes in DNA that affect phenotype; must occur in gametes to affect offspring. |
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Define genetic drift |
random, chance events that result in differential survival of variants in the population. |
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Define gene flow |
movement of individuals into or out of a population. |
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Define natural selection |
differential survival & reproduction based on adaptations to particular environments. |
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Natural selection can only occur if there is... |
genetic variation, differential reproduction, and heredity. |
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Define fitness |
relative genetic contribution an individual makes to future generations compared with other members of a population. |
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Define reproductive success |
number of offspring an individual has that survive to reproduce. |
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What happened in the Devonian period? |
tetrapods 'arrive' |
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What happened in the Mississippian period? |
Amniotes came into play. Produce cleidoic eggs. |
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What happened in the Pennsylvania period? |
split between Squropsida (turtles, lizards, snakes, dinosaurs, and birds) and Synapsida (mammals). |
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What are the three main groups of amniotes? |
anapsid (gave rise to turtles) synapsid (mammals) diapsid (birds) |
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What happened in the Mesozoic Era? (Triassic and Jurassic) |
Synapsids are vastly reduced as dinosaurs expanded. Few lineages of advanced synapsids (therapsids) survived. Cynodonts evolved from therapsids in the last Triassic period. |
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What happened in the Tertiary period? (Cretaceous) |
(early mammals) Dino extinction and adaptive radiation of mammals occured. |
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What are the 6 faunal regions? |
Nearctic (N. America), Neotropical (S. America), Etheopian (Africa), Australasian (Australia), and Palearctic (Asia). |
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Define fenestration |
hole & surface area in nasal structures that aid in blood flow. |
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Types of teeth (4) |
incisors, canines, premolars, molars. |
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Define heterodont |
different kinds of teeth, not all uniform |
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Define diphyodont |
get more than one set in lifetime |
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What is enamel? |
outside of tooth; hardest structure mammals make |
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What is dentine? |
central to tooth; darker than enamel |
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Brachydont |
(low crown height) carnivores; slice & tear rather than grinding. |
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Hypsodont |
(high crown height) allow for more wear on teeth; grinding food. |
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Occlusal cusp shapes (4) |
bundont (omnivores), selenodont (undulates, cervids), lophodont (herbivores; rabbits), secodont (carnivores) |
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carnassial pair |
last upper pre-molar & 1st lower molar. used to tear/slice through food. |
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Population abundance assumptions (4) |
population is closed during sampling periods, all individuals are equally likely to be caught and recaptured, random mixing must occur between sampling periods, and animals don't lose their marks. |
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monotreme |
egg-laying mammal |
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Define HSI |
habitat suitability index |
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What are the 6 types of questions about behavior? |
what (specific behavior), when (temporal), how (physiological/ anatomical adaptations), where (spatial), who (demographic), and why (motivation/ adaptation) |
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How many extant species of bears are there in the world? |
8 |
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Know the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear |
hump, claw length, ear shape, face profile, foot/track characteristics, how long each keeps their cubs (2 v 3 yrs). |
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List some benefits of endothermy |
don't rely on outside temperature to regulate heat, able to sustain activity through range of temperatures, smaller body size allowed mammals to take advantage of new niches |
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Costs of endothermy |
high energetic cost to maintain constant internal temperature (5-10x more than reptile of the same size). |
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TNZ |
Thermal neutral zone (not a lot of work to maintain temperature) |
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BMR |
basal metabolic rate (amount of O2 consumed per unit time at STP). |
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Male reproductive system components |
testes (scrotum), paired accessory glands contribute to seminal fluid, duct system, and copulatory organ (penis). |
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Female reproductive system components |
ovaries (2), oviducts (Fallopian tubes), uterus (1 or 2), cervix, and vagina. |
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Polygny |
male invests little and mates with many females. (resource defense, harems, leks). |
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Polyandry |
female with many males. Can be biological (litter with many fathers) or social (litter left with father while she goes off and has another litter with another male) |
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Monogamy |
one mate for a duration of time (could be for one or more breeding cycles). sexual (1 partner to mate and raise young with) or social (male and female take care of offspring; may not be his) |
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What is the function of the placenta? |
anchor fetus to uterus, transport nutrients from maternal bloodstream, excrete fetal waste products, and produce regulatory hormones to maintain pregnancy. |
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4 types of placentas |
diffuse, cotyledonary, zonary, discoidal. |
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kin groups |
group members related to one another (muskrat, beaver, meerkat) |
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mating groups |
formed as a function of reproductive activities (pairs, harems, leks, spawning groups) |
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Eusocial groups |
highly structured groups of individuals living in colonies that demonstrate overlapping generations, reproductive division of labor, and cooperative care of young. (naked mole rat) |
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Costs of social living |
conspicuousness, disease, competition, submissiveness, reproductive interference. |
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Benefits of social living |
predator defense, disease assistance, improved foraging, subordinate protection, and reproductive interference. |
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What are some common furbearer diseases in NY? |
rabies, canine distemper, squirrel fibroma, raccoon roundworm, heart-worm, warbles/bot fly, giant kidney worm, tularemia, Yersinia pseudo-tuberculosis, and abscesses. |
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TSE |
transmissible spongiform encephalopathy |
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Types of fitness |
direct, indirect, inclusive |
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Reproductive suppression |
reduced probability that all members of a social group will reproduce. |
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Reproductive skew |
differential reproduction in a group influences gene dynamic and effective population size. |
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Saltatorial locomotion |
hopping; long, powerful hind limbs, stiff skeletal structure, long tails as counter balance, rapid acceleration and directional change |
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Scansorial (claws) & Arboreal (grip) locomotion |
climbing; navigating 3-D environment, friction pads, claws, prehensile tails, opposable digits, advantage: escape from predators. |
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Fossorial locomotion |
digging, burrowing |
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Volant locomotion |
flying |
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Swimming locomotion |
aquatic, semi-aquatic; modified flippers, webbing |
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Cursorial locomotion |
running; adaptations for increased speed |
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Factors that influence stride length (4) |
limbs positioned under body, distal elements lengthened, change in foot posture, and increased flexion in vertebral column. |
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Factors that influence stride rate (3) |
re-positioned muscle mass, added joint to locomotor mechanism, and reduced digits. |
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Paraxonic |
digits 3 & 4 (artio: even-toed) |
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Mesaxonic |
digit 3 (pariso: odd-toed) |
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Predation |
An interaction between 2 organisms where one uses the other for food. |
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4 elements of predation |
detection, attack, capture, consumption (prey can escape during any phase) |
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Anti-predator behaviors |
evolutionary adaptations that increase the likelihood for prey survival. |
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How to avoid detection |
camouflage (deer fawn & ground squirrel) |
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How to avoid attack |
warnings & repellents (alarm calls in ground squirrels and skunk repellent spray) |
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How to avoid capture |
grouping behavior, defensive behavior, synchronized life history events (moose dropping calves at the same time; predator swamping). |
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How to avoid consumption |
unpalatability (opossum plays dead and emits fowl smell; porcupine has quills) |
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Landscape of fear |
relative levels of predation risk across a landscape that reflect the level of fear of predation prey experience in different parts of the environment. |
