Classical Ethology and Sensory Ecology - Behavioural Ecology - Ecology and Evolution Previous Year Questions

What should be the sound frequency ranges used for acoustic communication between two herds of elephants living far apart in isolated forests, domestic dogs in neighbouring streets, and insect feeding bats catching prey above the tree canopy?

A duck egg is removed from its mother’s nest and incubated by a barnyard hen. The duckling hatches out in the presence of the barnyard hen and stays in her nest. After a couple of days, the duckling is presented with a choice between its biological mother and the hen that incubated it. The duckling approaches and follows the hen. This set of observations demonstrates the phenomenon of

If both of your ears were located next to each other in the middle of your face, you would have difficulty in resolving the

Forager bees communicate the distance of a food source using a waggle dance upon return to the hive. It is observed that the number of waggles of a dance increases linearly with the distance to the food source. This tells us that the

Male frogs display to females by producing loud acoustic signals. The use of these signals by bats to locate frogs and prey upon them is an example of

Which of the following is NOT essential for a behavioural trait to evolve by natural selection?

Males of a bird species provide parental care by feeding nestlings before they fledge. Which of the following is a PROXIMATE explanation for this behaviour?

The courtship display of a spider species consists of both visual and vibrational signals. Females respond to the display by approaching males. In an experiment, females were presented with 3 treatments: i) only videos of displaying males, ii) only vibrational signals of the display, and iii) both videos of displaying males and vibrational signals. The results are given below:

Which of the following habitats is best suited for infrasound (low frequency) communication in animals?

Which of the following is typical of the eyes of a nocturnal insect?

Weakly-electric fish typically produce electric voltages of less than 1 volt for communication and navigation. Which of the following features is NOT a characteristic of weakly-electric fish?

Which of the following is NOT a proximate explanation for group cohesion among animals?

What direct effect does Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) have in vertebrates?

What effect does myelination have on neurons?

Individual lizards were repeatedly presented with a predator model. Over successive trials, they showed a reduction in the duration of their alarm response. Which one of the following is this an example of?

Males of the Indian robin in two populations sing songs of different lengths. Which one or more of the options given is/are an ultimate (not proximate) explanation(s) of the difference in song length between the two populations?