Animal Behavior - Biology 420/543

Bowling Green State University, Fall 2008

Sample Exam 2

This page contains sample short-answer questions from a previous semester and illustrates what type of questions you should expect. Materials contained in the lecture notes and reading assignments are fair game. With adequate preparation and an open mind in lecture you will undoubtedly do well. I have indicated the amount of time that each questions should take you in order to indicate the level of detail I expect for your answers. Answers may contain bullet lists, fully formulated sentences, or a combination of both. If you are not successful in communicating your answers, I must assume that you do not know the answer. A total of 100 points can be achieved in this exam towards the total of 300 points for the lecture and 500 points for the entire course.

Short-Answer Questions

You will be presented with 7 short answer questions. Each problem will be worth 10 points. You should plan on spending an average of 5 minutes per question. The essay problem following this section is worth 30 points. You should plan on saving around 15 minutes for it. Below are a few questions which serve as examples. They do not match questions in the exam, they are solely meant to give you an opportunity to practice and they illustrate the level of detail I expect from you.

1. Describe a behavioral scenario where you would consider chemical signals more useful than visual ones
2. Sketch a chemical synapse and illustrate its function
3. not used - Explain the term Entrainment in the context of biological rhythms
4. Explain the term Compensatory Hypertrophy
5. not used - Distinguish between Map and Compass-based navigation
6. What is the timeframe of an action potential? What is the maximal rate at which a neuron can produce them?
7. Under what environmental conditions are acoustic signals more reliable than visual ones?
8. Which ions play an important role in the electrical properties of neurons? List whether they are more concentrated inside or outside the neuron.

Essay Problems:

One of these problems will actually appear on your mid-term examination. The problem will be worth 30 points. If you desire you may work with a classmate to answer the questions outside of class. Neither your instructor nor teaching assistants for the course will discuss your answers to the problems prior to the examination. You should plan on spending around 15 minutes on this section.

1. Describe a behavior with high heritability and discuss the role of genetics in it.
2. You would like to determine the auditory threshold for a particular breed of dog. Design a psychophysical experiment to obtain this information.
3. What is referred to with the term tuning? Illustrate with an example using a particular receptor.
4. Dolphins use 20kHz sounds to communicate and echolocate. Is such a system particularly suited to both tasks? What objects may attenuate the signal? Objects of what size can be resolved? Note: c_[water]=1500m.
5. Define the concept of Umwelt (as discussed by Jakob von Uexküll) and speculate on what kind of world is experienced by one of the following animals: earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris), female Northern House Mosquito (Culex pipiens), or electric eel (Electrophorus electricus)
6. Neurons at rest exhibit a negatively charged inside. Explain the ionic basis of this phenomenon
7. Neurons during an action potential exhibit a positively charged inside. Explain the ionic basis of this phenomenon
8. not used - Discuss activational and organizational effects of hormones in behavior and illustrate each with an example