Concepts
31 concepts
anthropogenic disturbance
Human activities that impose novel challenges on a wide range of species, which can negatively influence individuals, populations, and communities as well as ecosystems
facultative sociality
Social systems where individuals have flexibility in their social behaviors and group membership rather than being obligately social
philopatry
tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area
vocal individuality
The degree to which individuals can be discriminated from one another based on their vocalizations, quantified using information theory
antisocial behavior
Directed aggression toward conspecifics, increasing spatial distancing from or decreasing huddling with unfamiliar conspecifics
polygamous mating system
Mating system where males compete with one another over access to matelines consisting of groups of related females
population stage structure
The distribution of individuals across different size or age classes within a population
inbreeding depression
Reduced fitness in inbred individuals compared to outbred individuals due to expression of deleterious recessive alleles
nonlinear phenomena
Acoustic phenomena including subharmonics, biphonation, deterministic chaos, and warbles that occur when vocal production apparatus loses control
matrilineal society
Social organization where related females remain together and males typically disperse
dominance hierarchy
Social ranking system based on agonistic interactions where some individuals consistently dominate others
intra-individual variation
Variation in behavioral expression within individuals across time or contexts
age at first reproduction
The age at which females first reproduce, an important component of vertebrate life histories with effects on individual fitness and population dynamics
maternal care
transgenerational plasticity
Plasticity that occurs across generations where parental environmental effects influence offspring phenotype or fitness
ecotourism
Nature-based tourism activities that can provide conservation benefits but may also impact wildlife behavior through human presence
group size effects
Changes in social behavior and group dynamics that result from variation in the number of individuals in a social group
litter sex composition
The proportion of male versus female offspring in a litter affecting prenatal hormone exposure
male-biased dispersal
Pattern where male mammals tend to travel farther than females in exploratory excursions and disperse more than females
vehicular collision mortality
Mortality from roadkill events where animals are struck and killed by vehicles
alternative food source
When organisms switch from their primary food to secondary food sources under conditions of high competition or resource limitation
group living
Social organization where individuals aggregate in groups, potentially providing antipredator benefits through collective vigilance and dilution effects
hemispheric lateralization
Specialization of left and right brain hemispheres to carry out specific activities, with right hemisphere processing threats and left hemisphere processing conspecifics
individual heterogeneity
High diversity of life-history traits among individuals within populations, potentially masking life-history trade-offs
litter relocation behavior
Behavior in which a female moves her litter to a new location
multiple paternity
Litters where offspring are sired by more than one male
reproductive skew
Unequal distribution of reproduction among group members, with some individuals having much higher reproductive success than others
social microbiome
The relationship between the microbiome and sociality in animals
spatial aliasing
Ambiguity in direction estimation that occurs when sensor spacing exceeds half the wavelength of the signal
animal personality
Consistent individual differences in behaviour across time and contexts, concept known as animal personality, behavioural types, temperament or coping styles
