growth rate hypothesis
Organisms with higher growth rates require greater cellular concentration of ribosomes and have greater tissue RNA content
growth-development tradeoffs
Allocation decisions between current growth and accelerated development that affect adult fitness
herbivory threshold
Critical point where herbivore grazing pressure begins to regulate algal biomass rather than resource limitation
hierarchy theory
homophily
The tendency for similar individuals to associate and form ties, thus limiting their social worlds and altering the information they receive and the interactions they experience
hummingbird flower syndrome
The convergent set of floral traits (red color, tubular morphology, dilute nectar) expected to evolve in flowers adapted for hummingbird pollination
humped-back model
A model suggesting that plant diversity peaks at intermediate productivity, is low at high productivity where few species dominate available resources, and is low at low productivity where few species...
ideal free distribution
inclusive fitness theory
Hamilton's theory that fitness should be stripped of all components which can be considered as due to the individual's social environment, leaving the fitness he would express if not exposed to any of...
island biogeography
Pikas as island species restricted to talus habitat and high alpine mountain tops
kinematic wave equation
landslide geomorphology systems
Framework for discussing how landslide processes contribute to geomorphological development of different types of terrain
marginal value theorem
masculinity performance
The concept that masculinity is performed and constructed rather than innate, revealed through character staging and cultural fabrication
mass conservation
Physical principle balancing soil transport and production processes to predict soil thickness evolution
mass conservation
The principle that mass cannot be created or destroyed, applied to nutrient cycling as consumption - growth - egestion = excretion
model complexity trade-offs
The balance between including biological detail to improve accuracy versus introducing parameter uncertainty that can reduce forecast skill
model equifinality
moral burden
The ethical responsibilities that supervisors carry when sending workers into the field, including duties of promoting safety, ensuring equitable access, and continuing to learn and improve
morphological constraint
Physical limitations imposed by body structure that affect foraging efficiency and resource use
multilevel selection
Theoretical framework positing natural selection simultaneously occurs at multiple levels of biological organization, and at levels other than only the gene
multiple hierarchy stratification theory
A theoretical view operating on the premise that each person has a specific status or position within society, with different levels of socioeconomic status having different challenges with leisure co...
natal habitat effects
The influence of early life environment on later life history decisions
neutral genetic drift
Random changes in allele frequencies due to sampling effects
neutral theory
niche conservatism
The tendency for species to retain ancestral ecological requirements rather than evolving new ones
optimal allocation theory
Theory predicting that parents should allocate investment amongst their progeny according to an optimum at which their own (i.e., the parents') fitness is maximized
optimal control theory
pace-of-life syndrome
Hypothesis positing that a series of behavioural and physiological axes of variation correlates with the individual slow-fast continuum
pace-of-life syndrome
Correlations between boldness and an individual's willingness to face risk for food, linked to growth rate
parental care trade-offs
The conflicting pressures parent birds face between maintaining optimal nest conditions and foraging to meet metabolic needs
parental desertion model
Theoretical framework predicting when parents will abandon offspring based on costs and benefits of continued care versus seeking additional mating opportunities
plant defense allocation trade-offs
Theoretical framework predicting significant costs to deploying defensive weapons, with plants using defenses when benefits outweigh costs and conserving resources when defense is unnecessary
policy window
Moments when political will and available solutions converge to enable policy action
polycentric governance
Governance with many centers of decision-making which are formally independent of each other
power dynamics
The differential distribution of power and influence across individual workers, supervisors, institutions, and social context that shapes field safety outcomes
power of place
Landscapes encountered in daily life through interaction with material and people that are invested with power, where people develop special meanings and symbols to understand and approach powerful la...
predator stress model
Model predicting that predators are affected to a greater extent than prey in high stress environments, reducing predation rates
producer-scrounger game theory
Game theory model where producers invest in developing resources while scroungers exploit those resources without investment
resource acquisition strategy
Plant strategy emphasizing rapid resource capture and growth versus conservative resource use
resource congruence
The requirement for specific nutrient ratios results in different limiting nutrients for each life-history trait
resource versus consumer control
Theoretical framework contrasting bottom-up resource limitation versus top-down predator control of community structure
resource-ratio theory
Theory predicting that species with traits conferring ability to most efficiently take up limiting soil resources will have highest abundance in a community
safe site model
Model assuming limited number of sites suitable for germination and recruitment with only one juvenile per safe site
scaling laws
Mathematical relationships that describe how system properties change with size or scale, typically expressed as power laws
semi-social insects
Insects with extended parental behavior intermediate between extremely social and extremely asocial species
sensory bias
Innate sensory responses that form a foundation for higher-level cognitive functioning in animals
sex allocation theory
Theoretical framework predicting optimal investment in male versus female offspring based on relatedness asymmetries in social insects
social complexity
A system is typically considered more complex if it contains more parts, more variability or types of parts, more connections or types of connections between parts or more layers of connected meaning
sociality effects on communication
The hypothesis that social structure influences the evolution of individually distinctive communication signals
