What are the four possible outcomes of interactions between individuals and which one of these is most common in nature?

Mutualism, Altruism, Selfishness, Spite. Selfishness is most common.

   Is there altruism in nature, and if so, what are some of the special conditions that may help explain why there is?

Yes, crows that help at their parents’ nests, humans saving another human, ground squirrels trilling.

  What is Hamilton’s rule which pertains to alleles for altruistic behavior?

An allele for altruistic behavior will spread if Br-C > 0 ((benefit to self * relatedness) – cost to self).

What is the difference between indirect fitness and kin selection?

Indirect fitness is additional reproduction by relatives that is made possible by an individual’s actions. Natural selection favoring the spread of alleles that increase the indirect component of fitness is called kin selection.

  What is the difference between whistles and trill alarms for ground squirrels?  

Whistles alert the presence of a flying hawk and confuses other squirrels, and trills alert the presence of a ground predator, but decreases the trilling individual’s fitness.

    How did Hoagland demonstrate that alarm calling involved kin selection?

They dragged a stuffed badger through a prairie dog town. Both male and female prairie dogs were more likely to give alarm calls if their coterie includes genetic kin (even more than offspring).

    Are bee eaters altruistic? If so, how?

Yes, but it’s more like kin selection. Many year-old bee-eaters stay to help at the nest during what would be their first breeding season. They are sacrificing their own fitness to help their own kin. 

 Do canabalistic spadefoot toad tadpoles and tiger salamanders tadpoles eat kindred tadpoles?  How did they measure the cost of missing a meal?

Not preferentially. They compared the growth rate and age at metamorphosis of discriminating vs nondiscriminating cannibals. There were no significant differences.

   Explain the story of altruistic sperm in wood mice?  What is the nature of the altruism?

Sperm from an individual form a chain to get to the egg faster. Many sperm cells in the chain sacrifice themselves by releasing enzymes that aid in fertilization.

How do coots avoid rearing parasitic eggs?

Coots can distinguish their own eggs by appearance. They also make sure their clutch size is 8, regardless of parasitic eggs or not.

 What are three characteristic of Eusocial species?

Social systems with:

1)   Overlap in generations between parents and their offspring

2)   Cooperative brood care

3)   Specialized castes of nonreproductive individuals

   Why are hymonoptera haplodiploid, and what does that mean?

Males (haploid) develop from unfertilized eggs and females (diploid) develop from fertilized eggs.

 Are colonies of haplodiploid insects altruistic superorganisms?

No, there is a conflict of interest between a queen and her offspring and workers and their offpspring

 Why might it not be true that haplodiploidy explains eusociality in hymonoptra?

No:

1)   The prediction that workers favor the production of sisters over the production of their own offspring is based on the assumption that the female workers in the colony have the same father

2)   In many species more than one queen is active in founding the nest.

3)   Many eusocial species are not haplodiploid and many haplodiploids are not eusocial

  What is reciprocal altruism and what are two important conditions that must be met for it to evolve?

Individuals can be selected to dispense altruistic acts if equally valuable favors are later returned by the beneficiaries.

1)   Selection can favor altruistic acts only if the cost to the actor is smaller than or equal to the benefit to the recipient

2)   Individuals that fail to reciprocate must be punished in some way.

  Explain how reciprocal altruism may apply to humans.

Exchanging needs, receiving good memories, emotional gratification

 Explain how reciprocal altruism was demonstrated in Vampire bats

Vampire bats sometimes regurgitate blood meals for other starving bats (kin or roostmates). They found that hungry individuals were much more likely to receive blood from an individual they had fed before.