Life History Patterns

Terms:
dispersal, helping behavior, territory, home range, monogamy, polygamy, polygyny, polyandry, promiscuity, sexual selection, genotype, phenotype, reproductive effort, cost of reproduction, third chick disadvantage, senescence

cost of reproduction: The total physical and energetic costs of reproduction, including nest or territory defense, mating, and producing and raising young.

dispersal: The movement away from natal territories or breeding areas.

genotype: The genetic makeup of an individual.

helping behavior: When an individual helps feed, raise, and/or protect young that are not their own.

home range: The total area in which a species occurs throughout the year.

monogamy: A pair bond with only one member of the opposite sex at a time.

phenotype: Physical characteristics of an individual.

polyandry: One female mating with two or more males.

polygamy: Mating with two or more members of the opposite sex who do not mate with other individuals.

polygyny: One male mating with two or more females.

promiscuity: Each sex has two or more mates with no pair bonds.

reproductive effort:   The total energy required for reproduction including defense of nest sites, production and feeding of young. 

senescence:  The effect of old age on performance in a species.

sexual selection: Selection of a mate based on characteristics (behavioral, morphological) possessed by that individual.

territory: An area that is actively defended by an individual.

third chick disadvantage: In birds that produce three young, the last or third chick is the smallest in the brood and subject to higher mortality from starvation or siblicide.