AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Abstract. In behavioral ecology, altruistic behaviors are those that reduce the lifetime reproduction of an actor and benefit another individual. These behaviors are found in a diverse set of social species, ranging from microbes to higher vertebrates and humans.

Detailed explanation-2: -Evolutionary biologists determined that an animal’s behaviors are altruistic when they benefit other individuals, even to the potential detriment of themselves. Species with complex social structures like bees, ants and termites provide great examples of biological altruism.

Detailed explanation-3: -Altruism refers to behavior that benefits another individual at a cost to oneself. For example, giving your lunch away is altruistic because it helps someone who is hungry, but at a cost of being hungry yourself.

Detailed explanation-4: -Reproductive altruism is an extreme form of altruism best typified by sterile castes in social insects and somatic cells in multicellular organisms.

Detailed explanation-5: -The costs and benefits are measured in terms of reproductive fitness, or expected number of offspring. So by behaving altruistically, an organism reduces the number of offspring it is likely to produce itself, but boosts the likelihood that other organisms are to produce offspring.