9 - THE BASICS

Question 1

darwin’s question

Answer 1

• he was a nativist

- why do we see the kinds of living things (and behaviours) that we see in the world?

Question 2

darwin’s finches

Answer 2

• finches on one island share features with another (Galapagos)
• but also share ‘adaptations’ with finches on other islands
• eg beak shapes
• adapted to eat different things
• thought environment was doing the selecting instead
• ADAPTIVE RADIATION
• thought all this but already familiar with artificial selection
• darwin observed finches on different islands that shared many features with other finches on the same island
• darwin observed finches on islands that shared many features with other finches on other islands
• darwin observed that different kinds of beaks were adapted to solve different foraging tasks

Question 3

darwin’s adaptive radiation

Answer 3

• offspring more adapted to different niches to solve different problems
• a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic interactions or opens new environmental niches.

Question 4

tinbergens four questions

Answer 4

see notes for table

PROXIMATE (psychobiological)(HOW)
————————————————————-
synchronic (now) 
- mechanism (causation)
- physiology / molecular 
- external stimuli 

diachronic (historical)

• ontogeny (development)
• behaviour development

ULTIMATE (evolution)(WHY)
————————————————————-
synchronic (now)
- adaptive value - for all species with it
- (function)
- contribute to fitness 
- survival and reproduction 

diachronic - phylogeny (evolution)

• ancestral trait - must be specific about ancestors
• selective pressures that led to trait evolution
• path dependant

A QUESTION CAN HAVE BOTH PROXIMATE AND ULTIMATE ANSWER

Question 5

what do stretch receptors mean

Answer 5

hunger?

Question 6

tinbergens proximate

Answer 6

• explanation based on what gives rise to phenotype in an individuals lifetime
• ultimate would be about why

Question 7

what three things does evolution require?

Answer 7

1 - reproduction (making copies)

2 - variation (heritability with error) (copies with variation)

3 - differential survival (‘selection’) - some are better than others

• any system with these three things will evolve
• eg language

Question 8

what is biological evolution?

Answer 8

• biological organisms reproduce, with mutation, and survive or die (natural selection)

Question 9

what is sexual selection?

Answer 9

individuals are selected by potential mates

Question 10

what is language evolution

Answer 10

• you hear and repeat words, with error, selecting which words to use
• cognitive selection
• eg low frequency words tend to be selected against
• eg accents vary due to diachronic (tinbergen)

Question 11

what is cultural evolution

Answer 11

we learn things, vary them and select among alternatives

- cognitive selection

Question 12

genetic algorithms

stages

Answer 12

1 start with many random designs 
2 evaluate with ‘fitness function’
3 reproduction ~ fitness (reproduce in accordance to their fitness)
4 add some mutation
5 repeat

Question 13

genetic algorithms

information

Answer 13

• computational design
• used to design things
• algorithms = set of rules used to generate and select amount various alternative solutions

Question 14

genetic algorithms

fitness function

Answer 14

used to select best performance solutions for reproduction

• then reproduced with a bit of variation
• usually very best solutions preserved to continue competing
• but real biological evolution doesn’t do this