Adaptation and Natural Selection

Question 1

Camouflage Examples

Answer 1

• the leaf-litter toads in Panama who blend in with the leaves on the tropic floor to prevent from being eaten

Question 2

Startle Display Examples

Answer 2

• insects with wings that have spots resembling eyes of larger predators

Question 3

Predator’s Camouflage

Answer 3

• stone fish, termites (predators camouflage to get their prey)

Question 4

What do assassin bugs do?

Answer 4

• prey on termites
• born “naked” with sticky hairs all over them
• visit termites nest and pick up pieces of the nest material to attach it to themselves
• makes holes in the nest and drags one out to drain it of life, uses the dead termite to lure future termites closer then drops the dead one to grab the new one and drain them and so on and so forth

Question 5

Batesian Mimicry

Answer 5

when a palatable species mimics a toxic species to deceive predators

• confers selective advantage to mimic species

Question 6

Bad Design

Answer 6

adaptation is the outcome of natural selection; natural selection cannot invent the best possible solution

• recurrent laryngeal nerve, human bipedalism

Question 7

Why is tinkering a good analogy for natural selection rather than engineering?

Answer 7

natural selection has no plan, whichever works best will produce more offspring

• modifies what already exists, doesn’t create from scratch

Question 8

Homologous Characteristics

Answer 8

constructed with the same basic parts (i.e. bones) but have been adapted to serve very different functions

• reflects a common ancestry!

Question 9

Exaptation

Answer 9

the process by which pre-existing traits and structures adapted to serve one function are all co-opted to serve a new function

• i.e. wings on a dragonfly (originally to soak up heat but are now used to fly!)