Bio 2 Exam 2 Flashcards
What are the five mechanisms that cause evolution?
-Natural Selection
-Sexual selection
-Migration
-Inbreeding
-Genetic drift
What is macroevolution?
Evolutionary changes that create new species and groups of species
What is a species?
A group of related organisms that share a distinctive set of attributes in nature
What are distinguishing characteristics of a species?
-morphological traits
-reproductive isolation
-molecular features
-ecological factors
-evolutionary relationships
What is morphology?
Using physical characteristics to distinguish species.
Drawbacks of morphology?
-members of same species may look very different (poison tree frog color morphs)
-different species may look very similar (northern vs. southern leopard frogs)
What is reproductive isolation?
Prevents one species from successfully interbreeding with other species.
-ex. diversity in damselfly penis shape (isolation via lock and key fit)
What are molecular features?
Used to identify similarities and differences among different population.
-DNA sequences within genes
-gene order along chromosomes
-chromosome structure
-chromosome number
What are the drawbacks of molecular features?
Is a 2% difference in genomes between species enough of a difference to distinguish between species?
What are ecological factors?
Variety of factors related to an organism’s habitat
-ex. some of galapagos finches can only be distinguished by their island habitat
Drawbacks of ecological factors?
Ecological barriers can be hard to measure.
What are evolutionary relationships?
Phylogenetic trees based on fossils records or DNA
Drawbacks of evolutionary relationships?
Missing species (undiscovered, extinct). Many species and needed for robust estimates of evolutionary relationships.
What is biological species concept?
Emphasizes reproductive isolation as the most important criterion.
-“A group of individuals whose members have the potential to interbreed with one another in nature to produce viable, fertile offspring but cannot successfully interbreed with members of other species” -Ernst Mayr
What is the evolutionary lineage concept?
Species should be defined based on the separate evolution in lineages (ex. line of descent)
What is the ecological species concept?
Each species occupies an ecological niche, which is the unique set of habitat resources that a species requires, as well as its influence on the environment and other species.
What does biological species concept use as a criterion for distinguishing species?
Reproductive Isolation
What are the two mechanisms that prevent interbreeding between different species?
-PREzygotic barriers
-POSTzygotic barriers
What are PREzygotic barriers?
Prevent formation of zygote (initial cell formed when a new organism is produced via sexual reproduction)
What are POSTzygotic barriers?
Block development of viable, fertile individuals (occurs after fertilization)
What are the five examples of prezygotic barriers?
-Habitat isolation: geographic barrier that prevents contact (e.g. finch species among galapagos islands)
-Temporal isolation: reproduce at different times of the day or year
-Behavioral isolation: behaviors important in mate choice
-Mechanical isolation: size or incompatible genitalia prevents mating
-Gametic isolation: gametes fail to unite successfully (important for species that release games in water or air)
What prezygotic barrier is the field cricket (one matures in spring and other in fall) catagorized in?
Temporal isolation
What is an example of behavioral isolation?
Western and Eastern meadowlarks. Both nearly identical, and for many years they were thought of as the same species. But very little interspecies mating takes place (largely due to differences in song)
What are the three examples of postzygotic barriers?
-Hybrid inviability: fertilized egg cannot progress past an early embryo
-Hybrid sterility: interspecies hybrid viable but sterile
-Hybrid breakdown: hybrids viable and fertile but subsequent generations have genetic abnormalities.