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.
How do we categorize and name species?
Using taxonomy and systematics
What is taxonomy?
Science of describing, naming, and classifying living and extinct organisms
What is systematics?
Study of biological diversity and the evolutionary relationships among organisms, both extinct and modern
What is an example of binomial nomenclature (taxonomy) - Carl Linnaeus?
Common name: gray wolf
Species name: Canis lupus
When naming species what is capitalized?
Genus name
What is never capitalized when naming species?
Species epithet
When naming both name are italicized or underlined, true of false?
True
What is included at the end of a species name?
Author (scientific authority) and year of its description.
What does “sp.” mean?
epithet cannot be specified
What does “spp.” mean?
an abbreviation for several species
What is the formation of new species (mechanisms of speciation)?
Underlying cause of speciation is the accumulation of genetic changes that ultimately promote enough differences so that we judge a population to constitute a unique species.
What is an example of patterns of speciation?
Caldogenesis: splitting or diverging of a species into 2 or more species
– requires gene flow (movement of individuals, and/or the genetic material they carry, from one population to another) between populations to be interrupted.
What is allopatric speciation (patterns of speciation)?
-Occurs when some members of a species become geographically separated
What is the first example of allopatric speciation?
-2 porkfish species in the pacific and caribbean sea. Bother derived from a common ancestor that was separated by the formation of the isthmus of Panama
What is the second example of allopatric speciation?
Honeycreeper birds in Hawai’ian islands. Rosefinches from mainland migrated a founded populations on different islands. Single species evolved into array of descendants that differ greatly in habitat, form or behavior. This process is called adaptive radiation.
–Can also occur when small population moves to a new location that is geographically seperated.
What is allopatric speciation via hybrid zones?
Zones where two populations can still interbreed. Geographic isolation is not complete. Once gene flow through the hybrid zone is greatly diminished, the two populations are reproductively isolated.
What is sympatric speciation (patterns of speciation)?
Occurs when members of a species that are within the same range diverge into two or more different species even though there are no physical barriers to interbreeding
Why does sympatric speciation occur?
-Divergent adaptation to local environments (e.g. deep vs. shallow water)
-Sexual selection (e.g. diverging color preference by females)
-polyploidy
What is polyploidy?
When an organism has 2 or more sets or chromosomes
What is an example of polyploidy?
Diploid to a tetraploid through a mechanism like nondisjunction of chromosomes between plant species. Can occur through nondisjunction (autoploidy). An increase in number if chromosome sets resulting a viable yet reproductively isolated organism.
What can polyploidy lead to?
Can abruptly lead to reproductive isolation. Complex phenomena that can lead to hybrid sterility or viability depending of parental species. Plants are more amenable to this phenomena where 40-70% of ferns and flowering plants are polyploid.
What are the two factors that affect pace of speciation?
-Gradualism: each new species evolves continuously over long spans of time
-Punctuated equilibrium: short rapid bursts of changes followed by long periods of equilibrium
What is phylogeny?
Evolutionary history of a species or group of species
What is a phylogenetic tree?
A diagram that describes a phylogeny (hypothesis of evolutionary relationships)
What is a clade?
A group of organisms that are believed to have evolved from a common ancestor.
What is a node?
Indicates that a species diverged into 2 or more species
What is anagenesis?
Where a single species evolves into a different species
What is cladogenesis?
When a species diverges into 2 or more species
What is a monophyletic group?
A group that contains the most recent ancestor and all of its descendants
What is a paraphyletic group?
Contains a common ancestor and some, but not all of its descendants
-ex. reptilia does not include birds
What is a polyphyletic group?
A group with several evolutionary lineages but does not include the most recent common ancestor
-ex. moths and butterflies
True or false, taxonomic groups are often reorganized so only monophyletic groups are recognized?
True
What is homology?
A tool to combine and compare taxa and establish phylogenetic history.
–Similarities among various species that occur because they are derived from a common ancestor.
What is an example of morphological systematics?
Using horse teeth and foot bones to establish relationships and history
What is an example of molecular systematics?
Using DNA and comparing mutations can inform when sequencing diverged among taxa.
–Excellent approach with many homologous genes to compare
What are molecular clocks?
Longer period of time since their divergence allows fro greater accumulation of mutations. These accumulated differences allow for the estimate of time since divergence. Possible due to the constant rate of molecular evolution
What is an example of molecular clocks?
Cooper and colleagues extracted DNA from extinct flightless birds and extant species to propose a new phylogenetic tree. As a result, found that New Zealand was colonized twice by ancestors of flightless birds (once by moa and then by kiwi)
What is cladistics?
The study and classification of species based on evolutionary relationships (compares homologous traits or characters)