BISC Final Flashcards
Mendel
father of modern genetics. before Mendel, most people assumed that mother and fathers genes averaged out. Mendel explained that genes have quantitative effects, which Darwin tried describing.
- Pea Plant experiment with 2 homozygous genes (1 dominant one recessive)
- principal of independent assortment and segregation
Dawkins
english ethnologist/evolutionary biologist
- author of The Selfish Gene
- authored the Extended Phenotype here he introduces the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism’s body, but can stretch far into the environment including the bodies of other organisms
Darwin
evolutionary theorist
-authored On the Origin of Species natural selection chooses those inherited traits and combination of traits that confer reproductive success
- focus on speciation→ studied galapagos island finches
finches’ beaks depending on what it ate its beaks would be different
-survival of the fittest
General Principals of Darwinian evolution
- organisms produce more offspring than can survive
- organisms face a constant struggle to survive
- organisms within a species vary
- organisms best suited for their environment survive
- the organisms that survive will reproduce and pass on their genes aka survival of the fittest
Gibbs free energy
The energy associated with a chemical reaction that can be used to do work. The free energy of a system is the sum of its enthalpy (H) plus the product of the temperature (Kelvin) and the entropy (S) of the system
Diffusion
spontaneous movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration with out requiring energy (exergonic)
Mitochondria
- moves along protein engines
- moves things to different locations
- makes ATP (energy within the cell) without the need of oxygen
Wallace and the Wallace Line
Alfred Russell Wallace formulated ideas while studying wildlife in the islands of south east asia. particularly interested in the difference in birds differing in the islands. He noticed that in Bali the birds were clearly related to those of the larger islands of Java and Sumatra and mainland Malaysia. On Lombok the birds were clearly related to those of New Guinea and Australia.
-he made an imaginary line because of this and it is now called Wallaces line. Established border between austrialia and asia
continental drift
Wegener published a paper explaining his theory that the continental landmasses were “drifting” across the Earth, sometimes plowing through oceans and into each other.
australiasia
australia, new zealand, transmania, new guinea, indonesia
-diverse land masses, different soils.
sexual selection
is a mode of natural selection in which some individuals out reproduce others of a population because they are better at securing mates→ why male and female species look differently (ex: peacock feathers, antlers on male deer, and manes on lions
cumulative selection
cumulative selective (in which each improvement, however slight, is used as a basis for future building), and single-step selection (in which each new ‘try’ is a fresh one). if evolutionary progress had had to rely on single-step selection, it would never have got anywhere. -
monkey with typewriter
Dawkins talks about the probability of putting a monkey in front of a typewriter and him writing Hamlet. Monkey bashes away at keyboard trying to create a sentence. Tried 64 times before he got it right.
-shows that evolution proceeds by increments rather than single step.
Darwin’s Finches
group of 15 birds that Darwin studied on the galapagos island, led him to realizing the differences and modifications of birds leading him to think of natural selection.
biodiversity
variety of life in a certain ecostystem
-habitat diversity and genetic diversity are also types of biodiversity
Frequency
the ratio of the number of a given event and the total number of all events. It is always a number between 0 and 1
Probability
the expected frequency of a given event. It is always a number between 0 and 1.
Dominant alleles
dominant alleles show their copy even if there is only one copy of that allele. Ex: brown eyes
Recessive Alleles
recessive alleles sshow their copy if there are two copies of that allele. For example, the allele for blue eyes is recessive, therefore to have blue eyes you need to have two copies of the ‘blue eye’ allele.
definition of species
species is an interbreeding population that is separated from other populations by a barrier of sterility or inviability
Battle of the sexes
evolutionary stable strategy..need more info
replicator definition
anything on earth in which copies are made
active replicator
replicator whose nature has some influence over its probability of being copied
-express themselves by coding for enzymes and structural proteins
passive replicator
replicator whose nature has NO influence over its probability of being copied
germ line replicator
replicator that is potentially the ancestor of long line of descendent replicators
- gene in a gamete is germ-line replicator
- genes propagate through meiosis, travel through -eggs/sperm
dead line replicator
replicator (passive OR active) copied a FINITE # of times
- short chain of descendents
- Most of the genes in our body are dead
- propagate through mitosis
survival machine
genes within this must work together in order to survive. need more info
speciation
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. Natural selection will act to select against individuals that mate with the newly-branched, other species
mutations
change in nucleotide sequence
origins of life
collisions of asteroids and comets. cooling of molten products led to condensation of water vapor which led to oceans. continual rain of organic material supplies earth with elements needed for life
natural selection
is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype;[1] it is a key mechanism of evolution. The term “natural selection” was popularized by Charles Darwin, who intended it to be compared with artificial selection, now more commonly referred to as selective breeding.
arms race
predator and prey can lead to arms race
beavers
they are extended phenotypes (half aquatic). build dams. beavers go out and chop down vegtation to make dams.. promoting beaver dams will bring back the beaver population
mitosis
part of the cell cycle in which chromosomes in a cell nucleus are separated into two identical sets of chromosomes, each in its own nucleus.
meiosis
special type of cell division which reduces the chromosome in half. process occurs with all plants animals and fungi
homozygous traits
Homozygous is a word that refers to a particular gene that has identical alleles on both homologous chromosomes. It is referred to by two capital letters (XX) for a dominant trait, and two lowercase letters (xx) for a recessive trait.
heterozygous traits
Heterozygosity occurs when an individual has two different alleles of a gene. Sometimes one allele is dominant over the other (black fur over chocolate fur), and the heterozygote has the dominant phenotype (black fur).
industrial melanism– pepper moth in england
increase in the number of black colored moths due to pollution from industrialization.
-Melanism is a development of the dark-colored pigment melanin in the skin or its appendages
gamete
Gamete: a mature haploid male or female germ cell that is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction to form a zygote.
fertilization
Human fertilization is the union of a human egg and sperm, usually occurring in the ampulla of the uterine tube. The result of this union is the production of a zygote cell, or fertilized egg, initiating prenatal development.
genotype
The genotype is that part of the genetic makeup of a cell, which determines a specific characteristic (phenotype) of that cell/organism/individual. can also refer to the two alleles inherited in a particular gene.
phenotype
observable traits ie hair color, eye color, skin tone
why replicators must be selfish
replicator is competitive so must be selfish. they ease competition with metabolic diversity
fitness
the likelihood of reproductive success
hawks v. doves
shows outcomes if a hawk is aggressive and a dove pretends to be aggressive but hides for safety. basically shows a game theory where
mitosis
Mitosis is part of the cell cycle in which chromosomes in a cell nucleus are separated into two identical sets of chromosomes, each in its own nucleus.
meiosis
meiosis: special type of cell division which reduces the chromosome in half. process occurs with all plants animals and fungi
island biogeography- MacArthur Wilson Theory
The theory tries to predict the probability of survival of species on an island based on immigration and extinction
Larger islands contain larger habitat areas and opportunities for more different varieties of habitat. Larger habitat size reduces the probability of extinction due to chance events. Habitat heterogeneity increases the number of species that will be successful after immigration.
sources of genetic variation
mutation, gene flow and sex
extended phenotype
- dawkins
- expression of the body beyond the survival gene
- ex: beaver dam, spiders web, bird nest
game theory
the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers.
virunga national park
park in the Congo trying to save guerrillas from extinction
Cuckoo arm race
- Dawkins
- Female cuckooks have the ability to lay their eggs in a neighbors nest instead of their own, after removing the host’s eggs. Dawkins interprets this as cuckoo birds trying to maximize their copies survival versus the survival of other hosts copies. he calls this the “arms race” between cuckoos and their adversaries. In this case the cuckoos have one the genetic arms race.
3 kingdoms of life
Bacteria
Eukaryote
Archaea
continental drift
s the movement of the Earth’s continents relative to each other, thus appearing to “drift” across the ocean bed
Origin of eukaryote cells
The oldest eukaryotic fossil is approximately 1.5 billion years old. The origin of the eukaryotes must have appeared before because the fossil is of a relative complex single-celled organism.
two types of chemical reactions
combination and synthesis
ATP
high energy molecule found in every cell. Its job is to store and supply the cell with needed energy
electronegativty and the periodic table
Electronegativity measures an atom’s tendency to attract and form bonds with electrons. qualitative, so hard to measure. But you can use the Pauling Scale on the periodic table to measure electronegativity
