Evolution 1 Flashcards
What are Taxa?
Taxa are groups of organisms that have been given scientific names by people.
What is the goal for modern Systematics?
To have taxa represent clades of related organisms
What is the main process involved with Evolution?
Inherited biological change over time.
What is macroevolution?
Evolution that takes place over long time scales to large population groups
What is Mircroevolution?
Evolution that takes place over short time frames to more specific organisms.
What was Charles Darwin?
The man who first proposed the theory pf evolution.
What Geological process first sparked the idea of evolution within Darwin?
Gradualsitic processes in geology: How landscapes change over time through slow processes over large time scales.
True of false:
Darwin developed his theory of evolution when he was in the Galapagos islands.
false, it wasn’t until several years later that he looked at his findings retrospectively to understand his observations.
Are superficial similarities a percursiour to related species?
No,
Superficially similar species are not always related.
What was Darwin’s view of Fossils and extinction?
He believed that in the place of extinction, perhaps the apparent disappearance of species was actually one species changing into an other
What is Extinction?
the state or process of a species, family, or larger group being or becoming extinct
Who developed the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics
Lamarck
Who was Alfred Russel Wallace?
A man who independently discovered the theory of evolution.
What was Darwins book called?
On the Origin of Species by means of natural selection.
published in 1859
Was Darwin’s work well revived?
Nope, not at all.
What is the first observation of natural selection?
Organisms produce many more offspring than survive to reproduce themselves
What is the secound observation of natural selection?
Most populations are relatively stable in size.
What is the third observation of natural selection?
Restorers (food and land) are limited
What is the first inference of natural selection?
Organisms must compete for these limited resources, and not all succeed
- Thomas Malthus: Economist
What is the fourth observation of natural selection?
There is variation among individuals within a species
What is the fifth observation of natural selection?
Some of this variation is heritable.
as seen with artificial selection within crop plants
What is the second Inference of natural selection?
Some heritable variations are likely to provide individuals with a competitive advantage
What is the third inference of natural selection?
Individuals with advantageous variations are likely to leave more offspring than individuals without the variations .
Therefore the next generation will have more individuals with that variation.
What are the three “if’s” and one “THEN” that must be present for evolution to be a logical necessity?
- IF overpopulation
- IF competition
- IF heritable, favorable, variation
- THEN adaptive change over time
What are some other selective factors that influence natural selection?
Predation, Disease, climate
What is the MODERN definition of natural selection?
Natural selection is the differential success in reproduction within a species that results from the interaction between individuals that vary in heritable traits and their environment.
What is wrong with the statement
“a process in which individuals that have certain heritable traits survive, and because of those traits, reproduce at a higher rate than others”
You do not need increased survival rate to have reproductive success. You just need to be able to have lots of babies.
How did Darwin describe natural selection?
Descent with modifications
What is a phenotype?
variations that is expressed as morphology, behavior, or appearance.
Are phenotype changes induced by the environment heritable?
Nope
What is a genotype?
the genetic constitution of an individual organism
Are all genotypic variations expressed?
No, much like how different arrangements of DNA can make ammio acids.
For natural selection to act on variation, it must be ‘seen’ by the environment.
______ in the phenotype
_______ caused by genotype
Expressed
heritable
What is a “common garden” experiment?
It is a testing method that allows the testing of weather observed variations within a species is due to heritable variation.
What is an example of a garden experiment?
You take two flowers
- Pink flower grows at high elevation
- white flower grows at low elevation
You then grow the offspring of these plants at a neutral environment
of the original differences are maintained, then it is evident that there is variation in genotype.
What is a gene?
A gene (genetic locus) is the combination of two alleles (within diploid individuals)
How many alleles per chromosome?
1
