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BIOL 1001 > Evolution > Flashcards

Evolution Flashcards

1
Q

What does the theory of special creation believe?

A

That all species are independent (all unrelated to each other), life on earth is young (6000 years), species are incapable of change (made perfect)

Living organisms were instantaneously created by a supernatural being

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2
Q

What are the two components of scientific theories?

A

Pattern component: statement that summarizes a series of observations

Process component: mechanism that produces that pattern or set of observations

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3
Q

What did Plato think about organisms? What is his thinking called?

A

Every organism was an example of a perfect essence made by God and that they were unchanging and that variations between species were unimportant and misleading

Typological thinking

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4
Q

What did Aristotle think about organisms?

A

He ordered them into a linear scheme called the Great Chain of Being (scale of nature), he thought that species were fixed types organized into a sequence based on increasing size and complexity

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5
Q

What was Lamarck’s theory of evolution?

A

Species change through time by inheriting acquired characteristics, phenotypes would be passed down (giraffe neck example)

Based on scale of nature

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6
Q

What is population thinking?

A

Variations among individuals in a population is not unimportant but was the key to understanding the nature of species

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7
Q

Why was the theory of evolution by natural selection revolutionary?

A

Overturned the idea that species don’t change, replaced typological thinking with population thinking, it was scientific (had a mechanism to account for change through time and made predictions that could be tested)

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8
Q

What did Darwin repeatedly describe evolution as? What does this mean?

A

Descent with modification

Species that lived in the past are the ancestors of the species existing today

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9
Q

What predictions are made by the pattern component of the theory of evolution by natural selection?

A

Species change through time and species have common ancestors

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10
Q

What is a fossil?

A

Any trace of an organism that lived in the past

Range from bones, branches, shells, tracks, impressions, and dung

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11
Q

What is a fossil record? What did this support?

A

Consists of all fossils that have been found on earth and described in a scientific literature

The hypothesis that species have changed through time

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12
Q

What are extant species? What are extinct species?

A

Species that are living today

Species that no longer exist

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13
Q

What is uniformitarianism? Who proposed it? How did he reach this conclusion?

A

Idea that geological processes occurring today are similar to what occurred in the past

James Hutton

Travelled around Europe and measured patterns and rates of rock formation and erosion

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14
Q

What are sedimentary rocks? What did they make Hutton realize?

A

Rocks that form from sand or mud or other materials that were deposited at beaches or river mouths

They take a long time to form so for the massive rock formations to form then the earth must be very old (older than 6000)

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15
Q

Who popularized Hurton’s ideas? What did he do?

A

Charles Lyell

Placed fossils in a younger to older sequence using their relative position in layers of sedimentary rock

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16
Q

What is radioactive decay?

A

Steady rate at which the unstable parent atoms are converted into stable daughter atoms

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17
Q

What is radiometric dating based on?

A

Observed decay of parent to daughter atoms

The ratio of parent to daughter atoms present in newly formed rocks

The ratio of parent to daughter atoms present in a particular rock sample

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18
Q

What did advocates of the theory of special creation argue extinct species fossils were? What did Darwin interpret them as?

A

Victims of the flood from Noah’s ark

Evidence that species are not static, because of species have gone extinct that the species living on earth has changed over time

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19
Q

What is the law of succession?

A

Striking resemblance between fossils and living species found in the same area

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20
Q

What is a transitional feature? Example?

A

Trait in a fossil species that in intermediate between older (ancestral) and newer (derived) species

Fossils documenting a gradual change from fins to limbs

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21
Q

What are vestigial traits? Examples?

A

Reduced or incompletely developed structure that has no or reduced function but is clearly similar to functioning organs/structures in closely related species

Whales and snakes have hip and leg bones that do not help them move, ostriches have wings but can’t fly, blind fish still have eye sockets

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22
Q

Does correlation always equal causation?

A

No

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23
Q

For a hypothesis to be useful it must?

A

Clearly establish mutually exclusive alternative explanations for a phenomenon, generate testable predictions, able to be tested empirically

24
Q

What is the difference between a theory and hypothesis?

A

Hypothesis: proposed explanation that leads to testable prediction

Theory: evidence-based overarching
explanations for a general class of
phenomenon (many testable hypotheses related to it), supported by large body of evidence, fits observations not used in formulating the theory

25
Q

What is the difference between microevolution and macroevolution?

A

micro: change in genetic characteristics (allele frequency) of a population over time

macro: descent of different species from a common ancestor over a very long time

26
Q

What is an allele?

A

variant form of a gene

27
Q

What is genetic variation?

A

number and relative frequency of alleles in a particular population

28
Q

What is a mutation?

A

change in a genetic sequence, introduces new alleles

29
Q

What is evolution?

A

change in allele frequencies in a population over time

30
Q

What is genotype vs phenotype?

A

genetic makeup vs the visible expression of genes

31
Q

Why is variation important for evolution?

A

all organisms would have the same fitness so natural selection and therefore evolution wouldn’t occur

32
Q

When do mutations occur?

A

randomly, happen whether or not they are useful to an organism

33
Q

Can individuals with different genotypes exhibit the same phenotype?

A

yes because if an allele is dominant then that corresponding phenotype will show when an individual is homozygous dominant or heterozygous

34
Q

What is the product rule?

A

the individual probabilities of two or more independent events occurring are multiplied together

35
Q

What is the sum rule?

A

the individual probabilities of two or more different events that produce the same outcome are added together

36
Q

What is allele frequency vs genotype frequency?

A

allele: relative abundance of alleles in a population (B or b)

genotype: percentage of individuals in a population with each genotype (BB, Bb, bb)

37
Q

What will the frequency of the dominant and recessive alleles add up to?

A

F(B) + F(b) = 1

F(B) is frequency of dominant allele
F(b) is frequency of recessive allele

38
Q

What does it mean if there is only one allele for the gene of interest?

A

One allele is fixed and the other was lost

39
Q

What are null models? When do we use them?

A

Predict what we’d see if a particular factor has no impact

In observational studies where there is no suitable control group

40
Q

What is the equation for hardy-weinberg equilibrium? What do the variables represent?

A

p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1

Frequency of homozygous dominant genotype is p^2

Frequency of homozygous recessive genotype is q^2

Frequency of heterozygous genotype is 2pq

41
Q

What are some limitations on Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

A

Only works for diploid sexually reproducing populations

42
Q

Why is Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium useful?

A

Predicts allele and genotype frequency if evolution doesn’t occur so it gives us a baseline to compare to and see if and how a population is evolving

43
Q

What biological process results in adaptation?

A

natural selection

44
Q

Why isn’t inbreeding considered an evolutionary mechanism?

A

it does not change allele frequencies

45
Q

If the nucleotide variability of a gene is 0%, what is the genetic variability and the number of alleles?

A

0% and 1 allele

46
Q

What is macroevolution?

A

evolutionary changes that create new species and groups of species

47
Q

What is a molecular clock?

A

A mechanism to estimate the timeline of evolution based on constant rates of change in certain genes.

48
Q

What is homoplasious?

A

traits that result from ways other than inheriting from a common ancestor

49
Q

What would prevent a gene or phenotype directly associated with said gene from being a reliable molecular clock?

A

natural selection

50
Q

What can gene duplications provide?

A

the raw material used to produce morphological innovations, free from prior selection pressures

51
Q

What are some possible outcomes of gene duplication when its not deleterious? What outcomes can result in evolution of new traits?

A
  1. they retain the original function and provide additional amounts of the same product
  2. may retain original function but the expression pattern changes (new tissues/development timing)
  3. they gain mutations and the protein product is altered
  4. mutations prevent expression, makes a pseudogene

2 and 3 could

52
Q

What is adaptive radiation?

A

evolutionary process that produces new species from a single, rapidly diversifying lineage

53
Q

What is an example of adaptive radiation?

A

A population of birds becomes stranded on an island archipelago

54
Q

What is a homeotic mutant?

A

An individual with a structure located in the wrong place

55
Q

Why was the Cambrian explosion important?

A

It resulted in an explosion of ecological diversity and morphological change among animals

56
Q

What group is classified as homo sapiens?

A

cro-magnons

57
Q

What is true of the out of africa hypothesis?

A

Homo sapiens have a common ancestor with Neanderthal and Homo erectus from Africa, but did not interbreed with them

BIOL 1001 (7 decks)

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