Evolution

Question 1

What was Cucier attempting to explain through his idea of Catastrophism?

Answer 1

Why fossils looked so different over time

Question 2

Before Darwin’s time, what was the prevailing idea for the age of the earth?

Answer 2

Earth was only a few thousand years old and was made in one week by God.

Question 3

What were the two parts of Lamarck’s explanation for a mechanism of evolution?

Answer 3

1. Body parts evolved in correlation with how much they were used.
2. Modification that an organism acquires is passed onto offspring

Question 4

What are the 3 parts of Natural Selection?

Answer 4

1. Organisms are locked into historical constraints
2. Organisms adapt to the environment
3. Not all evolution is adaptive

Question 5

What contributions did Thomas Malthus make to Darwin’s theory?

Answer 5

Malthus inspired Darwins theory of natural selection. Helped Darwin realize the importance of overpopulation and variability in different populations.

Question 6

Describe a homologous structure

Answer 6

Represents variations on a structural theme that was present in a common ancestor

Question 7

Describe a vestigial structure

Answer 7

Remnants of features that served a function in an organisms ancestors

Question 8

Describe an analogous structure

Answer 8

Species that have body parts which have similar functions to another species, but no common ancestor

Question 9

What are the five conditions of the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium?

Answer 9

No mutation, random mating, no gene flow, large population size, and no natural selection

Question 10

What is a cline?

Answer 10

Gradual change in a trait along a geographical area

Question 11

What does an organisms level of “fitness” mean?

Answer 11

Contribution of a genotype to the next generation in comparison to alternate genotypes at the same locus

Question 12

Describe directional selection

Answer 12

Shifts the overall makeup of the population by favoring variants of one extreme

Question 13

Describe stabilizing selection

Answer 13

Favors intermediate variants and selects against the extremes. The trend is toward reduced phenotype variation and the maintenance of the status quo

Question 14

Describe disruptive selection

Answer 14

Favors variants of opposite extremes over intermediate invidividals

Question 15

Describe sexual selection

Answer 15

Natural selection arising through preference of one sex

Question 16

Describe how molecular biology has contributed evidence in support of evolution

Answer 16

Molecular biology describes that heredity is reflected in an organisms genes and protein products

Question 17

Describe how the fossil record has contributed evidence in support of evolution

Answer 17

The fossil record is incomplete, but it shows that life on earth was once different than life found on earth today

Question 18

Describe how biogeography has contributed evidence in support of evolution

Answer 18

Biographical is the geographical distribution of organisms, it provides clues about how species, both alive and extinct, are related to each other.

Question 19

Describe how embryology has contributed evidence in support of evolution

Answer 19

Embryology is when closely related organisms go through similar stages in their embryonic development, it supports evolution as some homologues structures can only be seen in embryo development

Question 20

Describe how homologues structures has contributed evidence in support of evolution

Answer 20

Homologues structures show that structures are similar because of a common ancestry

Question 21

Describe how vestigial structures contributed evidence in support of evolution

Answer 21

Vestigial structures show common ancestry as some parts within the body serve no purpose due to it being evolved from a common ancestor.

Question 22

Describe the five causes of microevolution

Answer 22

1. Genetic drift
2. Gene flow
3. Mutations
4. Nonrqndom mating
5. Natural Selection

Question 23

Describe what genetic drift is

Answer 23

Genetic drift are changes in the gene pool of a small population due to chance. It is more important in small populations

Question 24

Describe gene flow

Answer 24

Gene flow is the migration of fertile individuals or the transfer if gamete between populations

Question 25

What are mutations, and what is the rate in which mutations occur?

Answer 25

Mutations are a change at a single locus. If this new allele increases in frequency it is due to genetic drift or natural selection. The rate of mutations is 10 to the 5th power gamates.

Question 26

Describe nonrandom mating and the two types of nonrandom mating.

Answer 26

Nonrandom mating is when the number of homozygous loci increases within a population. One type of nonrandom mating is inbreeding, which is when individuals mate with their neighbors or self-fertilize. The second type of nonrandom mating is assortative mating, which is when individuals mate with partners like themselves in certain phenotypes.

Question 27

What is natural selection?

Answer 27

Natural selection is when variation among individuals exist, and some leave more offspring than others.