Evolution Flashcards
What is the definition of evolution?
A change in biological entities over time (over generations)
What was the belief before evolution?
the chain of being - ladder of increasing complexity
who is Carolus Linnaeus?
- father of taxonomy (biological classification)
- promoted hierarchal, nested classification
(note that linnaues was a taxonomist, not an evolutionist, he did not believe natural selection)
What are fossils?
-rocks of different age in the same location containing different species from differing
What did Lamarck propose about fossils and evolution?
- observed progressions of similar species in the fossil record
- proposed new species arise by modification of existing species (A turns into B turns into C)
What were Lamarck’s ideas about pattern of evolution?
He proposed the living world was made up of many separate lineages with independent origins and each lineage progressed for perfection/complexity (he was wrong)
What were lamarcks ideas about the process of evolution?
the Use and Disuse of parts idea with inheritance of aquired characters. an individual will evolve and then pass those changes onto their offspring
Were Lamarck’s ideas correct?
No!
What did Darwin propose?
Natural selection
What was Darwins idea on the pattern of evolution?
- Living things were united in one branching tree of relationships
- new lineages made by the splitting of existing lineages
What does the splitting of a lineage have to do with relation?
An earlier split results in greater difference while a later split results in a more common ancestor which allows for there to be more similarities between species
** note that after the splitting they share common ancestors (similar) but also are independent after the split
What was Darwin’s idea on the process of evolution?
-Darwin proposed natural selection
What are the aspects of natural selection?
1) Heritable variation
2) excess production
3) differential success
What is heritable variation?
- Individuals in a population are born with traits
- Many traits can be passed on from parents to offspring
What is excess production?
- In any population more offspring produced than needed to maintain it
- when resources are limited, offspring fail to survive
What is differential success?
- due to differing traits some individuals are more likely to survive (fitness)
- these traits increase in frequency while unfavourable traits are less frequent (evolution)
What is artificial selection?
Artificial selection on heritable variation present in existing species
- show plausibility of natural selection
What is adaptation?
Natural selection over time creates organisms well suited to their environment
What are some examples of natural selection in action
Drug resistance in pathogens, positive resistance, host switching insects, warfarin resistance, soapberry bug
What is required for a good visual of natural selection?
strong selective pressure and short generation times
- this is so we can see the changes in a generation obviously and quickly rather than waiting for light changes over generation, like the neck length of giraffes
Describe how warfarin resistance in rats demonstrates natural selection?
Rats that are exposed to warfarin have resistance increase rapidly in the population because they build resistance and the weak die. -
Does natural selection create variations?
No! Natural selection only works on pre existing variations (rat mutation)
Is natural selection beneficial in these rats?
Not necessarily. Natural selection does not always act to improve the rat, simply based on the environment. In the rat’s case, when they were no longer exposed to warfarin they were not able to create vitamin K as effectively, resulting in malnourishment
How does the soapberry bug represent natural selection?
Soapberry bugs switched from one flower to another, so the shorter beaks were more common and ling beak populations fell.
What selection is the soapberry bug representative of?
What is it?
Directional selection
- This is a favoured phentoype causing the allele frequency to continuously shift in one direction
What are 3 examples of evidence of the tree of life model?
1) Homology
2) biogeography
3) fossil records
What is homology?
- A similarity resulting from common ancestry
What is an example of homology and why does it prove the tree of life?
one example is the structure of forelimbs of mammals. They are built very similarly, indicating that most humans have a common ancestor with this bone structure.
What are vestigial structures?
Structures with little to no functions, going back to common ancestors both would descend from an organism that has a functional use for that structure
What is molecular homology?
- homologies (similarities) at the biochemical level
What is an example of molecular homology?
The universal genetic code (the coding for nucleotide bases) is universal in all living organisms due to shared ancestry ie: genetic code codes for the same proteins
How can molecular homology describe relations between species?
Once relationships are identified based on similarities, the slight differences in gene sequence can differentiate between organisms
What is Biogeography?
- The geographic distribution of organisms
- some taxa are endemic (restricted to certain locations)
-Descent from a common ancestor that lived in that reason indicates tree of life because its not found anywhere else
How does the fossil record indicate the phylogenetic tree?
- Descent with modification predicts transitional forms
- order of appearance in the fossil record demonstrates transitional forms in which groups with major adaptation can reveal changes over time
What is an example of the fossil record indicating common ancestors?
Whales: A series of transitional forms links modern whales to land-dwelling sea animals
What is the definition of a population?
- A localized group of interbreeding and interacting individuals
- each species is made up of one too many populations
What are fixed alleles?
Whole population is homozygous at locus
What are polymorphic loci?
2+ alleles in a population, each present at some frequency
What are sources of genetic variation?
New alleles arise by mutation in existing alleles+ microevolution
What are the kinds of mutations and their description?
Neutral: Most mutations don’t meaningfully affect fitness
Deleterious mutations: Reduce fitness, harmful alleles
Beneficial alleles : very few, can increase fitness
(alleles can be introduced through gene flow)
What is microevolution?
-Change in the frequency of alleles over generations
What is the Hardy Weinberg principle?
Describes the expected relationships between alleles and genotype frequencies when there is no evolution
** Review hardy Weinberg notes from class and in textbook. Since it’s an equation it’s important to practice.
What are the uses for the hardy Weinberg principle?
1) Estimating allele and genotype frequencies
ex: cystic fibrosis
2) Populations with genotype frequencies that conform to the equation are said to be in hard weinbverg equilibirum
What assumptions are made for the Hardy Weinberg principle?
1) No net mutations
2) Random mating
3) No natural selection
4) Very large population size
5) No migration
What occurs when the hardy Weinberg assumptions are violated?
This indicates evolution is occurring
What are the 3 causes of microevolution?
Genetic drift, gene flow, Natural selection
NOTE: Natural selection is the only adaptive form of evolution
Which causes of evolution result in adaptive evolution?
only Natural selection
What effect does gene flow have on microevolution?
- Dispersal of gametes
- gene flow from population with different allele frequencies, changes in allele frequencies
- gene flow can introduce new alleles to a population
What is random genetic drift?
- ‘sampling error’ : random changes in allele frequencies over generations
- can lead to fixation of alleles
How is genetic drift affected by population size?
- rate of drift rated to population size, faster in small populations than large
- this is because smaller populations have less variation and, therefore, a lower ability to adapt to changing conditions.
What is a genetic bottleneck?
breeding population is very small for a time, genetic drift powerful, many alleles of extinct/change
- lower genetic diversity overall, rare alleles change in frequency
What is the founder effect?
Special case of the bottleneck, previously rare Allene’s end up being much more common in new population
How can genetic diversity increase?
genetic diversity can be increased by adding individuals from other populations
What is the definition of a species? What are some ways to classify them?
- It is difficult to classify a species universally.
-morphological species is based on morphological similarities, historically the most commonly used concept - Molecular sequences are also used
What is inter-fertility?
Populations that interbreed to produce fertile offspring
What is reproductive isolation?
Populations which do not normally interbreed in nature with other species (few hybrids)
Why is biological species concept not always applicable
It is difficult to use in concepts with fossils and asexual species
How are biological species classified in terms of similarity?
Species are not classified based on similarities rather on inter-fertility
ex: If similar looking birds do not breed between each other, they are classified as different species
What is speciation?
Splitting on the tree of life ie: species splits into different versions, becomes common ancestor
What can cause speciation?
Reproductive barriers,allopatric speciation, sympatric speciation
what are reproductive barriers?
Barriers inhibit gene flow between populations, allowing evolutionary divergence
What is a prezygotic barrier?
A form of reproductive barriers, acts before fertilization, prevents mating in the first place
- if the offspring is healthy as an adult, then the parents are of the same biological species
What is a post zygotic barrier?
Acts after fertilization
-if zygote is sterile, parents classified as different biological species
What are some examples of pre zygotic barriers?
- habitat isolation
- temporal isolation
- behavioural isolation
- mechanical isolation (reproductive organs don’t fit)
-Gametic isolation (gametes don’t recognize each other)
What are some examples of post zygotic barriers?
- Hybrid inviability
-hybrid infertility (mules are sterile due to only having 63/64 chromosomes)
-hybrid breakdown
How do reproductive barriers arise?
- Some may rise accidentally as a result of evolution in isolation
- May evolve through natural selection in order to reduce interspecies mating that lowers reproductive success