Evolution 2

Question 1

what are the 6 key points of neo-darwinian evolution?

Answer 1

1) reproduction
2) excess
3) variation in offspring
4) natural selection
5) divergence - mutations inherited
6) ancestry

Question 2

2 reasons why the fossil record is biased?

Answer 2

1) certain environments preserve better than others

2) organisms with more readily preserved tissue have a better chance

Question 3

what are 4 rare events through time that have large impacts?

Answer 3

1) tsunamis
2) super eruptions
3) meteorite impact
4) mass extinctions

Question 4

how did the early atmosphere form?

Answer 4

volcanic outgassing of water vapour - water vapour condensed to form oceans and h2 lost to space

Question 5

what are 3 approaches to solving the origin of life?

Answer 5

1) analyse living prokaryotes and attempt to reconstruct their common ancestor
2) compare duplicated genes
3) reconstruct conditions on Earth and see what is produced

Question 6

what was significant about the discovering of RNA?

Answer 6

RNA based life could have survived using the chemicals in the primordial soup

Question 7

what is the snowball Earth?

Answer 7

• life became so diverse all the CO2 was used up and the Earth froze, as life died CO2 was buried with them at the bottom of the ocean

Question 8

4 reasons for the discovery of metazoans?

Answer 8

1) new fossil finds
2) phylogenetic analysis of anatomical and molecular data
3) molecular clock studies
4) molecular genetics of animal development