Evolution

Question 1

biological species concept (BSC)

Answer 1

a population or group of populations whose members have the potential to interbreed naturally to form viable, fertile offspring, but cannot do so with members of other populations.

Question 2

Do Kings Play Chess On Fine Grains of Sand

Answer 2

Domain - bacteria, archaea, eukarya
Kingdom
Phylum (or Division, for plants)
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

This is also called a Linnaean Hierarchy.

Question 3

classification

Answer 3

the grouping/ arrangement of species, genera, families, etc. according to similarities.

Question 4

taxa/ taxon

Also, taxonomy

Answer 4

taxonomy - the description and enumeration of species

Question 5

systematics

Answer 5

the study of relationships between species

Question 6

phylogeny

Answer 6

the depiction of the relationships between the species

Question 7

The Linnaean system

Answer 7

the conventional system of binomial naming used for all organisms, devised by Carl von Linne.
Genus species, italicised and in Latin.

Question 8

adaptations

Answer 8

traits that look designed but have evolved due to natural selection

Question 9

differential replication

Answer 9

occurs in evolution by natural selection and means that the only variants that persist are those that are good at making copies of themselves

Question 10

natural selection syllogism (3 premises and 2 conclusions)

Answer 10

If…
a. …there is VARIATION among individuals in some attribute/ trait, and…
b. …there is a consistent association between that trait and some measure of reproductive success, ie FITNESS CORRELATION, and…
c. …there is INHERITANCE of traits from parents to children which is at least partly independent of common environmental effects…
THEN:
1.) individuals of a given age will differ predictably from the individuals that do not survive to that age (within generation effect), and…
2.) the offspring generation will differ predictably from their parental generation (between-generation effect).

Question 11

fitness

Answer 11

the success of an organism to contribute offspring to future generations;
the likely success of individuals of this genotype in producing offspring, which is due to the effect of the genotype on the phenotype;
the likely success of a given allele in getting into the next generation, which will depend on which genotypes it occurs in and at what freq
often measured as ‘lifetime offspring production’; but it might be even better to measure it as the number of grandchildren it produces, and it should be considered how fit those individuals are as well

Question 12

relative fitness

Answer 12

represented by the letter “w”
the quotient of the success of the individual (or genotype or gene) divided by the average fitness for an individual (or genotype or gene) in the population.
If w=1, then the indiv is average; if w>1, then selection favours this type of indiv

Question 13

group selection

Answer 13

a controversial concept of individuals possessing adaptations that are good for the group, ie increasing the reproductive output of the group, but not necessarily for the individual himself
more likely to occur in populations with little genetic diversity from individual to individual or, even more likely, when populations are genetically identical.

Question 14

artificial selection

Answer 14

changes that occur in a species due to selective breeding AND when there is an end-goal in mind.

Question 15

types of selection: stabilising selection; directional selection; diversifying/disruptive/divergent selection

Answer 15

stabilising selection: selection against extreme phenotypes;
directional selection: selection for one extreme;
disruptive selection: selection for both extremes

Question 16

frequency-dependent selection: positive and negative

Answer 16

pos freq-dep selection: the common phenotype is favoured;

neg freq-dep selection: the rare phenotype is favoured

Question 17

balancing selection

Answer 17

the persistence of genetic variation in a population despite a seeming directional advantage. This can be caused by a number of situations:

• neg freq-dep selection
• heterozygote advantage, e.g. sickle cell anemia
• mutations
• gene flow between populations
• temporal environmental variation

Question 18

sexual selection: intrasexual and intersexual

Answer 18

intrasexual selection: improves competitive features between members of one sex that increases their access to mate
intersexual selection: improves attractiveness that makes some indivs mor likely to be chosen by members of the opposite sex

Question 19

coevolution

Answer 19

more than one species evolves in step with another, perhaps in a mutually beneficial way (ants and fungus) or more likely in a competitive way (predators and prey)

Question 20

stasis

Answer 20

the persistence of clades for long periods of time without apparent evolutionary change; giving rise to so called living fossils

Question 21

anagenesis

Answer 21

evolutionary change without apparent speciation

Question 22

prezygotic isolating mechanisms

Answer 22

• temporal isolation
• habitat isolation
• pollinators
• behavioural ie mate selection

also, mechanisms that prevent fertilisation:

• genetic incompatability
• gametic mortality