Exam 1 Flashcards
What is evolution?
A change in allele frequencies in a population over time.
________ evolve, not _________.
populations, individuals
_________ must exist in the population before selection.
Variation
Does evolution happen across generations or within a generation?
Across generations
True or False: Selection is random.
False, selection is not random
What are the four ways in which evolution can happen?
- Mutation
- Random events leading to genetic drift
- Movement such as migration that changes gene flow
- Adaptive Evolution
What is adaptive evolution?
Natural Selection, such as sexual selection
What three things are not evolution?
- Individual Development
- Ecosystem Change
- Cultural Evolution
What is an example of individual development?
A tadpole grows into a frog (NOT EVOLUTION)
What is an example of Ecosystem Change?
Trees growing in a plot of land over time (NOT EVOLUTION)
What is an example of Cultural evolution?
One japanese macaque learns how to do a certain skill. Others see it do this skill and learn it to. Then, the entire population of macaques is doing it.
What is the purpose of studying evolution?
Evolution is the central unifying theory of modern biology.
What are the six reasons to study evolution?
- To understand the diversity of life
- Conservation biology
- Fisheries Management
- Agriculture
- Medicine
- Forensics and Paternity Analysis
What scientist is Essentialism attributed to?
Aristotle
What is essentialism?
The idea that the physical world and its life forms are fixed, and that all members of a class share unchanging properties that define the class
What is Scala Naturae?
The great chain of being in which life is arranged hierarchically
Who is attributed with Scala Naturae and Binomial nomenclature?
Carolus Linnaeus
What was George-Louis Leclerc’s idea?
- there are differences in related species based on the environment they live in
- organisms must somehow change after migrating to suit the new environment
What is Jean-Baptiste Lamarck attributed with?
- First scientific treatment of evolution
- Transformism
- Inheritance of acquired characters
What is Transformism?
- Lamarck’s idea
- The idea that lineages persist forever, but change in form
- There is some mechanism of internal force that causes transformation
- There is no extinction or branching of lineages
What is inheritance of acquired characters?
- Lamarck’s idea for how individuals change
- If the change is beneficial, parents transmit acquired characters to offspring
- giraffe’s neck example
Who was Georges Cuvier?
- Lamarck’s biggest critic
- Favored essentialism
- Believed in Correlation of Parts
- First to firmly establish extinction
What is Correlation of Parts?
The idea that organisms are so integrated in form and function that any change would lead to death. Also called irreducible complexity.
What idea is James Hutton attributed with?
Gradualism