Exam 1 Questions Flashcards
Why did Darwin devote so much of his time to pigeons?
- Darwin was hoping to understand how allelic crosses combined to make complex phenotypes in the offspring.
- He wanted to develop credible expertise at artificial reproduction.
- Pigeons were an example of a new species, and Darwin was trying to figure out how new species were formed.
- He knew that breeders had figured out how hereditary information was passed between parents and offspring.
- He was hoping to understand how hereditary information was passed between parents and offspring, and explore the power of artificial selection to shape species.
He was hoping to understand how hereditary information was passed between parents and offspring, and explore the power of artificial selection to shape species.
Which of the following is not a requirement for natural selection to act to change allele frequencies in a population:
- That the population mates at random.
- That within-population genetic variation is present.
- That this variation is heritable.
- That there is variance in reproductive success.
- That reproductive success is dependent in some way on the genetic variation.
That the population mates at random.
During the voyage of the Beagle, Darwin visited both the Cape de Verde islands and the Galapagos islands. Why were these visits so important to the development of his theory of evolution? Select THE BEST answer.
- Darwin was struck by the diversity of finches on the Cape de Verde islands, which demonstrated that adaptation to local habitats could occur.
- The islands were formed via marine subduction, which proved Lyell’s theory of uniformitarianism and suggested that the earth was older than 6000 years.
- The islands had nearly identical habitat and climate, but the species on each island resembled those on the nearby continents, rather than each other. This provided evidence against special creation.
- The marine iguanas of the Galapagos islands demonstrated that species could acquire novel traits.
The islands had nearly identical habitat and climate, but the species on each island resembled those on the nearby continents, rather than each other. This provided evidence against special creation.
Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric aka ‘Georges’ Cuvier was extremely influential prior to Darwin’s work. How would Cuvier have explained extinction?
- Species were wiped off the face of the earth during the last ice age in an attempt by the creator to wipe the slate clean.
- Extinction was caused by the failure of certain species to compete for resources due to an inability to adapt.
- Fossil animals were placed by the devil to mislead Christians, so extinct animals were essentially fakes and never existed on the planet.
- Entire species were destroyed by cataclysmic events such as Noah’s flood that were caused by God. Cuvier’s explanation was essentially that God caused extinction.
Entire species were destroyed by cataclysmic events such as Noah’s flood that were caused by God. Cuvier’s explanation was essentially that God caused extinction.
Identify the best definition for the term scientific theory
- A hunch based on careful observation of nature that help to guide a scientist’s work.
- Theories are overarching explanations that make sense of some aspect of nature, are based on evidence, allow scientists to make valid predictions, and have been tested in many ways.
- The result of long hours of careful observation and typically a surplus of caffeine.
- Educated guesses that are based on measurably evidence and that can be tested in indirect ways.
- A set of predictions and corollaries that have a central unifying theme and that can be tested using qualitative inference.
Theories are overarching explanations that make sense of some aspect of nature, are based on evidence, allow scientists to make valid predictions, and have been tested in many ways.
Charles Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgewood. Why wasn’t he worried about inbreeding depression?
- Darwin was slightly nervous about his performance and didn’t expect any children to result from his marriage.
- In truth, he was a little worried about inbreeding depression, but his cousin was very attractive – and wealthy!
- Darwin knew that he was adopted by Richard Darwin since his father was sterile due to an unfortunate accident with overly tight breeches.
- Darwin knew very little about genetics and nothing about the loss of heterozygosity and the exposure of deleterious recessive alleles that is caused by inbreeding.
Darwin knew very little about genetics and nothing about the loss of heterozygosity and the exposure of deleterious recessive alleles that is caused by inbreeding.
According to Charles Lyell, what was the approximate age of the Earth?
- No older than 10,000 years, based on his estimates from pollen core samples of Scottish peat bogs.
- Approximately 6000 years, which was calculated by adding up the generation in the Old Testament of the Bible.
- At least 4.5 billion years old, give or take the error margin on radiometric dating.
- Hundreds of thousands of years, or much older than implied by the timeline presented in Genesis.
Hundreds of thousands of years, or much older than implied by the timeline presented in Genesis.
Identify the word that matches this definition: empirical evidence interpreted through logic - based on premise that our senses, and extensions of our senses through the use of instruments, provides accurate information about the physical universe
- naturalism
- exaptationism
- methodological naturalism
- materialism
- determinism
methodological naturalism
Darwin’s theory of evolution provided explanations for all of the following EXCEPT
- the similarities and differences among species.
- why Earth is not the center of the universe.
- the diversity of life on the planet.
- why the vast majority of species are extinct.
why Earth is not the center of the universe.
Which of the following examples best illustrates the concept of spontaneous generation?
- Maggots spontaneously transform in to flies.
- Some sea anemones spontaneously bud newly developed young from their outer skin.
- During flooding, frogs spontaneously arise from mud.
- When a dried bean is moistened and kept moist, it spontaneously transforms into a bean sprout.
During flooding, frogs spontaneously arise from mud.
Rather than rely on creation myths to explain the natural world, early Greek philosophers were among the first to
- quantify the inheritance of genetic traits through sexual reproduction.
- develop a philosophy of a natural world driven by physical laws used to explain the world around them.
- describe the heavenly bodies as gods or personages.
- understand that our planet is much, much older than previously determined.
develop a philosophy of a natural world driven by physical laws used to explain the world around them.
Mathematical models are useful for
- manipulating experimental conditions in the laboratory.
- helping us understand how complicated systems work.
- providing observations of the natural world.
- disproving the theory of evolution by natural selection.
helping us understand how complicated systems work.
Which scientist of those listed below was a contemporary of Charles Darwin and also developed a complete theory of evolution by natural selection?
- Alfred Russel Wallace
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
- William Paley
- Aristotle
Alfred Russel Wallace
Darwin realized that the often exquisite fit of species to their environment is primarily the result of
- paradigm shifts.
- supernatural events.
- empirical research.
- natural selection.
natural selection.
If the genotype frequency of a homozygous recessive genotype is equal to 0.023 and a selection coefficient roughly 10% worse than the other genotypes (i.e., s = 0.1), what would we expect its frequency to be after natural selection?
- It is impossible to answer given the information provided.
- 0.015
- 0.0023
- 0.0207
0.0207
In a sample of 1000 diploid individuals, 160 are observed to be homozygous recessive at the ‘A’ locus. Assuming that this is a two-allele system, how many heterozygous individuals should we observe if the population is in HWE?
- 360
- It is impossible to calculate given the information provided.
- 480
- 840
480
Which of the following is the best description of how Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) is used as a null model in evolutionary genetics?
- HWE makes a prediction about the genotype frequencies that we expect to observe in a population in the absence of evolutionary change. By comparing observed genotype frequencies to the expected genotype frequencies, populations that violate the model can be identified.
- HWE makes a prediction about the genotype frequencies that we expect to observe in a population given a set of assumptions. By comparing expected genotype frequencies to the null distribution, we can infer whether natural selection has occurred.
- HWE makes predictions about an ideal system that doesn’t experience genetic drift. By measuring the discrepancy between the model and the actual data, we can estimate how much drift has occurred and calibrate the results.
*
HWE makes a prediction about the genotype frequencies that we expect to observe in a population in the absence of evolutionary change. By comparing observed genotype frequencies to the expected genotype frequencies, populations that violate the model can be identified.
Natural selection acts on _______ differences in a population.
- both genotypic and phenotypic
- genotypic, not phenotypic
- phenotypic, not genotypic
- neither genotypic nor phenotypic
phenotypic, not genotypic
Which example below is a case of disruptive selection?
- Wolves and coyotes are hybridizing, which has led to the transfer of some wolf genetic variation into coyotes. This new genetic variation is allowing coyotes to become larger, and thus has made them better at hunting larger prey.
- A squirrel population became established in an area with a new food item that was toxic, but nutritious. Over evolutionary time, this population evolved adaptations to detoxify the food item.
- Climate warming is favoring physiological traits in mice that are more efficient at warmer temperatures.
- Owls are visual hunters and are preying on mice that are living on dark and light-colored soils. The owls are preying on a higher frequency of lighter-colored mice in the dark soils and a higher-frequency of darker-colored mice in the light soils.
Owls are visual hunters and are preying on mice that are living on dark and light-colored soils. The owls are preying on a higher frequency of lighter-colored mice in the dark soils and a higher-frequency of darker-colored mice in the light soils.
In Rhagoletis fruit flies, which lay their eggs in rotting fruit, Guy Bush suggested that sympatric speciation may be occurring due to differences in the timing of the emergence of adult flies. Given the figure below, what assumption did Bush make about the action of natural selection on Rhagoletis?
Fig. 5. Emergence period of the apple and hawthorn races of Rhagoletis pomonella. The cross hatched curve represents the approximate period of fruit maturation when larvae are leaving the fruit and pupating in the soil.
- That flies who emerged when few ripe fruits were available would be reproductively successful.
- Both the ‘flies who emerged when few ripe fruits were available would be reproductively successful’ and the ‘flies who specialized on a single resource would be leave fewer offspring than the more generalist flies’ were assumed by Bush.
- That flies who specialized on a single resource would be leave fewer offspring than the more generalist flies.
- That flies who emerged when few ripe fruits were available would not be reproductively successful.
That flies who emerged when few ripe fruits were available would not be reproductively successful.
