Exam 2 Flashcards
____________ is the only known explanation for adaptation.
Natural Selection
Why can drift not be an adaptation?
Drift is random
What are three examples of adaptations?
Feeding Specializations, Crypsis, and Mate Attraction or competition
What is crypsis?
Camoflauge/ adaptations to blend in
What are the two qualifications for a trait to be an adaptation?
- It must improve the fitness so that the organism with the trait has higher fitness than those without
- There must be a correlation between the presence of the feature and the hypothesized selection pressure (greater selection = greater presence of feature)
What results from differences in fitness?
Differential reproductive success and survival
How does adaptation occur: gradually or rapidly?
Adaptation occurs through gradual, directional selection over several generations
What is are analogous structures?
Structures that are functionally similar, but structurally and historically different (Independent evolutionary origins, such as the vertabrate eye and octupus eye)
What are analogous structures a product of ?
Convergent Evolution
What is convergent evolution?
Organisms that are not closely related independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches
What are homologous structures?
Structurally similar structures, but can be functionally different
What are homologous structures a product of?
Divergent Evolution
What is Divergent Evolution?
The accumulation of differences between groups which can lead to the formation of new species
_________ is evidence for natural selection.
Poor Design (panda’s thumb is not a “perfect” thumb, it is a makeshift adaptation for stripping bamboo)
What are Vestigial Structures?
Structures with little or no current function, retained due to common ancestry
What is a pre-adaptation?
An existing structure modified to serve a new function
Bird feathers were originally intended for thermoregulation, but they now also facilitate the evolution of flight. What is this an example of?
Exaptation
What is an exaptation?
An adaptation that has arisen via preadaptation
What is the genetic constraint on adaptation?
Heterozygotes have the advantage of the highest fitness, but they cant “breed true”
What is the morphological constraint on adaptation?
Certain morphologies may be impossible due to some uknown developmental constraint
What is allometry?
Something is allometric if it scales with size. When the Irish Elk got bigger, its antlers got significantly bigger, decreasing the geometric similarity. It became extinct because any more increase in size would cause such a large increase in antler size that the elk could not support its antlers.
What is the trade-off constraint on adaptation?
When adaptation for one function may compromise another function (the cheetahe h adapted longer legs for greater speed, but that came with higher chance of breaking a limb)
Why is large population size important for Hardy-Weinberg theorem?
In genetic drift, the passing on of A and a alleles may not be equal in a small population. In a large population, it will be close to 1:1
What is the result of genetic drift over time?
The population will eventually drift to homozygosity
What can be used as a standard measure of genetic variation per locus in a population?
Heterozygosity (gene diversity)
What is the equation for heterozygosity?
H = 1- (p^2 + q^2)
H is the chance of drawing two different alleles
What is the equation for homozygosity?
f = (p^2 + q^2) or f = 1- H
Drift tends to ________ heterozygosity.
reduce
Mutation tends to _________ heterozygosity
Increase
What is the establishment of a new population by a smaller group of a larger population that onl carry a small fraction of the total genetic variation of the parental population?
Founder Effect
If the founder event occurs but genetic variation of the new population is the same, then there is no ____ ____ via founder effect
Genetic Drift
Genes in low frequency in the original population become _________ in the founder population.
Common
True of False: Founder evens are likely to produce homozygosity
False, they are not likely to produce homozygosity
What is a population bottleneck?
Environmental or other catastrophe decreases the size of the population. The population rebounds, but the genetic diversity is very low
________ ________ is a type of bottleneck.
Founder Effect
What does a present low level of genetic diversity indicate?
A past bottleneck
True or False: Founder Effect results in genetic drift because a non-representative sample of the population produces more gametes
True
_________ populations may be more vulnerable to random events such as genetic drift because it is easier to draw a non-representative sample from them.
Small
Given enough time, drift will end in fixation for ________ alleles.
Neutral
What are neutral alleles?
Those with no selective advandage/disadvantage