Final Exam

Question 1

What is the difference between a strong and weak argument?

Answer 1

A strong argument satisfies the logic condition.

A weak argument does not satisfy the logic condition.

Question 2

What are two critical points of the scientific method?

Answer 2

1) have multiple working hypotheses to avoid bias

2) experiment designed to falsify at least one alternative hypothesis

Question 3

What is the purpose of an experiment?

Answer 3

To test a hypothesis

Question 4

What is a positive control?

Answer 4

Control that has known outcomes

Question 5

What is a negative control?

Answer 5

Control that should produce negative or null results

Question 6

What are the five criteria of life?

Answer 6

1) need for energy

2) organization in membrane-bound cells

3) genetic information

4) ability to replicate

5) change over time (growth & response to stimuli)

Question 7

What happens to populations over generations and why?

Answer 7

They will contain lots of heritable variation due to imperfect reproduction.

Question 8

How do populations grow? What happens when they reach a limit?

Answer 8

They grow exponentially and must compete for limiting resources when they reach the carrying capacity of the environment.

Question 9

What happens to individuals with superior variants?

Answer 9

They produce more offspring which lead to natural selection.

Question 10

What is biological evolution?

Answer 10

The change in heritable characteristics of a population.

Question 11

What are Darwin’s two proposals?

Answer 11

1) Origin of life on Earth can be explained by evolution via natural selection

2) All life on Earth descended from a common ancestor through genetic variation

Question 12

What are the three domains of life and how they differ?

Answer 12

Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya

Bacteria and archaea are prokaryotes meaning they are single-celled organisms without nuclei.

Eukarya are eukaryotes meaning they have nuclei to enclose DNA.

Question 13

What domain(s) of life came first?

Answer 13

Bacteria and archaea

Question 14

What is the VIST model of evolution?

Answer 14

Variation
Inheritance
Selection or some mechanism
Time

Question 15

How is scientific theory different from a hypothesis?

Answer 15

A scientific theory is an overarching, unifying explanation of phenomena that is well-supported by multiple independent lines of evidence. It is composed of hypotheses.

A hypothesis is an assumption that has not yet been falsified.

Question 16

What is the difference between a homologous and analogous structure?

Answer 16

Homologous structures are similar due to shared ancestry. They are inherited characteristics.

Analogous structures are similar due to function. They evolved independently and cannot be traced back to a common ancestor.

Question 17

When does evolution by natural selection occur?

Answer 17

When certain genotypes produce more offspring than other genotypes in response to the environment

Question 18

What are the four requirements of evolution by natural selection?

Answer 18

1) trait must be variable

2) trait must be heritable

3) struggle of existence

4) differential survival & reproduction

Question 19

Compare fitness and adaptation

Answer 19

Fitness is the idea that organisms that best match their environment have greater survival and reproduction than those that match less well. Individuals who produce more viable offspring have higher fitness.

Adaptation is a heritable trait that increases fitness. Only natural selection results in adaptation.

Question 20

Identify the different types of selection and define them.

Answer 20

What Directional selection is a shift towards one end of a normal distribution.

Stabilizing selection is the narrowing of the normal distribution.

Disruptive selection is the separation of the normal distribution towards extremes.

Balancing selection is the maintenance of multiple phenotypes in the environment. The two types are frequency dependent and heterozygote advantage.

Question 21

What are the five evolutionary mechanisms?

Answer 21

1) mutation

2) genetic drift

3) gene flow

4) non-random mating

5) natural selection

Question 22

What are the five assumptions of the Hardy-Weinberg principle?

Answer 22

If the population is undergoing no evolution, then the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

1) no natural selection

2) no mutation

3) no genetic drift

4) no gene flow

5) random mating

Question 23

Hardy-Weinberg equation for allele frequencies

Answer 23

p + q = 1

Question 24

Hardy-Weinberg equation for genotype frequencies

Answer 24

p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1

Question 25

Identify the four species concepts and define them.

Answer 25

Biological species concept is the ability of two individuals to successfully produce viable, fertile offspring.

Morphological species concept is whether individuals look similar.

Phylogenetic species concept is how closely related individuals are evolutionarily.

Ecological species concept is whether individuals can use the same set of biological resources.

Question 26

What is speciation dependent on?

Answer 26

Gene flow

Less gene flow, more speciation

Question 27

Identify and define the two types of speciation.

Answer 27

Allopatric speciation is the physical isolation due to geographical barriers.

Sympatric speciation occurs when two populations are unable to interbreed due to reproductive isolation. There is pre-zygotic isolation and post-zygotic isolation.

Question 28

What was the Great Oxygenation Event?

Answer 28

The mass production of O2 into Earth’s atmosphere by oxygenic microbes (cyanobacteria). It made novel metabolic pathways possible.

Question 29

Describe the fundamental principle of stratigraphy.

Answer 29

Newer layers deposited on top of older layers.

Question 30

What does stratigraphy reveal and what does it not reveal?

Answer 30

Stratigraphy reveals the order of geological events. It does not reveal the absolute dates.

Question 31

Identify and describe the different methods of dating.

Answer 31

Carbon-14 dating is used to date organic matter in the recent years. It has a half-life of 5715 years.

Potassium-40 is used to date formation of igneous rocks and fossils in the early stages of life on Earth. It has a half-life of 1.26 billion years.

Uranium-238 is used to date the formation of zircons. It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years.

Question 32

Describe the Oparin-Haldane hypothesis for/

Answer 32

Hypothesis for origin of life on Earth.

1) formation of organic molecules

2) formation of polymers (longer chains) of organic molecules

3) formation of protocells