Final Term Exam Flashcards
Useless remnants of structures or organs which were prominent and functional in ancestors
Vestigial Organs
or
Rudimentary Organs
The 10 vestigial organs in man
- vermiform appendix
- auricular muscles of external ear
- nictitating membrane
- palmaris longus
- vestigial tail vertebrae
- lobe of external ear
- wisdom teeth
- canines
- mammary glands in males
- body hair
The reappearance of ancestral characteristics in an organism which do not normally occur
Atavism
or
Reversion
The 6 examples of atavism
- cervical fistula in man
- tail
- mammary glands
- hair on body and face of Irish Dogman
- disappearance of phalanges of 2nd and 4th digits of horses
- homodont dentition in piscivorous cetaceans
The 3 types of atavism
- Family Atavism
- Race Atavism
- Atavism of Teratology
Type of Atavism
Sudden reappearance of a character after remaining latent for several generations
Family Atavism
Type of Atavism
Appearance of a character present in one race but not in another
Race Atavism
Type of Atavism
Appearance of abnormal characters in one race which are normal in another
Atavism of Teratology
States that living organisms do not exhibit evolutionary irreversibility
Dollo’s Law
It means an individual during its development repeats the most important changes which its ancestors have undergone during the long course of their evolution
Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny
- Ernst Haeckel
- Recapitulation Theory
The 7 levels showing Haeckel’s Recapitulation Theory
- Similarities in early embryonic development
- Resemblance in vertebrate embryos
- Resemblance in invertebrate larvae
- Temporary embryonic structures
- Development of vertebrate organs
- Retrogressive metamorphosis
- Recapitulation Theory and Biogenic Law
The 4 homologous structures in vertebrate embryos
- similar head with rudiments of eyes and ears
- pharyngeal clefts or gill clefts, notochord, and embryonic tail
- limbs which develop as limb buds
- notochord replaced by vertebral column
The presence of […] in annelids and mollusks indicates their origin from the same ancestor
trochophore larva
The similarity in the […] larva of Echinodermata and […] larva of Hemichordata suggests common ancestry
- bipinnaria
- tornaria
The 3 temporary embryonic structures
- visceral pouch or gill cleft
- notochord
- tooth buds
The degenerative changes wherein an active larva transforms into a sedentary adult
Retrogressive Metamorphosis
Occurs when the larva fails to undergo metamorphosis; however, it develops gonads, attains sexual maturity, and starts reproduction
Neoteny
or
Paedogenesis
(Ambystoma mexicanum)
The Recapitulation Theory was first proposed by […] and eventually revised and renamed […] by Ernst Haeckel
- Von Baer
- Biogenetic Law
[…] provide the most direct evidence of evolution, whereas all other evidences are indirect
Fossil records
The 6 types of fossils
- unaltered remains of entire organisms
- petrified fossils
- molds and casts
- prints or impressions
- tracks and trails
- coprolites
The study of distribution of animals and plants on Earth in space and time
Biogeography
He divided the Earth surface into 6 biogeographical regions called realms based on the distribution of birds
Philip Lutley Sclater
The 6 realms (Sclater)
- Nearctic
- Palearctic
- Neotropical
- Oriental
- Ethiopian
- Australian
The 5 bases of evolutionary relationships from geographical distribution
- biogeographical division of the Earth
- diversity in fauna and flora
- discontinuous distribution of closely related species
- restricted distribution
- life on oceanic islands
Organisms which exhibit characteristics of more than one group
Connecting Links
The connecting link between nonliving and living organisms
Viruses
The 4 nonliving characters of viruses
- can by crystallized like inorganic and organic compounds
- devoid of enzyme systems
- unable to respond to external stimuli
- do not grow in size
The 3 living characters of viruses
- multiple inside a living host
- undergo mutations
- possess property of recombination and heritability
A protozoan said to be a connecting link between plants and animals
Euglena
A protozoan said to be a connecting link between Porifera and Protista
Proterospongia
A connecting link between Annelida and Arthropoda
Peripatus
A connecting link between Annelida and Mollusca
Neopilina
A connecting link between non-chordates and chordates
Balanoglossus
A connecting link between cartilaginous fishes and bony fishes
Chimaera
A connecting link between fishes and amphibians
Lungfishes
A connecting link between reptiles and mammals
Prototheria
The science of naming, describing, and classifying organisms
Taxonomy
Said to be the closest relative of humans
Echinodermata
The 7 similarities in the molecular structure of biomolecules
- homology in DNA and cytochrome C structure
- similarity in metabolic processes
- ATP is the energy currency
- chlorophyll is the photosynthetic pigment
- cytochrome C acts as an electron acceptor
- nitrogenous waste is produced in the form of ammonia
- blood groups
A method introduced by Dr. George H.F. Nuttal that allowed the study of blood proteins
Precipitation Method
“The longer the time since the organisms diverged, the greater the number of differences in the structure of specific proteins and in the nucleotide sequence of genes for the specific proteins”
Molecular Clock
(Zuckerkandl & Pauling, 1965)
The 12 evidences for biological evolution
- Comparative Anatomy & Morphology
- Vestigial Organs
- Atavism & Reversion
- Comparative Embryology
- Paleontology
- Geographical Distribution
- Connecting Links
- Taxonomy
- Biochemistry & Physiology
- Molecular Records
- Cytology
- Genetics
The 2 models of the history of life on Earth
- Theory of Special Creation
- Theory of Descent with Modification
States that species are immutable – unchanged since their origin – and variation among individuals is limited
Theory of Special Creation
States that all species were created separately and are thus genealogically unrelated to each other
Theory of Special Creation
The first scientist to give a biological definition of species, “One species never springs from the seed of another”
John Ray
(1686)
The 5 elements of the Theory of Descent with Modification
- Species are not immutable, but change through time
- Lineages split and diverge, thereby increasing the number of species
- Over long periods of time, novel forms of life can derive from earlier forms
- Species are derived not independently, but from common ancestors
- The Earth and life are considerably more than 6000 years old
A small herb closely related to turnip and broccoli which researchers observed for microevolution
Field Mustard
Brassica rapa
The 3 kinds of evidence for microevolution
- selective breeding
- direct observation of natural populations
- living anatomy: vestigial structures
The 3 human vestigial structures
- coccyx
- arrector pili
- arrectores pilorum
Why does microevolution matter?
- Alters the nature of many organisms
- Interactions with other organisms sometimes cause humans to evolve, leading to genetic differences
[…] are populations within and among which individuals actually or potentially interbreed and outside of which they do not interbreed
Species
The virtue of the definition of species wherein we let the organisms themselves tell us whether they belong to the same species
Biological Species Concept
When a male horse mates with a female donkey, what is produced?
Hinny
When a female horse is mated with a male donkey, what is produced?
Mule
An RNA virus that infects the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae
Φ6
Studied Drosophila pseudoobscura to show speciation
Dianne Dodd
(1989)
The 4 stages of speciation
- a single population with variation
- population divides into subpopulations that still interbreed
- distinct populations with limited interbreeding
- distinct populations whose reproductive isolation is irreversible
A fish that presently shows all four stages of speciation
Threespine Stickleback
(Gasterosteus aculeatus)
A bird that show that over space and time, a species can gradually divide into two
Greenish Warbler
(Phylloscopus trochiloides)
A comparative anatomist who published a list of 23 species known only from fossils
Georges Cuvier
A paleontologist who was the first to publish an observation related to Cuvier’s
William Clift
[…] and […] are the patterns we would predict if present-day species are descended with modification from ancestors that lived before them in the same region
- extinction
- succession
Species showing a mix of features, including traits typical of ancestral populations and novel traits seen later in descendants
Transitional Species
A fish which is a living transitional form showing amphibious characteristics
Pacific leaping blenny
(Praelticus labrovittatus)
The aquatic and terrestrial blennies
- Blenniella gibbifrons
- Alticus arnoldorum
A transitional turtle that represents a predictable intermediate step in the transmutation of a typical amniote into a turtle
Odontochelys
Why does macroevolution matter?
- Our own bodies are its products
The crucial evidence for universal common ancestry
Homology
He defined homology as “the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and function”
Richard Owen
Defined as similarity due to the inheritance of traits from a common ancestor
Homology
The claim that geological processes taking place now worked similarly in the past
Uniformitarianism
The hypothesis that today’s geological formations resulted from catastrophic events in the past on a scale never observed now
Catastrophism
Why does Earth’s age matter?
- Descent with modification is a slow process
- New evidence and discoveries only make sense in the view that the Earth and life are at least a few billion years old
