Lecture 1

Question 1

Two core Tenets of evolution

Answer 1

1. Living things change over time
2. adaptations have arisen through natural selection

Question 2

what does evolution challenge?

Answer 2

the view of special creation

Question 3

define special creation

Answer 3

the direct creation of all living things in effectively their present form

Question 4

state 5 important conclusions about evolution verified by scientific study

Answer 4

1. organisms on earth have changed through time
2. changes are gradual, not instantaneous
3. lineages split by speciation, resulting in the generation of biodiversity
4. all species have a singular common ancestor
5. adaptations result from natural selection

Question 5

evidence for organisms changing through time

Answer 5

fossil records

Question 6

why are changes in traits in organisms gradual and not instantaneous?

Answer 6

processes of evolution take different amounts of time, but always have to work with pre-existing variation, limiting the rate of change.

Question 7

biodiversity and adaptation are the

Answer 7

products of evolution

Question 8

describe speciation

Answer 8

process by which one species bifurcates into two which do not go back together. iterative rounds of speciation give exponential growth of this process.

Question 9

give 2 definitions of biodiversity

Answer 9

• the diversity of life on earth
• the number and kinds of living organisms in a given area

Question 10

give 2 definitions of adaption

Answer 10

• any trait that makes an organism better able to survive or reproduce in a given environment (noun)
• the evolutionary process that leads to the origin and maintenance of such traits, reproducing and surviving better in an environment (verb)

Question 11

major areas of evolutionary study

Answer 11

• evolutionary history (i.e. patterns); reconstructing how life on earth happened
• evolutionary mechanisms (i.e. processes); what gave rise to the life that we see

Question 12

microevolution

Answer 12

evolutionary patterns and processes observed within species

Question 13

macroevolution

Answer 13

evolutionary patterns and processes observed among species

Question 14

draw a diagram for macro and microevolution, as well as evolutionary history and mechanisms

Question 15

goals of evolutionary history

Answer 15

identify and understand long term patterns in evolution, including common ancestry

Question 16

evolutionary history in practice

Answer 16

uses comparative data from sub-disciplines of systematics, biogeography, palaeontology, morphology, development and molecular biology

Question 17

give 2 alternative terms for an evolutionary tree

Answer 17

a phylogenetic tree = a phylogeny

Question 18

what is the purpose for evolutionary trees?

Answer 18

to reflect ancestor-descendant links

Question 19

name of split points in evolutionary trees

Answer 19

nodes

Question 20

can trees with different sets of species represent the same common ancestors?

Answer 20

yes - this also depends on rotation of branches on the tree

Question 21

goals of evolutionary mechanisms

Answer 21

• determine the particular processes responsible for evolutionary change

Question 22

evolutionary mechanisms in practice

Answer 22

• uses experimental and comparative studies of the genetics and ecology of populations
• focuses primarily on the population level

Question 23

state and describe the 4 approaches that are used to address scientific questions

Answer 23

• observational - describe and quantify
• theoretical - develop models (verbal, graphical, mathematical, computational)
• comparative - obtain same data from many species
• experimental - manipulate a system to address a specific hypothesis; requires an experimental design and statistical analysis

Question 24

all good scientific theories have —- and the strongest studies use

Answer 24

testable and falsifiable hypotheses; more than one source of evidence

Question 25

give 4 reasons as to why evolution is relevant?

Answer 25

1. children’s questions/understanding life on earth
2. medicine - mitigating effects of pathogens (eg variants of covid-19)
3. agriculture
   - how can we design strategies to avoid herbicide and insecticide resistant superweeds/super pests?
   - what genes were important for crop evolution?
4. climate change - selection pressures will be applied

Question 26

public doubts about evolution

Answer 26

1. extremely recent scientific concept (165 years is a brief time frame)
2. very personal implications: direct ramifications about who we are and where we came from
3. violates literal interpretations of religious texts