Lecture 1: Intro to Evolution Flashcards
Who was the leader of the modern synthesis?
Theodosius Dobzhansky
What was the modern synthesis a combination of?
Darwin’s evolution and Mendel’s genetics
Biological evolution
inherited change in the properties of populations over successive generations
Darwin’s Descent with Modification
Change in gene frequencies over time
Peppered moth
In the 1700’s only the white form was known in England and by the mid 1800’s a dark form was discovered and it rapidly spread in industrialized areas.
Intraspecific variation
Variation within a species
Interspecific variation
Variation with different species
Five misconceptions about evolution
1) evolution and natural selection are the same thing
2) individual organisms undergo biological evolution
3) evidence for evolution is limited, it is only an unsubstantiated theory
4) evolution occurs within species, but it cannot explain the origin of new species
5) there are not many intermediate fossils identifying transitions between major groups
Development
Change of individual organisms through their lifetime
What is the missing link between Devonian fishes and tetrapods?
Tikaalik
Why do whales have lungs and snakes lack legs?
Morphological diversity
Why do salamanders have 10x more DNA than humans?
Genetic diversity
Why were there so many species of beetles?
Species diversity
Why are we fish?
it reflects the evolutionary connection between humans and other organisms, tracing our ancestry back to aquatic life forms
Population
a group of individuals of the same species that live in the same geographic area
