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BioEE 1780 > Macroevolution > Flashcards

Macroevolution Flashcards

1
Q

What is the “study of layering rock”?

A

stratigraphy

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2
Q

Define “Lagerstätten”.

A

Sites with abundant supply of unusually well preserved fossils (often including soft tissues) from the same period of time

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3
Q

What is the Burgess Shale?

A

Lagerstätten in Canada that preserved fossils from Cambrian period

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4
Q

What are the 6 major provinces defined by Wallace?

A
  1. nearrctic
  2. neotropical
  3. Ethiopian
  4. palearctic
  5. oriental
  6. australian
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5
Q

Define vicariance.

A

Formation of geographic barriers to dispersal and gene flow, resulting in separation of once continuously distributed population (ex. mountains, rivers)

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6
Q

What is anagenesis?

A

whole sale transformation of lineage from one form to another; considered alternate to lineage splitting or speciation

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7
Q

What is cladogenesis?

A

an evolutionary splitting event where a parent species splits into two distinct species, forming a clade

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8
Q

What is the difference between anagenesis and cladogenesis?

A

Anagenesis is when one lineage turns into a new species, while cladogenesis is a parent species transforms into several new species, forming a distinct clade

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9
Q

What is stasis? Is it common?

A

Stasis is when there is little or no directional change for years in the fossil record and most lineages in the fossil record have experienced it

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10
Q

What occurs after a period of stasis?

A

There is a period of rapid change, which is often not seen in fossils

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11
Q

Define punctuated equilibria.

A

Most species undergo little change, but there are periods punctuated by brief periods of rapid morphological change (speciation)

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12
Q

Define phyletic gradualism.

A

Idea that new species arise through gradual transformation, and evolution has a constant rate

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13
Q

What is the difference between punctuated equilibria and phyletic gradualism?

A

Gradualism is selection and variation that happens more gradually. Over a short period of time it is hard to notice. In punctuated equilibrium, change comes in spurts. There is a period of very little change, and then one or a few huge changes occur

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14
Q

What is the equation for diversity change on a global scale?

A

D1 + originations - extinctions = D2

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15
Q

What are the two important factors that affect diversity through time?

A

Origination & extinction

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16
Q

Define turnover.

A

extinction/disappearance of some species and their replacement by others (known as origination)

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17
Q

Some species have ___ (high/low) turnover rates but strong overall clades.

A

high

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18
Q

Define standing diversity.

A

Number of species present in a particular area at a given time

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19
Q

What are challenges in using the fossil record to understand life’s origins?

A
  1. distinguishing species based on fossils

2. fossil record is not a complete picture of the past biodiversity

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20
Q

What are the three great evolutionary faunas?

A

Cambrian (trilobite), Paleozoic (brachiopod), Modern (mollusk) (these names refer to when faunas reach peak diversity)

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21
Q

What are the two theories on what causes the transition between fossil periods?

A
  1. It could be caused by new species evolving, or species going extinct.
  2. Could be caused by geological context of the fauna
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22
Q

What is one method to reconstruct the history of climates?

A

Can use chemistry of rocks, because the climate has fluctuated over time due to changes in carbon dioxide levels

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23
Q

What is the definition of adaptation radiations?

A

Evolutionary lineages that have undergone rapid diversification into a variety of lifestyles or ecological niches (ex. Hawaiian crickets)

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24
Q

When do adaptation radiations occur?

A

When clades evolve to occupy ecological niches in the absence of competition, and when big spaces in ecological niches occur due to extinction; also because new adaptations are shown to be key innovations that evolve to allow them to occupy habitats that were previously not possible

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25
Q

____ was the time when major taxonomic groups appeared for the 1st time in fossil record.

A

Cambrian Explosion

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26
Q

What occurred because of the Cambrian Explosion in the habitats and food webs of animals?

A

It expanded habitats for animals and spurred increased complexity of the food web.

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27
Q

What are possible causes of extinction?

A

mutation, genetic drift, natural disaster, killing them off, habitat loss, human actions

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28
Q

Define background extinction.

A

Normal rate of extinction for taxon or biota

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29
Q

What do clades do to survive background extinction?

A

Lineages branch to form new species at greater rate than background extinction rate

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30
Q

What is a mass extinction?

A

A statistically significant departure from background extinction rates that results in loss of taxonomic diversity; increases in extinction or decreases in origination

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31
Q

What is the biggest mass extinction?

A

Occurred at the boundary of Permian and Triassic periods

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32
Q

What were the 3 events that had high extinction rates?

A

End of the Ordovician, end of Permian, and end of Cretaceous

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33
Q

What are the 3 reasons for mass extinctions?

A
  1. sea level regressions & transgressions (rising & spreading of sea)
  2. climate
  3. biological causes – losing other species
  4. solar flares, supernovas, cosmic rays, etc.
34
Q

What ended the Cretaceous period?

A

It ended because of the iridium object impact, which caused wildfires & dust obscuring the Sun

35
Q

Why is today considered part of the 6th mass extinction?

A

The higher extinction rate, drop in diversity, causes by humans (exploitation, habitat loss, disease, air pollution)

36
Q

What are complex adaptations?

A

Suites of coexpressed traits that experience selection for a common function

37
Q

What makes phenotypes considered “complex”?

A

when influenced by environment and genetic factors, and when multiple components must be expressed together for a trait to function

38
Q

What is a regulatory network?

A

systems of interacting genes, transcription factors, promoters, RNA, and other molecules

39
Q

What are Hox genes?

A

Hox genes are a group of related genes that control the body plan of an embryo along the anterior-posterior (head-tail) axis; switches involved in specifying what appendage develops on a segment.

40
Q

Define ortholog.

A

Homologous genes separated by speciation event

41
Q

What is a paralog?

A

Homologous genes produced by gene duplication that are both possessed by same species

42
Q

Natural selection often retools the form and function of characters within population, leading to complex adaptations far from perfect, but with fitness advantages

A

Statement

43
Q

What is deep homology?

A

Condition that occurs when growth and development of straits in different lineages result from underlying genetic mechanisms that are inherited from a common ancestor; may help explain parallel evolution

44
Q

What are fossils?

A

Remains or traces of once living organisms

45
Q

What are conditions that usually prevent fossilization?

A

Scavengers, bacterial decay, dissolution in water, physical disturbance (wave action, wind)

46
Q

What conditions promote fossilization?

A

rapid burial, anaerobic environments, protection from physical disturbance (quiet, deep water)

47
Q

Most fossils are found in ___ rocks.

A

sedimentary

48
Q

What are favorable environments that allow fossilization?

A

Oceans tend to collect the bulk of the sediments. Some locations include: continental slope, deep ocean core, ancient “core”, and deep lake sediments

49
Q

What are the less favorable environments?

A

upland environments, continental deposits (sandbars and gravel pits)

50
Q

What are ways that soft tissue is preserved in fossils?

A

rapid burial, anoxic conditions (avalanche of fine mud into deep water)

51
Q

What are the 4 principles used for relative dating of sediments?

A
  1. superposition
  2. original horizontality
  3. lateral continuity
  4. cross-cutting
52
Q

What is superposition?

A

It is when the youngest layer is on top

53
Q

What is original horizontality?

A

When layers are first deposited horizontally and then may be deformed later

54
Q

What is lateral continuity?

A

Layers of sediments are assumed to continue laterally over distances (within a region, not usually between continents)

55
Q

What is cross-cutting?

A

geological bodies that are cut across other things are younger

56
Q

Why are fossils used for biostratigraphic correlation?

A

It allows relative dating of fossils in different places, because different fossils occur in different layers of rock because biotas were different at different times

57
Q

What types of rocks do we date using absolute dating techniques?

A

We use igneous rocks

58
Q

How are sedimentary rocks dated?

A

Can use principles of stratigraphy to place fossils relative to dated rocks

59
Q

Intrusions are ___ than host rocks.

A

younger

60
Q

How was the geological time scale (GTS) derived?

A

from the spatial distribution of rocks and the vertical sequence of rocks & contained fossils

61
Q

Know the GTS

A

Phanerozoic, the Eras & 4 critical periods (Cambrian, Permian, Devonian, Cretaceous)

62
Q

What kind of fossils provide evidence of descent with modification?

A

transitional fossils

63
Q

“Fossils inform biotic history”. What does this statement mean we can infer?

A

Extant species share a common ancestor in the past.

64
Q

Fossils are critical in reconstructing ___ history and ancient ___.

A

climate history & ancient environments

65
Q

What are two characteristics that fossils tell us about evolution?

A

The tempo (rate) and mode (pattern) of evolution

66
Q

What are the 2 modes of evolution?

A

anagenesis (gradual change within a lineage) and cladogenesis (splitting of lineages)

67
Q

Which is more common: stasis (punctuated equilibrium) or gradualism?

A

Lots of stasis, some gradualism

68
Q

Look at fossil pattern…is it gradualism or stasis?

A

Powerpoint #2!

69
Q

What are 2 hypotheses that explain stasis?

A
  1. constraint, or limits or biases in the generation of variation
  2. fluctuating selection, perhaps tracking a changing environment
70
Q

What process adds originations?

A

speciation

71
Q

Lineages survive only if ___ exceed ___. (originations, extinctions)

A

originations exceed extinctions

72
Q

What is considered the cause for the Permian Event (extinction)?

A

Siberian volcanism, global warming, spread of deep marine anoxic waters, ocean acidification because of CO2 of volcano, volcano also releases methane

73
Q

What is considered the cause for the Cretaceous Event?

A

Impact in Yucatan led to global cataclysm and caused rapid cooling

74
Q

Why is it possible that because of the increase in CO2, we could be living through the 6th mass extinction?

A

Increased CO2 leads to warming, which leads to ocean acidification, and warming drives O2 out of upper ocean layers

75
Q

What is novelty?

A

Qualitatively new structure with discontinuous origin making a relatively abrupt deviation from ancestral characters

76
Q

What is one of the most important evolutionary innovations?

A

Jaws!

77
Q

What are the 3 reasons why natural selection will occur?

A
  1. Individuals are variable in some traits
  2. At least some of this variation is heritable
  3. The variation causes differential survival and reproduction
78
Q

Any phenotypic change is mediated through ___.

A

developmental processes

79
Q

Are there some kinds of mutations that produce more significant, coordinated change? Can mutations be functional?

A

In some cases, mutations can be accommodated through processes inherent to development. Ex. muscles, nerves, & capillaries will automatically compensate for change in bone shape/size!

80
Q

What is heterochrony?

A

Change in timing (ex. sexual maturation is accelerated because of a mutation); could explain the origin of vertebrates

81
Q

If the Hox genes (regulatory genes) are the same in all animals, how is there such diversity?

A

same toolkit genes, expressed at different times, in different places, and different amounts during development, can yield very different morphologies

82
Q

How do changes in the amount of expression of gene networks change animals?

A

It changes the amount of whatever the gene is controlling; ex. decreased expression = decreased limb length

BioEE 1780 (6 decks)

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