Midterm 1 Flashcards
What are the characteristics of living things?
- Chemical uniqueness
- Complexity and hierarchical organization
- Reproduction
- Possession of a genetic program
- Growth
- Metabolism
- Environmental interaction
- Movement
What is a codon?
A sequence of three nucleotides that encodes for an amino acid
What does define the correspondence between sequence of nucleotides in DNA and sequences of amino acids in proteins?
Genetic code
Who are autotrophs?
Plants, algae, many bacteria and some unicellular eukaryotes
Does all bacteria are heterotrophs?
No
Does all unicellular eukaryotes are autotrophs?
No
Do single ocelled organisms undergo developement?
Yes, they still grown (ex: phase, divisions)
What is the study of organism interaction with the environment?
Ecology
What are the ways that plans move?
- Shoots grow
- Flowers open and close
- Leaves turn towards the sun
- Climbing plants have tendrils that reach out until they have something to grip onto
When did the earth formed?
4.6 billion years ago
Was there atmosphere on early earth?
No, neither soil or oceans.
When did life formed and from what?
4 billion years ago from primordial soup
What is the Oparin-Haldane Hypothesis?
Organic compounds characteristic of life formed slowly over time from simple molecules present in the prebiotic environment.
Who came out with the primordial soup theory?
Oparin and Haldane
What were the components of early atmospheres?
- Water vapor
- Hydrogen gas
- Ammonia
- Carbon dioxide
- Methane
- LIMITED oxygen
Who tested the primordial soup theory?
Miller and Urey
What produced the Miller and Urey experience?
Carbon dioxide was transformed into organic compounds such as amino acid, urea, and fatty acids, essential components of life.
What were the compounds and energetical source in Miller and Urey experience?
- Water vapor
- Ammonia
- Methane
- Hydrogen
energetical source: electrical sparks
What term describe one part soluble in water and another part insoluble in water?
Amphiphilic
What is the second stage in origins of life?
Formation of polymers (e.g: proteins and nucleic acids)
Was the early atmosphere reducing or oxidizing?
Strongly reducing (lack of oxygen, was giving electrons)
Could life on earth start again?
No. Present atmosphere is too oxidizing.
Molecules necessary for life can’t be synthesized outside cells because the presence of oxygen make them unstable.
What were the necessary steps for life to occur?
- Simple organic molecules
- Complex organic molecules
- Cells
What is a codon?
A sequence of three nucleotides that encode for an amino acid
What is the best estimate of number of species on Earth?
8 million species of eukaryotes.
What describes the formation of complex organic molecules from simpler inorganic molecules through chemical reaction?
Chemical evolution (first step in the development of life)
What describes the process by which changes in the genetic composition of populations of organisms occur in response to environmental changes?
Organic evolution
Who came independently from Darwin with the conception of natural selection?
Wallace
True or False?
Natural Selection was accepted before Evolution as a theory.
False
What are the foundations of evolution theory?
- Geology: history of life is long and changing
- Economics (Malthus): population pressures, human populations grow faster than resource
- Embryology: Similarities between organisms
What is Natural Selection?
The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.
What explains adaptation?
Natural selection
What describes a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment?
Adaptation
What is the process by which features acquire functions for which they were not originally adapted or selected?
Exaptation
What use is a rudimentary feather?
Thermoregulation
Is evolution random?
No. Genetic variability has a random aspect because mutations are random. However, the force that drives evolution is natural selection and it’s not random.
True or false?
Most mutations are favorable.
False. Most mutations are unfavourable or neutral.
What are the evolutionary theories accepted as having universal application throughout the living world?
- Perpetual change
- Common descent
- Multiplication of species
What are the evidence for common descent?
- Conserved genetics (codon usage among living things)
2. Homology
Define homology.
Similarity of parts/organs of different organisms caused by evolutionary derivation from a corresponding part/organ in a common ancestor.
What defines the developmental history of an organism throughout its entire life?
Ontogeny
What defines the evolutionary history of a species?
Phylogeny
Do ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny?
No, but it does provide evidence for common descent.
True or false?
Behavioral factors can be a biological factor that prevent interbreeding.
True
What are the two ways that allopatric speciation can occur?
Vicariant speciation and Founder effect.
What speciation describes the ancestral population geographically divided and isolated subpoplations evolve reproductive barriers between them?
Allopatric speciation.
True or false?
In vicariant population, fragments of the ancestral population are left intact.
True
What describes a speciation from diverging lineages co-occupy a geographic area?
Sympatric speciation.
Different individuals within a species become specialized for occupying different components of the environment.
Which type of speciation might iguanas floating leads to ?
Allopatric: founder effect.
What type of speciation might geographic separation of caribbean leads to?
Allopatric: vicariant
What type of speciation eurasian blackcap is an example of? Is it due to reproductive or geographic barriers?
It’s sympatric speciation because it’s on the same land, and it’s reproductive barrier.
True or false?
Gradualism is not supported by the fossil record.
True
Describes gradualism.
Theory like what small changes accumulate slowly over time.
What describes the pertains to evolutionary changes in frequencies of variant forms of genes within population?
Microevolution
What describes the pertains to evolution on a long timescale?
Macroevolution
What are the patterns in macroevolution?
- Stasis
- Lineage splitting
- Extinction
What are the evolutionary fates for every species?
- Give rise to new species
2. Become extinct
What is a punctuated equilibrium?
Long period of stasis, punctuated by a brief event of speciation
How long does a species survive on average?
5-10 million years (stasis)
How long lasts speciation on average?
10 000 - 100 000 years (event of speciation)
Since how long the coelacanths exist?
80 million years
In what way does the metaphoric tree of life fall appart?
- Branches are not equal
- No central trunk
- No directionality
- Some line goes from one branch to the other
True or false?
Character similarity resulting from common ancenstry is the definition of homology.
True
What name do we give to non-homologous similarities that may be found in various organisms?
Homoplasy
True or false?
Characters that build up the evolutionary tree can be behavioural
True
What defines the branching diagram showing the inferred evolutionary relationship among various biological species?
Phylogenetic tree
What defines the diagram used in cladistics to show evolutionary relationship between organisms?
Cladogram
What is a clade?
A unit of evolutionary common descent that includes ancestral lineage and all descendents.
Defines character
Organismal feature that varies between species
What defines all other variant forms of the character that arose later within the group?
A derived character
What type of clade defines the most recent common ancestor and some but not all descendants of that ancestor?
Paraphyletic clade
What type of clade defines a most recent common ancestor that is not included ?
Polyphyletic clade
Defines taxonomy
Study of the principles of scientific classification, systematic ordering and naming of organisms
What is the fundamental way that we classify organisms in biology?
It’s based on evolutionary relationships
What is the science of classification of organisms based on common evolutionary descent?
Systematics
Who is the Father of taxonomy?
Linneaus
What are the 5 kingdoms in the 5 kingdoms system?
- Metazoa
- Plantae
- Fungi
- Protista
- Monera
What are the 6 kingdoms system?
- Metazoa
- Plantae
- Fungi
- Protista
- Bacteria
- Archea
Which kingdoms are also domains?
Bacteria and archea
What is the simple definition for species?
Group of organisms that are capable of producing a fertile offspring
What name do we give to offspring produced by mating of individuals from two different species?
Interspecific hybrid