MIdterm

Question 1

What is a tetrapod?

Answer 1

a member of a common group that is united by common descent from an early land-colonizing vertebrate

Question 2

What are Passeriformes?

Answer 2

perching birds

Question 3

What are Oscines?

Answer 3

song birds that learn their songs

Question 4

What are Suboscines?

Answer 4

song birds that do not learn or have complex songs

Question 5

What are the stages of moult?

Answer 5

1. Natal down
2. Juvenal plumage
3. Basic plumage
4. Alternate plumage (breeding)

Question 6

What are two methods of Taxonomy?

Answer 6

1. Phenotypic similarity grouping (Linnaeus’ method)

2. Evolutionary Relationship grouping

Question 7

What is a monophyletic group?

Answer 7

a group of organisms who all share a common ancestor

Question 8

what are Homologous traits?

Answer 8

similarities due to common ancestry

Question 9

What are analogus traits?

Answer 9

similarities due to convergent evolution

Question 10

What does modern taxonomy involve?

Answer 10

1. Fossils
2. Traits of extant species
3. DNA and other molecular markers

Question 11

What is Taxonomy?

Answer 11

the science of naming and classifying organisms

Question 12

What is the most distance outgroup from tetrapods?

Answer 12

amphibians

Question 13

What are the draw backs of Linnaeus’ method?

Answer 13

1. only 7 hierarchical groups

2. traditional grouping not always right

Question 14

Birds are most closely related to what?

Answer 14

crocodiles

Question 15

Why are reptiles not monophyletic?

Answer 15

birds split off from crocodiles and are not considered reptiles

Question 16

What selective forces lead to terrestrial activity?

Answer 16

1. The ability to move between ponds was favored for
   - escape from predators
   - escape from ponds that are drying up
   - juvenile dispersal (avoid inbreeding)
2. Use of land was favored for its own merit, not just as a means of moving between ponds
   - ecological niches available on land
   - no predators on land
   - competitor-free and predator-free terrestrial environment had many advantages

Question 17

What adaptations did the early tetrapods need to survive?

Answer 17

1. means of gas exchange
2. means of locomotion
3. stronger skeleton
4. reproduction still dependent on aquatic habitat –> advantage larval and adult forms (metamorphosis)
5. other adaptations: optics of eye, adjustments for feeding in air, changes in skin due to friction, etc.

Question 18

What kind of organisms first developed lungs?

Answer 18

An air-breathing fish (long nosed gar)

Question 19

What are the two major fish groups?

Answer 19

1. Actinopterygian (ray-finned)

2. Sarcopterygian(fleshy-finned)

Question 20

When did Actinopterygian split off from sarcopterygian?

Answer 20

silurian period

Question 21

When did sarcopterygian split off from other tetrapods? Why is this significant?

Answer 21

Devonian - means all tetrapods are derived from sarcopterygians

Question 22

What characteristics do all species concepts agree on?

Answer 22

• Morphological similarity
• Ecological similarity
• Reproductive isolation
• Evolutionary cohesion

Question 23

What are some methods of studying speciation?

Answer 23

• study geographic variation (try to infer historical change from this)
• Study microevolution in real time + extrapolate to infer how change occurs over longer time periods
• surveys of genetic variation within and between species.
• laboratory breeding experiments

Question 24

What are the four models of speciation?

Answer 24

• allopatric
• peripatric
• parapatric
• sympatric

Question 25

what are the basic rules of labeling specimens?

Answer 25

- the date is a number - month is a 3 letter abbreviation written out in full, or roman numerals - the year is always 4 digits

Question 26

What determines a species range?

Answer 26

- abiotic factors (temp, rainfall/snow, landscape features) - biotic factors(distribution of food/predators) - history (dispersal, vicariance, speciation, human impact)

Question 27

what are suture zones? where is one of these zones in BC?

Answer 27

places where divergent biota meet | along the rocky mountains

Question 28

what are two ways to determine the diversity of a community?

Answer 28

- Gather info on number of species | - Simpson's diversity index (need # individuals per species)

Question 29

what are two ways to determine the similarity between two communities?

Answer 29

- sorenson's similarity coefficient (need presence/absence data) - Percentage similarity or Renkonen Index(need individuals per species at each site)

Question 30

What is simpson's diversity index?

Answer 30

the probability that two individuals picked at random are different species