Module 2: Evolution and Speciation

Question 1

C22: Which predecessors had major influences on Darwin and Wallace in their forming the theory of evolution?

Answer 1

Lamarck, Lyell, and Malthus

Question 2

C22: How do differences between species allow them to be well-suited to the environment they are found in?

Question 3

C22: How can the theory of evolution explain the many differences observed between species?

Question 4

C22: How can the theory of evolution explain the similarities among different and even distantly related species?

Question 5

C22: How does natural selection work, and what five premises underlie Darwin’s theory?

Question 6

C22: Why do we say that the population is the fundamental unit of evolution?

Question 7

C22: How can you distinguish “homologous” vs “convergent” traits (such as in examples from the book)?

Question 8

C23: What is the gene pool in a population of organisms?

Question 9

C23: How do you calculate allele frequencies in a population?

Question 10

C23: What is Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE)?

Question 11

C23: What are the assumptions of HWE?

Question 12

C23: How can we use HWE to assess whether a population is evolving?

Question 13

C23: Be able to calculate the expected genotype frequencies of a population under HWE

Question 14

C23: What is genetic drift, and why is drift especially important in small populations?

Question 15

C23: Why is natural selection the only evolutionary process that can lead to adaptation?

Question 16

C23: What is the difference between directional, stabilizing, and disruptive selection?

Question 17

C24: Explain the major species concepts, particularly the biological species concept.

Question 18

C24: Why are there more than one species concept?

Question 19

C24: Why might each species concept be useful?

Question 20

C24: What are some examples of reproductive isolation mechanisms? (include pre- and post-zygotic isolation mechanisms)

Question 21

C24: Are there any advantages of pre- vs. post-zygotic isolation?

Question 22

C24: Why is allopatric speciation much more common than sympatric speciation?

Question 23

C24: In plants, hybridization & polyploidy can produce new species. How does that cause reproduction isolation? (hint: think about meiosis)

Question 24

C24: What are some examples of hybrid zones?

Question 25

C24: What will happen if reproduction isolation is incomplete when populations come back into contact?

Question 26

C24: How can hybrid zones sometimes lead to reinforcement or fusion?

Question 27

Species concepts (list three)

Question 28

Morphological (species concept)

Question 29

Biological (species concept)

Question 30

Ecological (species concept)

Question 31

Isolation mechanisms (list two)

Question 32

Prezygotic (isolation mechanism)

Question 33

Postzygotic (isolation mechanism)

Question 34

Types of PREZYGOTIC isolation

Question 35

Types of POSTZYGOTIC isolation

Question 36

Lineage

Question 37

Clade

Question 38

Sister species

Question 39

Reproductive isolation

Question 40

Speciation (what is / list two types)

Question 41

Allopatric (speciation)

Question 42

Sympatric (speciation)

Question 43

Polyploidy

Question 44

Hybrid zone

Question 45

Reinforcement

Question 46

Fusion

Question 47

Stability

Question 48

C26: Know how to read and interpret a phylogenetic tree

Question 49

C26: What is the difference between homology and analogy? Give an example of each.

Question 50

C26: Why are homologous characters necessary to understand phylogenetic relationships?

Question 51

C26: What is the principle of Parsimony? How is it used to reconstruct phylogenies?

Question 52

C26: Why do evolutionary biologists focus on shared derived characters (“synapomorphies”) when reconstructing phylogenies?

Question 53

C26: How can you identify ancestral vs derived characters?

Question 54

C26: If phylogenetic trees are hypotheses, how can they be tested?

Question 55

C26: Know the hierarchical levels (ranks) of the Linnaean classification system

Answer 55

Domain > Kingdom > Phylum > Class > Order > Family > Genus > Species

Question 56

C26: Why do we try to have taxonomic groups (families, genera, etc.) correspond to monophyletic clades?

Question 57

Monophyletic group

Answer 57

sometimes called a clade, includes an ancestral taxon and all of its descendants

Question 58

Sister taxa