Molecular ecology.2

Question 1

How can genetic variation change in a population without natural selection?

Answer 1

population size and structure

Question 2

What does the outlier represent?

Answer 2

where the fst value is greater than expected by neutral expectations

Question 3

Name the main categories of omics (5)

Answer 3

• genomics
• proteomics
• metabolomics
• phenomics
• transcriptomics

Question 4

What is phenomics?

Answer 4

study of phenotypes, morphological, biochemical and physical traits

Question 5

What are quantitative traits?

Answer 5

phenotypes that vary in degree and can be attributed to polygenic effects

Question 6

What is the coalescene theory?

Answer 6

A model of the effect of genetic drift viewed as a genelogy that considers all pathways of inheritance

Question 7

What is the role of recombination of DNA?

Answer 7

it breaks up the physical co inheritance of DNA variation

Question 8

Where does NO recombination happen?

Answer 8

mitochondrial DNA

Question 9

Define homologue

Answer 9

a character shared by 2 species because it was inherited from a common ancestor

Question 10

Define homoplasy

Answer 10

a character shred by 2 species but is not inherited by shared ancestry, by natural selection instead

Question 11

What is the difference between synapomorphy and apomorphy?

Answer 11

synapomorphy= types of characters shared by common ancestry and between 2 species
apomorphy= characters shared by only species within the tree

Question 12

What are orthologs?

Answer 12

genes shared by a common ancestor

Question 13

What are paralogs?

Answer 13

copies of genes found within the same genome that don’t share a common ancestor

Question 14

What is the difference between convergent and parallel evolution?

Answer 14

convergent = where traits are produced by different genes or developmental pathways
parallel = traits are produced by same genes or developmental pathways

Question 15

Name 4 types of how homoplasy can be created

Answer 15

1. genes evolve independently of species
2. convergent evolution
3. parallel evolution
4. evolutionary reversals

Question 16

Name the 3 components of phylogenetic reconstruction

Answer 16

cladistics
phenetics
statistics

Question 17

What is cladistics?

Answer 17

a method of classification of organisms that aims to identify shared characteristics which have derived from a common ancestor of a group of species during evolution,

Question 18

What is phenetics?

Answer 18

a method of classification of organisms based on their overall similarity and morphology

Question 19

How does statistics classify organisms?

Answer 19

single tree explains evolution in terms of probability given the data

Question 20

What does parsimony mean?

Answer 20

we are minimising the number of evolutionary steps it takes to explain the evolutionary relationship between species

Question 21

Define pleisomorphy

Answer 21

characters that are ancestral shared by 2 or more taxa

Question 22

Define autapomorphy

Answer 22

a derived trait that is not shared with any other taxa, unique to teh species but not grouping to any other species

Question 23

Name the 2 models that can be created for phylogenetic reconstruction by statistics

Answer 23

• juke cantor= assumes any transitions nucleotides in sequences have equal probability
• kimura= transition have a substitution rate which is different from the transversions

Question 24

Define adaptive radiation

Answer 24

the process by which organisms diversify rapidly from ancestral species into new forms

Question 25

What is the ectomorph concept by Ernest Williams in 1972?

Answer 25

‘species with teh same structural habitat/niche similar in morphology but not necessarily close phyletically’

Question 26

Name the 4 factors which make up adaptive radiation

Answer 26

1. common ancestry
2. strong link between environments and specific traits
3. fitness advantage
4. rapid rise of new species

Question 27

Where can adaptive radiation be clearly seen?

Answer 27

the Hawaii islands, emerged as hotspots, crating new habitats out of no where