Origin of Species

Question 1

True or False
Survival of the fittest’ means survival of the strongest.

Answer 1

False
Genes from the individuals that leave the most offspring will survive

Survival of the most reproductively fit (not strongest)

Question 2

True or False
Evolution is not random.

Answer 2

True
Genetic variability in populations has a random aspect to it
because it is created by mutations. Mutations are random. The force
that drives evolution is natural selection and it is not random.

Question 3

True or False
Are mutations favourable and unfavourable.

Answer 3

True
Most mutations are unfavourable or neutral. But some
mutations confer favourable phenotypes. Genetic variability within a population is also favourable because it allows a population to respond
to environmental change.

Question 4

True or False
Every feature can be explained as an adaptation.

Answer 4

False
Features can be 1) the result of history (e.g. the amino acid code),
2) just a by-product (e.g. the colour of blood), or 3) an outdated
adaptation (e.g. relationship with extinct organism)

Question 5

How do complex traits evolve? (2)

Answer 5

1. Advantageous Intermediates
2. Exaptation

Question 6

Intermediate step might be advantageous in
itself

Answer 6

Advantageous Intermediates

Question 7

Process by which features acquire
functions for which they were not originally adapted or selected

Structure originally evolves for one purpose and
then evolve further for another

Answer 7

Exaptation

Question 8

Bird feathers are considered an exaptation ______ adaptation _______

Answer 8

1. for flight
2. for thermoregulation

Question 9

Trait that evolved by natural selection and improves an organism’s ability to survive and leave descendants

Answer 9

Adaptation

Question 10

A trait that has been co-opted for a use other than the one for which it originated
through natural selection
Utility of a structure for a biological role that was not part of the structure’s original
evolutionary history

Answer 10

Exaptation

Question 11

Modern Synthesis = _____________ + _____________

Answer 11

1. Microevolution
2. Macroevolution

Question 12

Pertains to evolutionary changes in frequencies of variant forms of genes within populations

Answer 12

Microevolution

Question 13

Pertains to evolution on a long timescale.
Origins of new structures, species, mass extinctions etc…

Answer 13

Macroevolution

Question 14

Patterns in macroevolution (3)

Answer 14

• Stasis
• Lineage splitting
• Extinction

Question 15

How does evolution produces new species?

Answer 15

Splitting and transforming older ones

Question 16

Two Types of Speciation

Answer 16

Allopatric and Sympatric

Question 17

Ancestral population geographically divided

Isolated subpopulations evolve reproductive barriers between them

Answer 17

Allopatric Speciation

Question 18

Two types of allopatric speciation

Answer 18

Vacariant Speciation and Founder effect

Question 19

Climate or geology causes populations to fragment
Fragments of the ancestral population are left intact
Fragmentation can occur in several species simultaneously

Answer 19

Vacariant Speciation

Question 20

Occurs when a small number of individuals disperse to a distant place and form
new populations

Answer 20

Founder effect

Question 21

Diverging lineages co-occupy a geographic area

Different individuals within a species become specialized for occupying different components of the
environment

Answer 21

Sympatric speciation

Question 22

Less common type of speciation between Sympatric and Allopatric Speciation?

Answer 22

Sympatric speciation

Question 23

What type of speciation is this?

Answer 23

Founder Effect

Question 24

What type of speciation is this?

Answer 24

Sympatric Speciation

Question 25

What is a species?

Answer 25

No consensus, but most biologists would agree…
* Individuals descend from a common ancestral population
* Reproductive compatibility
* Genotypic and phenotypic cohesion

Question 26

Three types of Biological Species Concept

Answer 26

Biological Species Concept
Morphological Species Concept
Ecological Species Concept

Question 27

Characterizes species by their ability to interbreed to produce fertile offspring

Answer 27

Biological Species Concept

Question 28

Characterizes species
by body shape and other morphological features

Answer 28

Morphological Species Concept

Question 29

Characterizes species in terms of its ecological niche

Answer 29

Ecological Species Concept

Question 30

True or False:
Horse, Donkey and Mule are disctinct species

Answer 30

False
Mule is not a species but a hybrid

Question 31

True or False
Not all hybrids are infertile

Answer 31

True

Question 32

Offspring produced by mating of individuals from two different species

Answer 32

Interspecific hybrid

Question 33

True or False
Interspecific hybrids can sometimes be fertile and mate
with another hybrid or either of their parental species

Answer 33

True