Terms to know Flashcards
What is a shared, derived character called?
A synapomorphy monphyletic group.
What is a shared, ancestral character?
A symplesiomorphy paraphyletic group.
What is an independently derived character called?
Analogy polyphyletic group.
What are homologous characters?
Characters that were inherited from ancestors.
What is microevolution?
Small changes in a gene pool that can be observed over small periods of time.
What is macroevolution?
Large evolutionary changes such as the formation of whole taxonomic groups that cannot be observed individually.
What is coevolution?
A reciprocal process where a pair of species evolve in response to eachother.
What is antagonistic coevolution?
When two species may evolve to escape or withstand the negative effects of eachother within a predator-prey or parasite-host relationship.
What is Red-Queen dynamics?
The idea that species need to keep evolving to keep up with their environment and competitors.
Isogamy?
Fusion of two similar-sized gametes.
Anisogamy?
Fusion of two gametes that are dissimilar in size.
Apomixis?
No meiosis - offspring identical to the mother.
Automixis?
Meiosis produces haploid gametes that fuse together. Little genetic diversity from mother, but will be genetically different.
Fisher-Muller?
Sex brings together beneficial mutations. Without sex they would only end up in the same genome if evolution proceeded sequentially.
Muller’s Ratchet?
Asexual lineages accumulate deleterious mutations through time - no way to remove and fitness will decline as mutationds accumulate.
Intersexual selection?
Mate choice - one sex imposing selection on the other.
Intrasexual selection?
Mate competition - competition between individuals of the same species for access to mates.
Hamilton-Zuk hypothesis?
The idea that costly traits (such as bright colouration) may reflect a males overall health.
What is the equation associated with inclusive fitness?
rB - C (r=relatedness, B= benefit to relatives and C = cost to individuals)
Thrifty genotype?
Genotypes that were advantageous in the past are now detrimental.
Thrifty phenotype?
Nutrient-poor fetal environment can alter lifetime physiology.
Thrifty epigenotype?
Epigenetic mechanisms couple fetal nutrition with particular physiology.
What RNA can block translation?
microRNA - non-coding RNA.
Genetic drift?
Changes in allele frequencies due to random sampling effects between generations.
Intermittent drift?
Large fluctuations in population size from one generation to the next.
Harem mating system?
Males compete for a group of females. Males fight males.
Recognition concept?
The idea that a set of organisms recognise eachother as potential mates.
Ecological concept?
Populations form discrete phenetic cluters (niches) as the ecological and evolutionary processes that control how resources are divided up tend to produce those clusters.
Cladistic concept?
SPecies are he sections of lines between the branch points on the tree.
Parapatric speciation?
Populations occupy specific niches so they are separated by ecological factors.
Peripatric speciation?
Speciation due to an isolated peripheral (small) population.
Sibling species?
Species that differ reproductively but not phenetically - mating is prevented due to courtship differences.
Selective sweep?
Adaptive mutations that appear cause nearby nucleotides to stabilise as well.
Extended phenotypes?
For a gene to be adaptive it doesn’t have to affect it’s own phenotype - can create a structure in an organism that enhances it’s fitness.
Orthologs?
Genes related by common descent.
Compression/impression fossils?
Result when organic material is buried in wind or water borne sediment before it completely decomposes.
Permineralization?
Pores of the plant materials, bones and shells are impregnated by mineral matter from the ground, lakes or oceans.
Palynology?
The study of pollen.
Paleopalynology?
The study of fossil pollen.
What is sporopollenin?
An outer coat on pollen.
Casts and moulds?
Originate when remains decay or when skeletons are dissolved after being buried in sediment.
Unaltered remains?
Presevation in ice, amber, bogs and caves.
Fossil?
Any trace left by an organism that lived in the geological past.
Trace fossils?
A dwelling burrow common in shelf marine environments.
