Unit 1 - Animal Behavior & Evolution Flashcards
What are the differences between abiotic and biotic factors? How do abiotic fatcors effect the enviroment?
Abiotic factors are the nonliving chemical and physical componants (sunlight, soil water, ect). Yet biotic factors are all the living components of an environment. Abiotic factors affect the enviroment because they are the things sun and temperture that affect how the biotic aspects grow and live.
How do adaptations relate to evolution and natural selection?
Adaptations are heritable characteristics that enhance organisms ability to survive and reproduce in specific enviroments. Adaptations relate to evolution because adaptations increase the genetic variation that exsists amoung populations and then that leads to natural selection because the indiviuals with the helpful adaptations will have increased fitness and then pass down their traits.
What is adaptive radiation?
Occurs when many new species arise from a single common ancestor. It typically occurs when a few organisms make their way to new, distinct area or when environmental changes cause numerous extinctions, opening up ecological niches for the survivors.
What is the structure of an amino acid? Explain the process to make a protein.
Amino acids are the monomer of proteins. They are made of a central carbon bonded to a carboxyl group, an amino group, a hydrogen atom, and a r group. To make a protein the DNA is transcribed and translated by RNA theRNA goes to a ribosome where it makes chains of amino acids. There is the primary structure of the amino acids joining. The secondary structure is the 2d shape. The tertiary structure when it makes a globular shape. The quaternary structure is the final product.
Why are phospholipids amphipathic?
Amphipathic means that the molecule has both a hydrophobic and hydrophillic regions. Phospholipids exist in this fashion because they make up the bilayer of the membrane and so it has to be amphipathic in order to allow some things in and keep somethings out.
How do analogous structure differ from homologous structures?
Analogous structures are likeness and it’s more similar solutions to similar situations. They do not indicate any evolution but more convergent evolution. Homologous structures indicate a common ancestor.
How can biological clocks change based on the organism?
Biological clocks are not set in their ways because while most do run on cycles of light and dark in some cases. In order to maintain the homeostatis of the organism the clock must change in order to make sure that they can survive. This can happen in places when its necessary to get off of that timing.
How can your biological rhythms help to maintain homeostatis?
Your biological rhythms are daily rhythms that affect things like sleep, temperture change, alertness, ect. This things run can run on a 24 hour circadian rhythms. They help to maintain homeostatis because they make sure that we know when we are cold or hot and what to do with those signals.
what are the main functions of carbohydrates?
The two main functions are energy storage and structural support. The carbohydrates used for storage are starch and glycogen. For structure the main are cellulose found in cell walls and chitin which provides the hard shell like substances.
Why is carbon such an important life molecule?
it have 4 valence electrons which means that it can form up to 4 covalent bonds. It’s able to form single,double, or triple bonds. It’s able to form large molecules and these molecules can be chains, ring shaped, or branched.
How can cladograms help to organize organisms relatedness?
Cladograms depots patterns of shared characteristics among taxa and begins to form a phylogenic tree. They helps to organize relatedness because with a cladograms we can look at the characteristics and then see what animals had them and see how they relate.
What is dehydration reaction (what does water do?)? Give an example
This reaction creates polymers from monomers. Two monomers are joined by removing one molecule of water. Ex: C6H12O6 + C6H12O6 reacts to form H22O11 + H2O
what are molecular clocks?
They are methods used to measure the absolute time of evolutionary change based on the observation that some genes and other regions of the genome appear to evolve at constant rates.
How can shared derived characteristics show evolutionary history?
Shared derived characteristics are characters that originated in a common ancestor within a taxon. They show evolutionary history because with characteristics that are present in differnent organisms in a tax we can see some relatedness and see how things were passed down.
How do mutations provide a source of variation?
mutations are the only source of new genes and new alleles. So when a mutation occurs they bring in new genes and offer either helpful adaptations that will become selected for or they with be hurtful and become eradicated.
Are the molecular “gears” of the circadian clock internal or a daily response to some subtle but pervasive environment cycle? Explain.
The molecular “gears” of the circadian clock really are internal. Organisms continue their rythms even when placed in deep mine shafts of when orbited in satellites, conditions that alter these subtle geophysical periodities. However, daily signals from the environment can set the circadian clock to a period of 24 hours. If an organism is kept in a constant environment, its circadian rythms deviate from a 24 hours period. These free running periods vary from about 21 to 27 hours, this deviation doesn’t mean that biological clocks drift erratically.
When is coevolution is likely to happen? What represents a classic case of coevolution?
Coevolution is likely to happen when different species have close ecological interactions with one another. These ecological relationships include predator/prey and parasite/host, competitive species, and mutualistic species. Plants and insects represent a classic case of coevolution, which is usally mutualistic. Many plants and their pollinators are very reliant on one another and their relationships are very exclusive.
Explain the process of condensation in regard to the water cycle.
Condensation is the change of water from its gaseous form (water vapor) into liquid water. Condensation occurs in the atmosphere when warm air rises, cools and looses its capacity to hold water vapor. Then, excess water vapor condenses to form cloud droplets. Clouds are important because they can produce precipitation, which is the primary route for water to return to the Earth’s surface in the water cycle. Condensation is the opposite of evaporation.
How is convergent evolution related to analogous structures?
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in different lineages. In these cases, when species share features because of convergent evolution the resemblance is said to be analogous. Analogous features share similar function but not common ancestory.
How do courtship rituals relate to speciation?
Courtships rituals that attract mates and other behaviors unique to a species are effective reproductive barriers, even between closely related species. Such behavioral rituals enable mate recognition, a way to identify potential mates of the same species, causing behavioral isolation. The formation of new species hinges on reproductive isolation or the existence of biological barriers taht impede members of two species from interbreeding and producing viable, fertile offspring. Such barriers block gene flow between species and limit the formation of hybrids, offspring that result from an interspecific mating.
