Week 6 Flashcards
Def: Adaptive Radiations
Instances of rapid diversification of a lineage accompanied by ecological diversification
What triggers adaptive radiations
biological innovation or ecological opportunity
Biological Innovation
The application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing scientific needs
Cichild fish adaptive radiations
have functionally decoupled set of jaws- oral and pharyngeal, frees up jaws to independently collect and process food - allows exploitation of new niches
Biological innovation as a trigger
the evolution of many other key innovations allow ancestors to rapidly diversify, live in new areas, exploit new food sources, and move in new ways
Background rate of extinction
refers to the level of extinction during periods when mass extinctions are no occuring
Mass extinctions
periods with extreme levels of biodiversity loss
-cause extinction randomly with respect to individuals fitness
When do background extinctions typically occur
when normal environmental change, emerging diseases or competition reduces certain populations to zero
What do mass extinctions occur from?
extraordinary, sudden and temporary changes in the environment
Big Five mass extinctions
Ordovician: 50% of animal families - 500 mill years
Devonian: 30% of animal families - 345 mill years
Permian: 50% of animal families including over 95% of marine species - 250 mill years
Triassic: 35% of animal families including many reptiles and marine - 180 mill years
Cretaceous: reptiles (dinos) - 65 mill years
The sixth extinction has begun: large mammals and birds
What killed the dinosaurs
the impact hypothesis proposes that a meteorite struck earth 65 mya and caused extinction of an estimated 60-80% of multicellular species alive
Evidence for the impact hypothesis
iridium in the gulf of Mexico region, shocked quartz, microtekities and crater
Differential survival
Some evolutionary lineages are better able to survive mass extinction events than others
What occurred after the dinosaurs went extinct
ecological opportunity was presented to mammals in the tertiary period starting the age of the mammals
6th mass extinction
- global diversity has undergone a progressive decline over the last 30,000 years
-current rate of extinction in 100-1000 times background extinction rate
-most human colonization is associated with environmental degradation
-most extinctions are undocumented
ancient extinction
the extinction of large body marsupials that occurred when humans arrived in Australia
Historical extinction
Sailors killed flightless dodo birds who originally evolved with no predictors by clubbing them with sticks
Island fauna extinction
brown tree snack introduced and all flightless bird fauna
Extinction of once abundant fauna
in Hamilton there were several pigeons that would block the sun, eaten by people
Cichlid fish Lake Victoria
Nile perch were introduced from lake albert into lake Victoria for food source - eat other fish and themselves
-caused large mass extinction of contemporary vertebrates in lake Victoria including cichlids
- they ate algae and now algae bloom
-Consequences: more plant material settles on the bottom of the lake before decomposing, decreases oxygen in water
-required to be dried = deforestation
Life’s timeline
Precambrian supereon:
-hadean eon
-archaean Eon
-proterozoic eon
Post Cambrian explostion:
-phanerozoic eon: includes paleozoic era, mesozoic era (age of reptiles) and cenozoic era (age of mammals)
What is an animal
eukaryotic and multicellular
different tissue types
gut with specialized cells
motile at some point in their lives
heterotrophic (ingest other organisms)
blastula stage during development
usually sexually reproduce
What caused the cambrian explosion
Environmental change: increased oxygen concentration, thickness of ozone layer, flooding of continental shelves, increased calcium in oceans
Ecosystem engineering: animals changed their environment, opening up novel ecological niches
Developmental/ morphological innovations: possible role of developmental genes
What is the role of Hox genes
encodes protiens that bind to DNA to influence expression of other genes
What do Hox genes influence and where are they located
Occur in groups along one chromosome or a set of chromosomes
generally in the same order
different hox genes are expressed embryonically in specific regions and trigger development of specific body parts
responsible for defining what each section of the body is and where other genes orchestrate what structures form in the part of the body
Evolutionary Development (Evo-devo)
Transcription factors can acts as switches whereas others set up gradients that trigger biological cascades