BLG 144 UPDATED EVALUATION EXAMS TEST
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Lamark's theory of "change through time" and "inheritance of acquired characters" -
✔✔proposed a theory of evolution that species are not static but change through time
-always producing larger and more complex or "BETTER" species
-individual's phenotype changes as challenges in the environment get passed on to the
offspring (ex. giraffe have begin to have long necks for eating higher trees and now
offspring has long necks)
✔✔Darwin's theory of natural selection - ✔✔-species are not static, they change
through time
✔✔descent with modification - ✔✔-Darwin proposed that species in the past are
ancestors of species existing today
1. species change through time
2. species are related by common ancestry.
✔✔how old is the earth - ✔✔around 3.4-3.6 billion years ago, life was formed
earth per se is about 4.6 billion years old
✔✔transitional feature - ✔✔trait in a fossil that is intermediate between older and
younger species
, ex. aquatic animals with fins transition to terresterial animals with limbs
✔✔fossil - ✔✔any trace of an organism that lived in the past
✔✔fossil record - ✔✔all fossils found and recorded
-indicates that over 99% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct
✔✔geological time scale - ✔✔sequence of named intervals called eons, periods, eras,
that represent major events in earth's history
✔✔tetrapods - ✔✔4-fotted
✔✔vestigial traits - ✔✔reduced or incompletely developed structure with no function or
structures in closely related species
ex. tailbone in humans
-evidence that species have changed through time
✔✔homology - ✔✔study of likeness
-examining striking similarities among certain organisms that both inherited the trait from
a common ancestor
✔✔genetic homology - ✔✔occurs in DNA sequences
ex. gene sequences in two different organisms are almost completely identical
✔✔Developmental homology - ✔✔recognized in embryos (development)
-similarity in structures within embryo that either continue to develop until birth or grow
to become another functional trait
✔✔structural homology - ✔✔similarity in adult morphology or form
ex. limbs of vertebrates;same structure, different function (grasping for humans, digging
for moles, etc)
✔✔how do the three levels of homology interact - ✔✔genetic homology causes the
developmental homologies observed in embryos, which lead to structural homologies
recognized in adults
✔✔darwin's 4 postulates - ✔✔1.individual organisms that make up a population vary in
traits they possess
2. some of the trait differences are heritable;passed on to their offspring genetically
3. many more offspring are produced than can possibly survive
4. individuals that survive best and produce more offspring is not random; those with
certain heritable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce
✔✔fitness - ✔✔ability for an organism to produce surviving offspring
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Lamark's theory of "change through time" and "inheritance of acquired characters" -
✔✔proposed a theory of evolution that species are not static but change through time
-always producing larger and more complex or "BETTER" species
-individual's phenotype changes as challenges in the environment get passed on to the
offspring (ex. giraffe have begin to have long necks for eating higher trees and now
offspring has long necks)
✔✔Darwin's theory of natural selection - ✔✔-species are not static, they change
through time
✔✔descent with modification - ✔✔-Darwin proposed that species in the past are
ancestors of species existing today
1. species change through time
2. species are related by common ancestry.
✔✔how old is the earth - ✔✔around 3.4-3.6 billion years ago, life was formed
earth per se is about 4.6 billion years old
✔✔transitional feature - ✔✔trait in a fossil that is intermediate between older and
younger species
, ex. aquatic animals with fins transition to terresterial animals with limbs
✔✔fossil - ✔✔any trace of an organism that lived in the past
✔✔fossil record - ✔✔all fossils found and recorded
-indicates that over 99% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct
✔✔geological time scale - ✔✔sequence of named intervals called eons, periods, eras,
that represent major events in earth's history
✔✔tetrapods - ✔✔4-fotted
✔✔vestigial traits - ✔✔reduced or incompletely developed structure with no function or
structures in closely related species
ex. tailbone in humans
-evidence that species have changed through time
✔✔homology - ✔✔study of likeness
-examining striking similarities among certain organisms that both inherited the trait from
a common ancestor
✔✔genetic homology - ✔✔occurs in DNA sequences
ex. gene sequences in two different organisms are almost completely identical
✔✔Developmental homology - ✔✔recognized in embryos (development)
-similarity in structures within embryo that either continue to develop until birth or grow
to become another functional trait
✔✔structural homology - ✔✔similarity in adult morphology or form
ex. limbs of vertebrates;same structure, different function (grasping for humans, digging
for moles, etc)
✔✔how do the three levels of homology interact - ✔✔genetic homology causes the
developmental homologies observed in embryos, which lead to structural homologies
recognized in adults
✔✔darwin's 4 postulates - ✔✔1.individual organisms that make up a population vary in
traits they possess
2. some of the trait differences are heritable;passed on to their offspring genetically
3. many more offspring are produced than can possibly survive
4. individuals that survive best and produce more offspring is not random; those with
certain heritable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce
✔✔fitness - ✔✔ability for an organism to produce surviving offspring
