Evolutionary Biology - Exam 1 |77 Questions
and answers
Microevolution - -How do populations change over time?
[Change in allele frequencies in a population over generations.]
-Macroevolution - -How do new species come into being?
[evolution on a large scale extending over geologic era and resulting in the formation of
new taxonomic groups]
-Charles Darwin - -natural selection; descent with modification. mechanism introduced to
explain evolution. Origin of Species (1859)
-4 Postulates of Darwin - -1. Individuals within a species are variable
(VARIATION)
2. Some of these variations are passed onto
offspring (HERITABILITY)
3. In every generation, more offspring are
produced than can survive
4. Survival and reproduction are not random:
individuals that survive and reproduce are
those with the most favorable variations
(SELECTION)
-Modern Synthesis - -1930-1940's. a consolidation of the results of various lines of
investigation from the 1920s through the 1950s that supported and reconciled the
Darwinian theory of evolution and the Mendelian laws of inheritance in terms of natural
selection acting on genetic variation
-Evolution - --descent with modification
-change in allele frequencies in a population over generations/time; microevolution
-divergence of 2 or more species from one species; macroevolution
-Aristotle's "Great Chain of Being" - -lifeforms are created in their current form by God.
How much spirit is in the organism (a lot of spirit = closer to God; Hierarchical
organization)
-Pre-Darwinian View - -Static. God created the world. Trying to understand the divine
plan.
-Carolus Linnaeus - -(1707-1778)
species are ideal "types" that were unchanged and unchangeable
created system of naming organisms (binomial species name)
went from long Latin names to two Latin names
, "God creates, Linnaeus names"
called the "type specimen" - one thing that describes all the diversity of that particular
species
-Georges-Louis Leclerc - -(1707-1778)
common ancestry of organisms based on morphological similarities
Homology
-Other Proposed Hypotheses of Evolution - -Biblical book of genesis
Native American creation
Hindu Creation
Intelligent Design
Extraterrestrial origin - came from comets
All are reasonable, but NOT testable
-Intelligent Design (ID) - -the idea that life is so complex it could only have been created by
intelligent design.
proposed in last 20 years
some microevolution and some macroevolution does occur
However, some biological systems could not evolve gradually by natural selection b/c they
are irreducibly complex (Not created necessarily by God; no religious affiliation)
A theory involving something supernatural would not replace Evolution as a scientific
theory b/c it's not scientific
-Lamarck - -inheritance of acquired characteristics
unconscious striving upward (directed)
Giraffe example
contradicted → exceptions prove the rule (ex: horizontal gene transfer in bacteria);
however, not usually the case (acquired traits are not passed down to offspring)
-Variation in natural populations - -Raw Material of Evolution
• Selection can act on variation
• Selection, drift and mating system
can eliminate variation
• Mutation, migration, and mating
system can increase variation
-2 Types of Variation - -Vg = genotypic variation (not same as genetic variation)
Vp = phenotypic variation
-Phenotypic Variation (Vp) - --selection
-discrete (land snail shell color/pattern), (Blood groups)
-quantitative variation (follows some type of statistical distribution)
-meristic trait (in between discrete and continuous) ex: number of vertebrae in snake
and answers
Microevolution - -How do populations change over time?
[Change in allele frequencies in a population over generations.]
-Macroevolution - -How do new species come into being?
[evolution on a large scale extending over geologic era and resulting in the formation of
new taxonomic groups]
-Charles Darwin - -natural selection; descent with modification. mechanism introduced to
explain evolution. Origin of Species (1859)
-4 Postulates of Darwin - -1. Individuals within a species are variable
(VARIATION)
2. Some of these variations are passed onto
offspring (HERITABILITY)
3. In every generation, more offspring are
produced than can survive
4. Survival and reproduction are not random:
individuals that survive and reproduce are
those with the most favorable variations
(SELECTION)
-Modern Synthesis - -1930-1940's. a consolidation of the results of various lines of
investigation from the 1920s through the 1950s that supported and reconciled the
Darwinian theory of evolution and the Mendelian laws of inheritance in terms of natural
selection acting on genetic variation
-Evolution - --descent with modification
-change in allele frequencies in a population over generations/time; microevolution
-divergence of 2 or more species from one species; macroevolution
-Aristotle's "Great Chain of Being" - -lifeforms are created in their current form by God.
How much spirit is in the organism (a lot of spirit = closer to God; Hierarchical
organization)
-Pre-Darwinian View - -Static. God created the world. Trying to understand the divine
plan.
-Carolus Linnaeus - -(1707-1778)
species are ideal "types" that were unchanged and unchangeable
created system of naming organisms (binomial species name)
went from long Latin names to two Latin names
, "God creates, Linnaeus names"
called the "type specimen" - one thing that describes all the diversity of that particular
species
-Georges-Louis Leclerc - -(1707-1778)
common ancestry of organisms based on morphological similarities
Homology
-Other Proposed Hypotheses of Evolution - -Biblical book of genesis
Native American creation
Hindu Creation
Intelligent Design
Extraterrestrial origin - came from comets
All are reasonable, but NOT testable
-Intelligent Design (ID) - -the idea that life is so complex it could only have been created by
intelligent design.
proposed in last 20 years
some microevolution and some macroevolution does occur
However, some biological systems could not evolve gradually by natural selection b/c they
are irreducibly complex (Not created necessarily by God; no religious affiliation)
A theory involving something supernatural would not replace Evolution as a scientific
theory b/c it's not scientific
-Lamarck - -inheritance of acquired characteristics
unconscious striving upward (directed)
Giraffe example
contradicted → exceptions prove the rule (ex: horizontal gene transfer in bacteria);
however, not usually the case (acquired traits are not passed down to offspring)
-Variation in natural populations - -Raw Material of Evolution
• Selection can act on variation
• Selection, drift and mating system
can eliminate variation
• Mutation, migration, and mating
system can increase variation
-2 Types of Variation - -Vg = genotypic variation (not same as genetic variation)
Vp = phenotypic variation
-Phenotypic Variation (Vp) - --selection
-discrete (land snail shell color/pattern), (Blood groups)
-quantitative variation (follows some type of statistical distribution)
-meristic trait (in between discrete and continuous) ex: number of vertebrae in snake
