Evolution Vocabulary

Chapter 19

Evolution

Fossil

Strata

Paleontology

Adaptations

Natural selection

Artificial selection

Homology

Homologous structures

Vestigial structures

Convergent evolution

Analogous structures

Divergent evolution

Biogeography

Continental drift

Pangaea

Endemic

Chapter 20:

Phylogeny

Systematics

Taxonomy

Binomial nomenclature

Genus

Family

Order

Class

Phyla

Kingdom

Domain

Phylogenetic tree

Branch points

Sister taxa

Rooted

Basal taxon

Polytomy

Analogy

Homoplasies

Cladistics

Clades

Monophyletic

Paraphyletic

Polyphyletic

Shared ancestral character

Shared derived character

Outgroup, Ingroup

Maximum parsimony

Molecular clock

Horizontal gene transfer

Chapter 21

Microevolution

Average heterozygosity

Genetic variation

Neutral variation

Mutation

Population

Gene pool

Hardy-Weinberg principle/equilibrium

Genetic drift

Founder effect

Bottleneck effect

Gene flow

Adaptive evolution

Relative fitness

Directional selection

Disruptive selection

Stabilizing selection

Balancing selection

Heterozygote advantage

Frequency-dependent selection

Sexual selection

Sexual dimorphism

Chapter 22

Speciation

Macroevolution

Biological species concept

Species

Reproductive isolation

Hybrid

Prezygotic barriers

Postzygotic barriers

Morphological species concept

Ecological species concept

Phylogenetic species concept

Allopatric speciation

Sympatric speciation

Polyploidy

Hybrid zone

Reinforcement, fusion, stability

Punctuated equilibria

Chapter 23

Radiometric dating

Half-life

Geologic record

Stromatolites

Plate tectonics

Pangea

Cambrian explosion

Mass extinction

Adaptive radiation

Heterochrony

Paedomorphosis

Homeotic genes

Chapter 24

Protobionts

Ribozymes

Endosymbiosis

Serial endosymbiosis

Evolution questions:

Chapter 19:

  1. How does the concept of descent with modification explain both the unity and diversity of life?
  2. Describe how over reproduction and heritable variation relate to evolution by natural selection.
  3. What if?? If you discovered a fossil of an extinct mammal that lived high in the Andes, would you predict that it would more closely resemble present-day mammals from South American jungles or present-day mammals that live high in African mountains? Explain. 
  4. Explain how the following statement is inaccurate: “Anti-HIV drugs have created drug resistance in the virus.” this q!
  5. How does evolution account for (a) the similar mammalian forelimbs with different functions shown in fig 19.16 and (b) the similar lifestyle of the two distantly related mammals shown in fig 19.18
  6. Pick TWO scientists that influenced Darwin and explain their influences.

Chapter 20:

  1. Which level of classification do humans share with leopards? Use figure 20.3
  2. What does the phylogenetic tree in figure 20.4 indicate about the evolutionary relationship of the leopard, badger and wolf?
  3. If new evidence were uncovered indicating that taxon E in figure 20.5 is the sister taxon of a group that consists of taxa D and F, how would this change the phylogeny? Redraw the tree to accommodate this new finding.
  4. Decide whether each of the flowing pairs of structures more likely represents analogy or homology, explain your reasoning. A. a porcupine’s quills and a cactus’s spines. B. A cat’s paw and a human’s hand. C. an owl’s wing and a hornet’s wing.
  5. Suppose that species 1 and species 2 have similar appearances but very divergent gene sequences and that species 2 and species 3 have very different appearances but similar gene sequences. Which pair of species is more likely to be closely related: 1 and 2 or 2 and 3? Explain.
  6. To distinguish a particular clade of mammals within the larger clade that corresponds to call Mammalia, would hair be a useful character? Why or why not?
  7. The most parsimonious tree of evolutionary relationships can be inaccurate. How can this occur?
  8. Explain how comparisons between the proteins of two species can yield data about their evolutionary relationship.
  9. Explain how numerous base changes could occur in DNA yet have no effect on an organisms’ fitness.
  10. Draw the three possible dichotomously branching trees showing evolutionary relationships for the domains Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. Two of these trees have been supported by genetic data. Is it likely that the third tree might also receive such support? Explain your answer
  11. What’s the difference between a cladogram and a phylogenetic tree? Explain.

Chapter 21:

  1. Explain why genetic variation within a population is a prerequisite for evolution.
  2. What factors can produce genetic variation among populations?
  3. Of all the mutations that occur in a population, why do only a small fraction become widespread among the population’s members?
  4. What if? If a population stopped reproduction sexually (but still reproduced asexually), how would its genetic variation be affected over time?
  5. For a locus with two alleles (A and a) in a population at risk from an infectious neurodegenerative disease, 16 people had genotype AA, 93 had Aa, and 12 had aa. Use the H-W equation to determine whether this population appears to be evolving. The previous generation had a frequency of A=.4 a= .6
  6. In what sense is natural selection more “predictable” than genetic drift?
  7. Distinguish genetic drift from gene flow in terms of a. how they occur and b. their implications for future genetic variation in a population
  8. Suppose two plant populations exchange pollen and seeds. In one population, individuals of genotype AA are most common (9,000 AA, 900 Aa, 100 aa) while the opposite is true in the other population (100 AA, 900 Aa 9,000 aa.) If neither allele has a selective advantage, what will happen over time to the allele and genotype frequencies of these populations?
  9. What is the relative fitness of a sterile mule? Explain.
  10. Explain why natural selection is the only evolutionary mechanism that consistently leads to adaptive evolution
  11. Consider a population in which heterozygotes at a certain locus have an extreme phenotype (such as being much larger than homozygotes) that confers a selective advantage. Does such a situation represent directional, disruptive or stabilizing selection? Explain.

Chapter 22:

  1. Which species concept(s) would you apply to both asexual and sexual species? Which would be most useful for identifying species in the field? Explain.
  2. Suppose you are studying two bird species that live in a forest and are not known to interbreed. Once species feeds and mates in the treetops and the other on the ground. But in captivity, the birds can interbreed and produce viable, fertile offspring. What type of reproductive barrier most likely keeps these species separate in nature? Explain.
  3. Explain the difference between allopatric and sympatric speciation and why one is more likely to occur than the other.
  4. Is allopatric speciation more likely to occur on an island close to a mainland or on a more isolated island of the same size? Explain your prediction
  5. What are hybrid zones and why can they be viewed as “natural laboratories” in which to study speciation?
  6. Consider two species that diverged while geographically separated but resumes contact before reproductive isolation was complete. Predict what would happen over time if the two species mated indiscriminately and a. hybrid offspring survived and reproduced more poorly that offspring from intraspecific matings or b. hybrid offspring survived and reproduced as well as offspring from intraspecific matings
  7. Speciation can occur rapidly between diverging populations, yet the length of time between speciation events is often more than a million years. Explain this apparent contradiction.

Chapters 23&24:

  1. If scientists built a protobiont with self-replicating RNA and metabolism under conditions similar to those on early Earth, would this prove that life began as in the experiment? Explain.
  2. Describe an example from the fossil record that shows how life has changed over time
  3. Suppose researchers discover a fossil of an organism that lived 300 million years ago but had mammalian teeth and a mammalian jaw hinge. What inferences might you draw from this fossil about the origin of mammals and the evolution of novel skeletal structures? Explain.
  4. The first appearance of free oxygen in the atmosphere likely triggered a massive wave of extinctions among the prokaryotes of the time. Why?
  5. What evidence supports the hypothesis that mitochondria preceded plastids in the evolution of eukaryotic cells?
  6. What factors promote adaptive radiations?
  7. Explain the consequences of continental drift for life on Earth
  8. Why is it likely that Hox genes have played amajor role in the evolution of novel morphological forms?
  9. How can the Darwinian concept of descent with modification explain the evolution of such complex structures as the vertebrate eye?
  10. The myxoma virus is highly lethal to European rabbits. In a naïve rabbit population (one with no previous exposure to the virus) the virus kills up to 99.8% of infected rabbits. The virus is transmitted between living rabbits by mosquitos. Describe an evolutionary trend (in either the rabbits or the virus) that might occur after a naïve rabbit population first encounters the virus.