Adaptation 1

Question 1

What is a phylum?

Answer 1

Largest generally accepted groupings of organisms with certain evolutionary traits

Question 2

Taxonomic categories

Answer 2

e.g. Humans

Domain:           Eukarya
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
(Suborder):	Haplorhini
(Infraorder):	Simiiformes
Family:	Hominidae
(Tribe):	Hominini
Genus:	Homo
Species:  Homo sapiens

Question 3

Difference between homology and homoplasy

Answer 3

• Homology: Structure derived from a recent common ancestor e.g. wing bones in birds and bats
• Homoplasy: superficially homologous but independently acquired e.g. body of sharks and dolphins

Question 4

difference between plesiomorphic and synapomorphic

draw taxonomic diagram

Answer 4

• Plesiomorphic: Shared ancestral characters, distant common ancestor
• Synapomorphic: Shared derived characters, more recent common ancestor

Question 5

monophyletic, paraphyletic and polyphyletic differences

draw taxonomic diagram

Answer 5

Monophyletic - All descendants of most recent common ancestor, true evolutionary relationship e.g. Mammals

Paraphyletic - Common ancestor but not all descendants
Class Reptilia does not include birds even though they share a recent common ancestor
Avoided by cladistic systematists

Polyphyletic - Does not share recent common ancestors
Protista
Shares homoplastic features
Misrepresents evolutionary relationships

Question 6

Linnaeus, Cuvier, Lyell, Lamarck, Malthus, and Wallace

Contributions to theory of evolution

Answer 6

Linnaeus (classification) - Founder of Taxonomy, thought species had specific adaptations due to Gods design

Cuvier (palaeontology) - Study of fossils, found in old/younger stratum (layers of rock), also advocated ‘catastrophism’ (each strata represented a catastrophe)

Lyell (uniformitarianism) - changes in earths surface
through slow continuous actions -> mechanisms of change are constant over time

Lamark hypothesized that species evolve through use and disuse of body parts and the inheritance of acquired characteristics (e.g. giraffe stretching neck to feed on tall trees passing it to young)

Malthus - Observed human population could increase faster than food and resources

Wallace - Developed a similar theory and caused Darwin to quickly finish ‘the Origin of species’

Question 7

Descent with modification means?

Answer 7

the view that all organisms are related through descent from an ancestor that lived in the remote past

Question 8

Darwins 4 observations and 2 inferences

Answer 8

Observations
#1: Individuals in a population often vary greatly in their traits
#2: Traits are inherited from parents to offspring
#3: All species are capable of producing more offspring than the environment can support
#4: Owing to lack of food or other resources, many of these offspring do not survive

Inferences
#1: Individuals with characteristic advantages to survival are more likely to survive and reproduce, leaving more offspring than others
#2: This unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce will lead to the accumulation of favorable traits in the population over generations