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Biology > BIOSCI 101 Evolution Short Answers > Flashcards

BIOSCI 101 Evolution Short Answers Flashcards

1
Q

What is Evolution?

A

Change in biological form over time.

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2
Q

What is Adaptation?

A

The fit between an organism and the environment.

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3
Q

What is the Idea of Unity and Diversity?

A

Organisms and species have many shared characteristics but at the same time there is rich diversity.

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4
Q

What is the Scala Naturae?

A

Orders species from simple to complex.

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5
Q

What is Teleology?

A

Each species has a particular purpose.

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6
Q

What is Catatrophism?

A

The idea that major changes in the Earth’s crust are the result of catastrophic events rather than from gradual processes of change.

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7
Q

How does Methicillin Work in Drug-Resistant Bacteria?

A

By deactivating a protein that bacteria use to synthesise their cell wall.

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8
Q

How are most MRSA Infections caused?

A

By strains like USA300.

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9
Q

What is MRSA so Lethal?

A

Resistant to multiple antibiotics and highly contagious, this strain can cause lethal infections of the skin, lungs and blood.

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10
Q

What is Macroevolution?

A

Observations of the evolutionary difference among species.

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11
Q

What is Homology?

A

Similarity resulting from common ancestry.

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12
Q

Which Characteristics can Homology be seen in?

A

Morphological, genetic or behavioural characteristics.

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13
Q

What is a Vestigial Structure?

A

Functionless or rudimentary version of a body part that has an important function in other closely related species.

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14
Q

What is the Fossil Record?

A

Documents the pattern of evolution; shows difference between past and present organisms.

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15
Q

What are Cetaceans?

A

A mammalian order that includes whales dolphins and porpoises.

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16
Q

What is Biogeography?

A

The scientific study of the geographical distribution of species.

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17
Q

What is Blending Inheritance?

A

Suggests that the genetic material contributed by each parent mixes.

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18
Q

What does Blending Inheritance Predict?

A

Over generations a freely mating population will give rise to a uniform population of individuals.

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19
Q

What is Evolution?

A

Changes in allele frequencies in a population.

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20
Q

What is a Population?

A

A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and interbreed.

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21
Q

What is a Gene Pool?

A

The sum of all the alleles of all genes of all individuals in the population.

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22
Q

What is a Fixed Allele?

A

Where one allele exists at a particular locus or gene in a population.

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23
Q

What is the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium?

A

A non-changing population.

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24
Q

What does the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium allow us to calculate?

A

The expected genotype frequencies given the observed allele frequencies.

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25
Q

What are the 2 Hardy-Weinberg Equations?

A

p2 + 2pa +q2 = 1

p + q = 1

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26
Q

What are the 5 Conditions for Hardy-Weinberg?

A

No mutations, mating occurs at random, no natural selection, extremely large population size, no gene flow.

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27
Q

Why must there be No Mutations for Hardy-Weinberg?

A

The gene pool is modified if mutations change alleles.

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28
Q

Why must there be Random Mating for Hardy-Weinberg?

A

If individuals mate with a subset of the population, genotype frequencies change.

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29
Q

Why must there be No Natural Selection for Hardy-Weinberg?

A

Differences in survival and reproduction of individuals with different genotypes can alter allele frequencies.

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30
Q

Why must there be a Large Population Size for Hardy-Weinberg?

A

Smaller populations are more likely for allele frequencies to fluctuate by change.

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31
Q

Why must there be No Gene Flow for Hardy-Weinberg?

A

Movement of individuals can alter allele frequencies.

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32
Q

Where does Most Gene Variation Occur?

A

In the introns.

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33
Q

What is a Mutation?

A

A change in an organism’s DNA.

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34
Q

What is the Effect of a new Germline Mutation?

A

Immediate change in the gene pool by creating a new allele.

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35
Q

Which Mutations are Passed on to Progeny?

A

Germinal mutations are, somatic mutations are not.

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36
Q

What is the Cause of Sickle-Cell Disease?

A

The substitution of a single amino acid in the haemoglobin protein of red blood cells.

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37
Q

What kind of Mutation Causes Sickle-Cell Disease?

A

A point mutation.

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38
Q

How is the Function Altered in Sickle-Cell Disease?

A

Proteins aggregate into a fibre, reducing oxygen carrying capacity - as opposed to being separate.

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39
Q

What happens during Crossing Over?

A

Shuffles genes within a chromosome, individuals carrying genes derived from two different parents.

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40
Q

What is Independent Assortment?

A

Each pair of alleles or chromosome pair assort independently during gamete formation.

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41
Q

What is Random Fertilisation?

A

At fertilisation any male gamete can fuse with any other female gamete.

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42
Q

Why is Incest with your Cousins Dangerous?

A

More likely to produce homozygous genotypes for otherwise rare autosomal recessive genes.

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43
Q

What is Genetic Drift?

A

Change in allele frequencies as a result of chance events.

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44
Q

When does Founder Effect Occur?

A

When a small population branches off from a larger one, doesn’t have all the alleles present.

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45
Q

When do Population Bottlenecks Occur?

A

When a population is drastically reduced in numbers, possibly loss alleles.

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46
Q

What are the 4 Impacts Genetic Drift can have?

A

Allele frequencies can change randomly, loss of genetic variation, harmful alleles are fixed, significant in small populations.

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47
Q

What is Gene Flow?

A

Movement of alleles into or out of a population due to the movement of individuals or their gametes.

48
Q

What can happen if Gene Flow is Substantial enough?

A

Two populations can combine into a single common gene pool.

49
Q

What is Darwinian Fitness?

A

Refers to the ability to survive and reproduce.

50
Q

What is Absolute Fitness?

A

W - A measure of the total number of offspring an individual produces.

51
Q

What is Relative Fitness?

A

w - The contribution of an individual to the gene pool as compared with other individuals.

52
Q

What is the Relative Fitness Calculation?

A

Absolute fitness divided by the highest absolute fitness.

53
Q

What are the 3 Types of Natural Selection?

A

Directional, disruptive, stabilising.

54
Q

When does Directional Selection Occur?

A

When one of the extremes is favoured, driving the population in a particular direction.

55
Q

When does Disruptive Selection Occur?

A

When the extreme phenotypes are selected at the expense of intermediate forms.

56
Q

What is Stabilising Selection?

A

Acts against both extreme phenotypes and favours intermediates.

57
Q

What are the 2 Types of Sexual Selection?

A

Intrasexual selection, intersexual selection.

58
Q

What is Intrasexual Selection?

A

Individuals of the same sex compete directly.

59
Q

What is Intersexual Selection?

A

Mate choice - occurs between different sexes (often females selecting males).

60
Q

What is Heterozygote Advantage?

A

Where individuals that are heterozygous have a greater fitness than either homozygote.

61
Q

What is Frequency-Dependent Selection?

A

Where the fitness of a phenotype depends on how common it is in a population.

62
Q

What are the Historical Traits that Limit Evolution?

A

Existing structures must adapt to new situations.

63
Q

Which parts of Evolutionary Change is not Adaptive?

A

Genetic drift etc.

64
Q

What are Adaptations?

A

Characteristics or traits that have evolved by natural selection for their current function.

65
Q

What are Exaptations?

A

The complement of adaptations, as they are traits that have been co-opted or enlisted for a new use (eg: feathers).

66
Q

How does the Biological Species Concept define Species?

A

As a group of populations whose members can interbreed and produce viable offspring but do not interbreed with members of other species.

67
Q

When does Reproductive Isolation Occur?

A

As a result of biological factors (barriers) that impede two species from interbreeding.

68
Q

Does the Biological Species Concept apply to Prokaryotic Organisms?

A

No.

69
Q

What are the 4 Other Species Concepts?

A

Morphological, ecological, phylogenetic, specific mate recognition.

70
Q

What is the Morphological Species Concept?

A

Distinguishes species by body shape and size.

71
Q

What is the Ecological Species Concept?

A

Defines a species in terms of its ecological niche.

72
Q

What is the Phylogenetic Species Concept?

A

Defines a species as the smallest group of individuals that share a common ancestor.

73
Q

What is the Specific Mate Recognition Species Concept?

A

Defines a species as a group of organisms that share a common mate recognition system.

74
Q

What is Allopatric Speciation?

A

Where gene flow is interrupted because a population is divided into geographically isolated subpopulations.

75
Q

What are the 2 ways Allopatric Speciation can occur?

A

As the result of a Vicariant event or dispersal.

76
Q

When does Vicariance occur?

A

When a population is isolated by a physical barrier.

77
Q

What are the 3 Causes of Sympatric Speciation?

A

Polyploidy, sexual selection, habitat differentiation.

78
Q

What are Polyploid Organisms?

A

Those containing more than two paired (homologous) sets of chromosomes.

79
Q

What are the 2 Forms of Polyploidy in Plants?

A

Autopolyploidy and allopolyploidy.

80
Q

What is an Allopolyploid?

A

A plant that is a hybrid between two or more species.

81
Q

What is Anagenesis?

A

Gradual change within a single lineage over time.

82
Q

What is Cladogenesis?

A

Evolutionary change produced by the branching of populations to form new species.

83
Q

What is Adaptive Radiation?

A

Rapid formation of many new species from one group, usually to fill a new ecological zone.

84
Q

What is Extinction?

A

Disappearance of a species from the Earth.

85
Q

What is Gradualism?

A

Where species gradually diverge over time.

86
Q

What is Taxonomy?

A

The discipline of naming and classifying organisms.

87
Q

What is Classification?

A

Grouping of organisms.

88
Q

What is Systematics?

A

It deals with the phylogenetic relationships between taxa, especially at the higher levels.

89
Q

What is a Branch Point of Phylogenetic Tree?

A

Where lineages diverge.

90
Q

What does a Phylogenetic Tree Represent?

A

A hypothesis about evolutionary relationships.

91
Q

What is Phylogenetic Reconstruction Based on?

A

The analysis of characters and changes in character states.

92
Q

What is Molecular Homoplasies?

A

Where organisms have different sequences and are not related, but their bases have coincidental matches.

93
Q

What is Cladistics?

A

A method for inferring phylogeny.

94
Q

What is the Primary Criteria used to Classify Organisms in Cladistics?

A

Ancestry.

95
Q

What does Cladistics Ignore?

A

Overall similarities.

96
Q

What is a Clade?

A

A group which includes an ancestral species and all of its descendants.

97
Q

What is Monophyletic Classification?

A

Where every grouping should consist only of organisms descended from a common ancestor.

98
Q

What is an Outgroup?

A

A species that is known to have diverged before the lineage that includes the species we are studying.

99
Q

What is the Principle of Parsimony?

A

It dictates that we should investigate the simplest explanation that is consistent with the facts.

100
Q

What were the 3 Stages of the Human Genome Project?

A

Linkage mapping, physical mapping, DNA sequencing.

101
Q

What was the Major Technique used to Sequence Large Genomes?

A

Shotgun sequencing - sequencing small sections and joining them.

102
Q

What is Genomics?

A

The study of whole sets of genes, their interactions and relationships within/between species.

103
Q

Are Genes Evenly Distributed?

A

No - chromosome 19 has 23 while chromosome 13 has 5.

104
Q

What is Bioinformatics?

A

The application of computational methods to the storage and analysis of large biological data sets.

105
Q

What is the Relationship between Genome Size and Phenotypic Complexity?

A

There isn’t one.

106
Q

How do Eukaryote Genomes Compare to Prokaryotes?

A

Eukaryotes have larger genomes, but fewer genes in a given length of DNA.

107
Q

Where are the Non-Coding Regions of DNA?

A

Some are within introns, some aren’t.

108
Q

What is the Function of Introns?

A

Not clear, but many are transcribed.

109
Q

What % of the Human Genome do Introns and Gene-Related Regulatory Sequences make up?

A

20% and 5% respectively.

110
Q

What are Transposable Elements?

A

Mobile DNA sequences - able to insert into many different locations in the genome.

111
Q

What % of the Human Genome do Transposable Elements make up?

A

44%.

112
Q

How do Transposable Elements cause Mutations?

A

Either by direct insertion into gene or by promoting DNA rearrangement.

113
Q

How can DNA Rearrangement cause Mutations?

A

Chromosome deletions, duplications and inversions.

114
Q

What are the 2 Classes of Transposable Elements in Eukaryotes?

A

Retrotransposons and DNA transposons.

115
Q

What are Non-Functional Genes within a Family called?

A

Pseudogenes.

116
Q

How do Most Gene Families Arise?

A

Through duplication of an existing gene.

Biology (15 decks)

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