Chapter 1

Question 1

Definition of Evolution

Answer 1

Theory of Evolution- Biological diversity resulting from genetic species over time.

• Lateral gene transfer
• Darwin (1859): Descent with Modification
• Post Darwin (1900s) : “change with gene frequencies in a population over time (geneticists)”
• only scientific explanation

Question 2

Is this evolution?

Answer 2

• top & and bottom figures = “Great Chain of Being” (Scala Naturae)
• linear thinking
• dates back to Plato & Aristotle

Question 3

Tree Thinking

Answer 3

• “tree of life” only figure in first edition on “origin of species.”
• shows common ancestry, change over time, new species, extinctions
• small scale: changes in gene frequencies in a population from one generation to another
• large scale: changes in appearance ( as viewed in fossil record of species & higher taxa)
• genealogy vs. phylogeny (tree thinking handout)

Question 4

Evolution is measured at which level ?

Answer 4

Evolutionary change is measured at population level. Change occurring within an organism’s lifetime is not evolution.

Question 5

All life on earth has common ancestors. True or False.

Answer 5

True

Question 6

Changes in allele frequencies may be random or non-random. True or False.

Answer 6

True

Question 7

What testable processes drive evolution?

Answer 7

1. mutation-random changes in DNA
2. recombination- shuffling of genetic material between generations
3. sexual selection- differential reproduction as a result of variation in ability to obtain mates, leads to non-random changes–> female choice & male competitiveness
4. natural selection-differential survival & reproduction of individuals over time; leads to non-random changes.
5. genetic drift-random changes in allele frequencies due to sampling error (common in small populations)
6. gene flow- mating of individuals form different populations.

Question 8

Recombination

Answer 8

shuffling of genetic material between generations

Question 9

sexual selection

Answer 9

differential reproduction as a result of variation in ability to obtain mates, leads to non-random changes–> female choice & male competitiveness

Question 10

natural selection

Answer 10

differential survival & reproduction of individuals over time; leads to non-random changes.

Question 11

genetic drift

Answer 11

random changes in allele frequencies due to sampling error (common in small populations)

Question 12

gene flow

Answer 12

mating of individuals form different populations.

Question 13

Individuals are variable within populations. T or F.

Answer 13

True

Question 14

Variation among individuals, at least partly, passed from offspring to parents. Traits are inherited or show heritability. True or False.

Answer 14

True

Question 15

More successful individuals (at surviving reproducing are selected. This statement invokes what concept or principle?

Answer 15

Struggle for Existence

Question 16

Over time, variations accumulate to form new varieties and ultimately new species. Consequently…?

Answer 16

Thus, individuals with more favorable and heritable variations, those better at surviving and reproducing, are naturally selected.

Question 17

Natural Selection is and is not

Answer 17

• occurs in organisms, but measured at a population level
• leads to selfish behavior (territoriality, parasitism, infanticide)
• why? genotype with the highest rate of increase spreads at the expense of others.
• cooperation among organisms requires kin selection but does not operate across species.
• if one species gives benefit to another behavior is profitable to donor or species is being duped.
• can not be used to justify human morality
• harmony or balance DNE

Question 18

Other components of Evolution

Answer 18

• a species can evolve into a different form
• such differences are based on changes in DNA
• originate as mutation or from recombination
• species evolve at different rates that depend on different (selection) pressures they experience.
• Gradualism
• Speciation
• Common ancestry (Tree of Life)

Question 19

Harmony or balance DNE

Answer 19

-Different factors limit organisms, competition leads to increased efficiency.

Question 20

Speciation

Answer 20

one species splits into two as a result of genetic differences in isolated populations

Question 21

Common ancestry (Tree of Life)

Answer 21

All organisms evolved by branching of common ancestors ( that lived in distant past) into diverse languages.

Question 22

Evolution is well-supported and has survived numerous testing (ICLICKER)

Answer 22

TRUE

Question 23

Xenophanes( 570-480 BC)

Answer 23

• 1st to recognize fossils as remains of ancient life
• concluded correctly that H20 once covered Earth’s entire surface
• wrote “possible to act only on working hypothesis”

Question 24

Leclerc ( Count Buffon, 1707-1788)

Answer 24

• concluded species evolved after dispersing from “centers of creation”
• considered possibility of shared ancestry between human and apes
• wrote 36 volumes of natural history (everything known about natural world at that date)
• different regions have distinct biota (Buffon’s law, widely considered first principle of bio-geography)
• traits of species “improved” & “degenerated” after dispersing

Question 25

Linnaeus (1707-1778)

Answer 25

- established framework of modern taxonomy as nested hierarchy for all living things in system naturae (1735) - groups based on shared physical traits still used today (=binomial nomenclature) - "relatedness" meant kinship in the creator's design

Question 26

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802)

Answer 26

- English physician - argued reactions of plants & animals in environment are responsible for adaptive modification - believed offspring inherited changes

Question 27

Jean Lamarck ( 1744-1829)

Answer 27

- championed inheritance of acquired traits" or "laws of use & disuse" - eventually rejected, but accepted by many naturalists in his day including Darwin. - Lamarckism is applied to "memetic theory of cultural evolution" (non-genetic)

Question 28

Thomas Malthus ( 1766--1834)

Answer 28

- wrote an essay on the "principles of population" - argued no population can grow without limits; more individuals born that can live. Population growth will outpace food supply. - Earth's limited resources produce "struggle for existence" influenced Darwin

Question 29

George Curvier ( 1769-1832)

Answer 29

- first to use comparative anatomy to develop classification systems. - founded paleontology: study of fossils - demonstrated extinction as fact of evolution - showed geological features and fossils as succession of catastrophic events, not just one event( =catastrophism")

Question 30

Charles Lyell ( 1797-1875)

Answer 30

- wrote principles of geology , 1st three volume text of geology - present is the key to the past - argued earth shaped by steady accumulation of minute changes - Unformatarianism

Question 31

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)

Answer 31

- Naturalist, explorer, geographer - independently proposed how natural selection could produce new species ( = transmutation) - warning ( aposematic) coloration in organisms - "Wallace effect" = hypothesis on how natural selection could lead to reproductive isolation of species by evolving barriers against hybridization - Darwin wanted Wallace to publish 1st, but Lyell suggested joint publication. - both papers read before Linnaean society of London (July 1, 1858) - in 1854, published the "Origin of Human Races & Antiquity of Man Deduced from the Theory of Natural Selection" - 1889- "Darwinism"- a formal response to a critic of Darwin's theory of Natural Selection

Question 32

Charles Robert Darwin ( 1809- 1882)

Answer 32

- Naturalist who proposed all species "evolved over time" from "common ancestors" through "natural selection". - developed interest in natural history while studying medicine (Edinburgh) & theology (Cambridge) - spent 5 years abroad HMS Beagle accumulating evidence on geology, fossils, & living organisms, many new to science. - conceived theory in 1838, spent 20 years amassing evidence for it. - Wallace's letter provoked him to finish book - in 1859, published "Origin of Species" - all 1250 copies sold out on 1st day (Nov. 24) for 15 shillings each. - published 6 editions in his lifetimes, was reprinted > 400X and translated into 29 languages. - final edition (6th) published in 1872 - in 2009, 1st edition, auctioned for 170K. - was criticized by church, but gained almost immediate acceptance by most ( but not all ) scientists in the 1870s. - buried in London's Westminister Abby

Question 33

Development of Darwin's Ideas

Answer 33

Darwin's theory included a workable & testable mechanism that did not require diety, miracles, or an arbitrary purpose.

Question 34

Herbert Spencer ( 1820-1903)

Answer 34

- British philosopher / economist - rephrased Darwin's main idea "survival of the fittest" - fitness: an organism's lifetime reproduction Ex. brown beetle's have higher fitness because they leave more offspring than green beetles ...thus fitness is relative to the individual -perhaps the most accurate phrase would be the survival of the fittest in nature survive. - Darwin drew an analogy between human caused selective breeding ( =artificial selection) and natural occurrence of new species in nature ( = natural selection)

Question 35

Mendel (1866)

Answer 35

- particulate theory of genetics - rediscovered in the 1900s-showed that genes do not blend; instead genes are passed intact from parents to offspring - blending idea of inheritance doesn't work - particulate theory of inheritance

Question 36

Hardy Weinberg (1908)

Answer 36

- genes have a low tendency to disappear from populations ( except by natural selection)

Question 37

New Synthesis ( 1936- 1947)

Answer 37

- merger with geneticists , mathematicians, population biologists, systematics, and paleontology - molecular biology and development biology (evo-devo) latest to merge

Question 38

Kimura

Answer 38

- developed Neutral theory of Molecular evolution - downplayed role of natural selection in DNA & proteins of evolution - considered genetic drift as main source for changing allele frequencies

Question 39

Williams, Smith, & Hamilton

Answer 39

- since mid 1960's, evolutionary theory expanded into ecology , animal behavior, & reproductive biology. - Williams, Smith, & Hamilton developed theories to explain evolution of life span, ecological distribution, & social behavior. - macroevolution renewed by interpretations of fossil record & studying phylogenetic relationships. - Darwinism is not compatible with modern evolutionary theory.