Introduction Flashcards
Jean Baptiste Lamarck’s Pre-Darwinian Concept
- Believed that organisms tend to progress toward higher forms
- Features and characteristics of organisms are inherited
Leopold Chretian Frederick Dagobert Cuvier’s Pre-Darwinian Concept
- Proposed that species are extinguished periodically by sudden catastrophes to be replaced by another species
3 main concepts of the Theory of Natural Selection
- Variation
- Inheritance
- Selection
Definition of ‘Variation’
Organisms vary across a multitude of dimensions of attributes
Definition of ‘Inheritance’
Some of the attributes that vary are inherited and reliably passed down to offspring over generations
Definition of ‘Selection’
Organisms with heritable attributes reproduce and have more offspring as those attributes help overcome the problem of survival and reproduction
Definition of ‘Fitness’ in evolutionary sciences perspective
The odds of an organism with a certain attribute surviving till reproduction
2 types of ‘sexual selection’
- Intra-sexual competition
- Inter-sexual competition
Explain ‘Intra-sexual competition’
Competition between members of the same sex to gain sexual access to mates directly or indirectly
Explain ‘Inter-sexual competition’
Manifests as preferential mate choices and those who do not have advantageous characteristics are less likely to be chosen as mates
Darwinism after Darwin
- Classic Darwinism
- Mendelian genetic
- Post-synthesis
What concepts are under Mendelian genetics?
- Mutation
- Genetic inheritance
- Etc.
Mendelian genetics supports Darwin’s theory of natural selection by…
Defining by which mechanism inheritance occured (via genes)
What concepts are under post-synthesis?
- Ethology
- Inclusive fitness and kin selection
- Evolutionary-developmental theories
- Multilevel selection
- Adaptive lags
Ethology indicates…
An adaptation in the form of a physical characteristic requires the organisms to enact behaviors that make use of the adaptation for organisms to benefit from it
Inclusive fitness indicates…
Inclusive fitness = classical fitness + (effect of organism’s action on the fitness of genetic relatives x genetic relativeness)
Explain the Hamilton rule
rB > C; Benefits to genetic relatives must be greater than the cost to self
r: proportion of shared genes
B: fitness benefits in terms of how many offspring are produced
C: fitness cost to self
Group selection is…
A mechanism of evolution in which natural selection acts at the level of the group instead of at the level of individual or gene
-> This indicates that selfish organisms will perish
2 reasons why group selection is now disfavored are
- Altruistic organisms are less likely to survive while selfish organisms are more likely to survive and reproduce
- Selections at the genetic level work against selection against group level
Define adaptation
Evolved solutions to specific problems that contribute either directly or indirectly to successful reproduction
3 criteria for a characteristic to be considered an adaptation
- Reliability
- Efficiency
- Economy
Explain Reliability
Does the mechanism regularly develop in most or all members of the species across all normal environments?
Does the mechanism perform dependently in the context in which it is designed to function?
Explain Efficiency
Does the mechanism solve a particular adaptive problem well and effectively?
Explain Economy
Does the mechanism solve a particular adaptive problem without extorting huge costs from the organism?
