Module 1 Flashcards
What is life capable of?
Growth, Reproduction, Functional activity, Adaptation
What is a prion?
Infectious agent that causes proteins to fold up in weird ways, NOT alive
What are viruses?
Infectious agents that use host machinery, yet they don’t respond to stimuli, NOT alive
What are kingdoms?
Taxonomic category of the highest rank
What are the 6 kingdoms?
Plants, animals, fungi, Protista, bacteria, archaea
What are the 3 domains?
Eukarya, Bacteria, Archaea
What is a species?
A group of individuals that regurlarily breed together
What are prokarya?
Single cells that lack membrane-bound organelles
What are eukarya?
Organisms whose cells have a nucleus enclosed within membranes
How do prokaryote get to eukaryote?
- Acquire a nucleus
- Acquire a mitochondria
- Acquire chloroplasts
What is evolution?
Change in inherited characteristics of biological populations over successive generations
What is natural selection?
Non-random evolution, phenotypic variation that is heritable
What is selection acting upon?
Phenotypes
What is adaptation?
Traits that are evolved through natural selection
What is stabilizing selection?
Pushing everything toward the middle/mean, extreme variants are selected against
ex: birth weight
What is directional selection?
Selection will move in directional of favourable phenotype based on its survival in the given environment
ex: different fur colours
What is sexual selection?
Features of an animal whose function is not to improve survival but to maximize their reproductive success
What is intrasexual selection?
Individuals intimidate, deter, or defeat same-sex rivals
What is intersexual selection?
Individuals make themselves more attractive to the opposite sex
The flashy sex has greater:
Variance or skew, will evolve more elaborate traits
The choosy sex has greater:
Investment, therefore they are more selective about who to mate with
What is skew?
Tells us about the shape of distribution
What is the Bateman’s Gradient?
The idea that whichever sex has greater variance or reproductive skew (flashy) will have a steeper Bateman’s Gradient
What is Sexy Sons/Fisher’s Runaway Selection Model?
The idea that females show a preference for a particular character, so the sons of those females will display that character and the daughters will display that preference