Biology Test 5
How did they probably get preserved
After the ancient embryos died, films of bacteria coated their cells. The films gradually became precise replicas of the cells they devoured. This probably occurred in water; sedimented layers
What is the key evidence that all living things descended from the same common ancestors
All living things are made of the same chemical elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) and basic molecules (amino acids sugars, fats, and nucleic acids).
Give an example of a beneficial mutation and explain why it is beneficial
A beneficial mutation may provide resistance to diseases, for example, or allow an organism to get more energy from its food
What does "a fixed allele" mean
A fixed allele is an allele that is the only variant that exists for that gene in all the population
What was most likely the first step in eye evolution
A flat patch of light sensitive cells, eyespot: simple light sensor
What fossil evidence supports the idea that dinosaurs incubated their eggs
A fossil discovered in 1993 was of a theropod know as an oviraptor, that lays over its nest of eggs, its arms spread out in much the same way modern birds spread their wings
Define fossil
A fossil is any evidence of past life, including chemical evidence, body parts, and traces or impressions of an animals or plant that has been preserved
What is a radioactive isotope
A kind of isotope whose nucleus decays spontaneously
There is a common misconception that there are no transitional fossils that show the evolution of tetrapods from lobe-finned fishes. Based on the phylogenetic tree on page 67 in the textbook, does fossil evidence support the evolution of tetrapod limbs from lobe-finned fishes? Explain your answer
A lack of fossils doesn't mean that there wasn't transitional species. Most likely there were species that eventually evolved to the forelimb of a tetrapod
Describe the new adaptations that evolved in the apes
A large brain and no tails
Briefly describe the Siberian traps
A large group of volcanos in Siberia that pumped out a lot of lava
Describe what happened that allowed cyanobacteria to develop. How were they similar to but also different from the other life on earth at that time
A mutation occurred, one of these primitive bacteria developed the ability to capture energy directly from the sun. It was bright green and gas bubbled from its cell membrane, oxygen
How is a phenotype different from a genotype
A phenotype is the physical manifestation of the alleles of an individual. Genotype is the actual alleles inherited from parents. Genotype-Ff Phenotype-Freckles
How is fitness measured in plants
A plant that produce more seeds because it has bigger, showier flowers and more pollinators is more fit
Based on the fossil evidence, where did Homo sapiens evolve and when
Africa, 200,000 years ago
Hominins are more closely related to which group of living apes
African Apes
Which group of modern humans has the greatest genetic diversity, based on Sarah Tishkoff's studies of mitochondrial DNA
Africans
Explain phylogenetic species using Brenneman's giraffe studies as an example
After taking the DNA of 266 giraffes it was determined that there are now 6 phylogenetic species of giraffes, some can't interbreed and some can produce hybrids
How do radioactive isotopes get into living organisms
All living things assimilate (incorporate into molecules in our bodies) radioactive atoms from air, water, and food
How does the similar use of DNA explain the evolutionary relationship between all living things
All living things make their DNA with the same four nucleotides and they all use DNA in the same way
Explain why humans should be concerned about the current rate of species extinction
All of life contributes to the human species in some ways, so they all die out, so will the humans
The study of the process of evolution focuses on
All of the mechanisms that affect how living things have changed over time
What has DNA data been able to tell us about the origin and spread of HIV
All three strains of HIV-1 evolved from the chimp-virus ancestors, they all acquired the same new amino acids in the same position in the same protein. This mutation altered a gene encoding shell of the virus, and experiments suggest that it was crucial to the success of the new HIV strains in humans. It's possible that the mutation allowed the virus to do a better job of manipulating its new host into building copies of itself
What are the advantages of having a tail (back end)
Allows to excrete waste products
Based on this tree, what is the closest relative to the frogs
Amniotes
Describe the body plan of Spriggina
Bilateral symmetry, head at one end, tail on the other end, sensory organs concentrated in the head
Explain the reasons for the current increase in species extinction rate
Habitat destruction by the growing population of humans
Explain the relationship between latitude (distance north or south away from the equator) and species diversity, Why do scientists think these relationships exist
Habitats at the equator tend to remain more constant, sustaining life. Habits further away have wet and dry spells that can kill populations, It's not entirely certain, but it is believed that the tropics receive more energy and can sustain life, allowing it to diversify
Define biodiversity
Biodiversity (all organisms alive today or in the past) is the result of more than 3.5 billion years of evolution of this planet, including extinctions and speciation events
What can a colony of cells accomplish that a single-celled organism cannot
Can collect more food, control their internal environment, and act efficiently by working as a team
What are the advantages of mobility
Can move away from danger, it can move toward richer sources of food, move away from over-colonized neighbors
Which would be more appropriate to use to date Yuka, a Siberian mammoth found in permafrost that is thought to be 10,000 years old
Carbon-14
How are Hox genes arranged? How many sets do mice and humans have
Carry four set of Cox genes, and each set is arrayed along a chromosome in the same order in which it is expressed from head to tail in the body
Genetic variation stems from what two processes
Changes in the DNA called mutations, and gene shuffling during sexual reproduction
Identify the features of scientific inquiry that were mentioned in the video, Who was Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin collected fossils, kept detailed recordings of plants and animals; he drew them
Describe Charnia, the marine organism found first in rocks from Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire, England. How old are these fossils
Charnia lived in darkness at the bottom of the ocean. Charnia is 526 million years old, it was immobile
What is a pheromone
Chemical smells produced that attract opposite sex species to each other
Which great ape is most closely related to humans
Chimpanzees
How is the preference for a smelly T-shirt linked to potential genetic variation in offspring
Choosing a mate with different immune genes gives offspring a greater protection against viruses, parasites, and other pathogens
Describe the body plan and lifestyle of sea scorpions (eurypterids)
Had a pair of powerful pinchers by its head, could grow up to 2 1/2 meter in length. They were the biggest hunters at the time
How were these first hominins different from modern day humans
Had tiny brains and their bodies were about the size of those of chimpanzees
Identify seven characteristics that are unique to mammals
Hair, mammary glands, diaphragm, specialized teeth, three middle ear bones, one-bone lower jaw, special joint in jaw
What was significant about the Acanthostega fossil that Clack found
Was a water-dweller; it had a fishlike tail and gills for breathing in the water, but the ends of the arms were paddle shape
Identify and discuss four differences between whales and fish
Whales and dolphins must rise to the surface of the ocean in order to breathe. They do so by opening up a blowhole on the top of the head, which allows air to enter a passageway that leads to the lungs. Whales and dolphins have tiny bones embedded in their flesh just where the hips would be on a land vertebrate. Whales and dolphins have long muscles that form vertical blocks from head to tail. Whales and dolphins give birth to live young
Describe the process of allopatric speciation
When a species or organism gets separated from its population, it will typically evolve separately from the original group, lowering the ability to breed with that group
What evidence found in mammal embryos today supports the idea that the middle ear bones were once attached to the lower jaw
When the cones go the ear first develop in the mammal embryos, they anchored to the lower jaw, as they were in the ancestors of mammals and other tetrapods. Only later do they break free
Explain how the tongue orchid affects the fitness of the Lissopimpla excelsa wasp
When the male wasp leaves sperm on the orchid, it could probably not mate well with a female it meets right afterwards
Under what conditions does natural selection favor flowers with short nectar tubes
When there are other, short flowers or the overall tongue size shrinks
The earliest body fossils of terrestrial animals are _________________, dated at _____________ mya
relative of millipedes, 428
What fish-like features did Tiktaalik have
scales on its back, fins (fin-webbing)
What group of birds was the ultimate origin of Darwin's finches
seed-eating tanagers/dull colored grassquit of Ecuador
If you could time travel, how far back would you travel to see a living Sahelanthropus, the first known hominid
seven million years
What was the independent variable
sexual selection
A new group of arthropods, the insects, evolved with _______________ pairs of legs and __________________ for flying
three, wings
What are the earliest primate fossils
tiny, long-tailed creatures that lived in trees
Describe the platypus and its lifestyle
Has a bill like a duck but a body of a beaver, feeds on underwater invertebrates, and grinds the food to a pulp with the hard plates in its mouth
Describe binocular vision and its advantages
Having two eyes on the front of the head. It allows vision fields to overlap, creating three dimensional vision and depth perception
What are the distinguishing characteristics of "Old World" monkeys
Narrow noses, many diverse environments, more related to the Great Apes than the New World monkeys
Define sexual selection
Natural selection arising through preference by one sex for certain characteristics in individuals of the other sex
In your own words, describe why these changes are evidence that natural selection is a mechanism for evolution
Natural selection is a mechanism for evolution because these changes show how these lizards adapted to their new environments. How they're survival is beneficial to this environment; they're is less conflict over food and more offspring is produced
Darwin called the mechanism for evolution natural selection. Define natural selection in your own words
Natural selection is the process where organisms adapt to their environment to survive and produce offspring to keep the population growing (some traits become more common)
Natural selection refers to the survival and reproduction of which individuals
Natural selection only occurs when individuals in a population differ in reproductive success, or evolutionary fitness
What is negative selection? Give an example
Negative selection occurs when an allele lowers the relative fitness of a genotype. In it's most extreme form, a mutation may completely disable an essential gene, causing a microbe to die instantly
Is the FOXP2 gene the only thing involved in language
No
What kinds of organisms were present on land at the end of the Permian
No flowering plants, no dinosaurs, not furred animals. Mammal-like reptiles
Describe the stone tools that were used by Homo erectus and other early Homo species
"hand axes" large rocks carefully chipped away to create teardrop shapes
What phrase is commonly found teleological statements
"in order to..."
What is the definition of science, according to the National Academy of Sciences
"the use of evidence to construct testable explanations and predictions of natural phenomena, as well as the knowledge generated through this process"
Define domain bacteria
(eubacteria or "true bacteria") contains unicellular organisms that have a prokaryotic cell. A prokaryotic cell lacks a nucleus. These cells are typically small with no internal organelles. The DNA is usually arranged in one circular ring. This includes bacteria and cyanobacteria. Organisms such as E. coli or salmonella or staphylococcus aureus are members of this group
How old are these fossils
550 million years old
How old are these fossils
579 million years
How old are the fossil animal embryos found in China
580 million years old
When did life arise in this environment
600 million years ago
When did the common ancestor of all living primates live
68 million years ago
When did the hominins branch from the chimpanzee lineage
7 million years ago
Based on the fossils found in Flores, describe the anatomical features of Homo floresiensis
1 meter tall; they had skulls of just 417 cubic centimeters
Describe the observations on which Darwin based his theory of natural selection
1.) All species produce more offspring than are needed to maintain their populations (replace the parents), and not all of the offspring survive 2.) In any species, there are differences between individuals that are passed from generation to generation (inherited genetic variation) 3.) Some of the individuals in a population have more offspring than others
What two things did Darwin infer from his observations
1.) The individuals who inherited a set of characteristics that best allowed them to survive in their environment were the ones who had more offspring (this is called differential reproductive success) 2.) Because those offspring will make up a larger proportion of the next generation, their traits will become more common in the next generation
What two conditions are necessary for individuals to belong to the same species?
1.) The members of a species can interbreed in the wild 2.) Live and healthy offspring can be produced, which in turn are capable of having offspring
What are the two conditions required for evolution in a population
1.) There must be genetic variation 2.) There must be pressure from the environment that favors one combination of DNA over others
According to Douglas Erwin, __________% of all species in the ocean died as a result of the end-Permian mass extinction
95
Identify the assumptions of the Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium model
1.) no mutation 2.) large population size 3.) no movement of individuals and their alleles into or out of the population 4.) random mating, where each individual has an equal chance of mating with another individual 5.) no natural selection
How long did early Homo species use this type of tool technology
1.7 million years ago
When did the first platypus appear in the fossil record
100 million years ago
The scientists used the molecular clock to determine that the HIV-1 virus originated in humans between _________ and _________
1915, 1941
Scientists used a known virus sample from the year _________ to test the accuracy of the molecular clock, What did that indicate about the accuracy of the molecular clock
1959
What effect did each extreme have on the relative fitness of the birds
1977 Drought- caused their beaks, on average, to become 4% deeper. Finches with bigger beaks had a better chance of surviving the drought and could therefore produce a bigger fraction of the next generation. Natural selection caused the average size of the beaks of medium ground finches to increase 1982 Rainstorms- small beaked bride had the advantage now. They could eat small seed more efficiently than the big beaked birds, allowing them to grow faster and have more energy to produce offspring. The average size of their beaks decreased by 2.5%
Describe the earliest stone tools that are generally accepted by most scientists
2.6 million years
Migration of Homo sapiens out of Africa a. The oldest fossils of Homo sapiens were found in Africa and are dated as ________________ years old. The oldest fossils of modern humans found outside of Africa were discovered in ________________ and are dated to ________________ years old
200,000 years, Israel, 100,000
Define adaptation and describe some different kinds of adaptations
200-300 million years
What percentage of oxygen is found in today's atmosphere
21% oxygen
How long were simple microscopic organisms the only life forms on Earth
3 billion years
Like Archaeopteryx, the modern hoatzins also have ______________ fingers, each ending in _____________________, which allow young birds to __________
3 fingers, a hooked claw, stay secure and cling onto trees
What is thought to be the oldest evidence of tool making by hominins
3.4 million year old
How old are the stromatolite fossils found by Allwood's team
3.5 billion years old
When did the apes and Old World monkeys diverge
30 million years ago
When did the Earth form
4.55 billion years ago
How old is the Earth estimated to be
4.6 billion years old
When did the ancestors of New World monkeys diverge from Old World monkeys and the apes
40 million years ago
The earliest fossils of fungi on land are dated at _____________ mya
400
If you could time travel, how far back would you travel to see a living Pneumodesmus newmani, the first known terrestrial invertebrate animal
428 million years
How old are the Ediacaran fossils
550 million years ago
List the seven specific ways mutations can alter the DNA
A point mutation changes a single base to another. A segment of DNA may be inserted into the middle of an existing sequence. The insertion may be a single base or as long as thousands of bases (including entire genres) A segment of DNA may be accidentally deleted. A deletion can be as big or as small as an insertion. A small portion of a gene may disappear, or an entire set of genes may vanish A segment of DNA may be accidentally duplicated. This duplication may give rise to two copies of the same gene. Sometimes an entire genome can even be duplicated. A segment of DNA may be inverted (flipped around and inserted backwards into its original position). Chromosomes can be fused together. Genes can be passed from one organism to another through horizontal gene transfer
Is the caterpillar described in the textbook a predator, a parasite, or a deceiver? Explain your answer
A predator because it directly harms the tree by eating its leaves
What would cause a scientist to reject a hypothesis
A scientist would reject a hypothesis if there is evidence contradicting it or there is objectivity that could influence the results
What does the increasing size of the nasal cavity in mammal skulls indicate about their bodies
A sign that their body temperature was rising, allowing them to warm the air as they breathed it in
What did Dr. Edward Lewis propose about the development of animal bodies
A single gene was directing the layout of the body parts
Describe the phylogenetic species concept
A species is a group of populations that has been evolving independently of other groups of populations
Is this phylogenetic tree based on a hypothesis or a theory
A theory because this information is widely accepted by the scientific community
What does theory mean to a scientist
A theory is an overarching set of mechanism or principles that explain a major aspect of the natural world. A theory makes sense of what would seem like an arbitrary, mysterious collection of data
Describe a chromosome
A twisted, double strand of DNA. Each species has a characteristic number of chromosomes
Describe the prosimian adaptations found in the lemurs
A wet nose, a tooth comb, nocturnal
Why is the discovery of Australopithecus sediba important to understanding human evolution
A.sediba was either the ancestor of Homo or one of the closest relatives to the clade
Unlike the mountain beaver, insects have increased in species number over time. What might explain this difference
Ability to survive on plants, small bodies requiring smaller amounts of food to survive, wings have allowed insects to spread further
What are the advantages of having a head
Able to sense where food is on the sea floor, a blue to see, and generally had sensory organs
How was the forelimb of Acanthostega different from the forelimb of Tiktaalik
Acanthostega had all the forelimb bones and Tiktaalik was just missing the phalanges
How did a defensin gene expressed in the pancreas become a venom gene expressed in salivary glands
Accidental mutations produced extra copies of the gene; the mutations didn't change how the protein functioned, but it did change where the protein was made
This style of tools is known as the _____________________ tools
Acheulean technology
What is the purpose of the protein collagen in sponges
Acts as a glue or sticky tape
Can bacteria become "immune" to drugs? Explain your answer
Adaptations are traits that organisms inherit from their parents
How do organisms get adaptations
An adaption is any trait that allows an organism to be successful (to survive and reproduce) in a given environment. These traits might be physical traits such as thick fur, large flowers, or good eyesight. They might also be behavioral traits such as hunting techniques or evasion techniques; they might be physiological traits, like the ability to break down lactose
What is an allele
An allele is an alternative form of a gene (one member of a pair)
Describe the advantages of an internal skeleton versus an external skeleton
An animal with an external skeleton can not grow any bigger than its size because the only way it can grow it by shedding its skeleton and growing a new one, and without any support the body will collapse under its own weight
How is it possible to have more than two alleles for the same gene in a population
An individual has two alleles for a gene, one from each parent. Populations on the other hand, can have many different alleles for the same gene
What are synapsids
Ancestors of mammals
What does the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rocky Mountains reveal about animal evolution, Why are these fossils so unusual, How old are these fossils
Animals started to evolve with an amazing repeativity, happened during the cambrian period, animals increased in numbers, diversity, and size. They became more complex, Many of these species have not been found anywhere else, this was a perfect place for fossilization, even animals with soft bodies were preserved 542 million years old
Which organisms are classified as eukaryotes
Animals, plants, fungi, various kinds of Algae and protists
What happens in a pair of mirror trees when one species becomes extinct
Another species breaks off and colonizes the new host
Trace fossil
Are formed by activities of an organism, for instance when animal footprints are left in mud which later hardens and preserves the shape of the footprint
Discuss two characteristics of arthropods. Arthropods use their exoskeleton of chitin for what purposes
Arthropods had jointed legs and encased their entire body in a hard armor for protection and support. It provides support for the arthropods
Describe artificial selection
Artificial selection is a process of breeding by humans not natural, characteristics are chosen if we want them to develop in plants or animals. Artificial selection produces observable changes
Based on DNA evidence, the ancestor of whales belonged to a group of land mammals called the..., which includes hippos and camels
Artiodactyls
Discuss the relationship between changes in diet and changes in vision in Old World monkeys and apes
As OW monkeys ate leaves and fruit, they needed to be able to distinguish what to eat
Explain how the evolutionary trees of gophers and lice mirror one another
As the gopher species isolated into a unique species, the lice that remained with it also became a new species
Why do tetrapods have a nerve that goes from the neck to the chest and then back to the neck before it connects with the structure it controls (the larynx)
As the ligament that the nerve loops around grew further away, the nerve just grew with it instead of changing position. It was present in earlier ancestors so it never changed
Consider everything that you have read. Make your own explanation of the role of coevolution in the evolution of all of these species
As the mold becomes more resistant, the bacteria and the ant evolve to control it.
Describe how oxygen allowed the evolution of new life forms
As the world adapted to this new organism and its oxygen, remarkable new life forms started to evolve, adapting to use oxygen to create energy
Explain why the highest marsupial biodiversity is found in Australia
Australia was isolated to the point where only marsupials existed on the continent.
What two proteins control beak shapes in the 14 species of Darwin's finches
BMP4 and calmodulin
Which one has claimed more total species over time
Background extinction
What are the three main branches of life
Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya
What unexpected evidences of whale evolution did Gingerich discover when he found Basilosaurus fossils in the valley of the whales
Basilosaurus had tiny hind legs with a mobile knee and several toes
What changes occurred in the skulls of mammals, with respect to: the dentary
Became larger, its growing size may have been an adaption to chewing, because a single large bone could provide more strength than a group of smaller bones
Why would this happen if it means that long-tongued flies might not pick up as much pollen when they drink nectar
Because it is the only way to stay remotely competitive.
When did mammals evolve
Began evolving 300 mya, but true mammals came 180 mya
Describe the history of bird species extinctions and predictions for future bird extinctions
Birds are going extinct 100 times faster than they used to
What structures are found inside the fin of Tiktaalik
Bones similar to forelimb bones-humerus, radius&ulna, wristbones, and phalanges
Which great ape is most closely related to chimpanzees
Bonobo
Is the history of the salamanders explained by allopatric speciation, sympatric speciation, or both? Explain
Both because they were separated by the central valley but also began to develop differently on the same sides
Describe the similarities between Archaeopteryx and Deinonychus
Both lightly built hollow bones, long arms, similar hip and shoulder bones
What are the distinguishing characteristics of "New World" monkeys
Broad noses, strictly arboreal (live in trees), prehensile (grabbing), tails
What materials in nature can cause the preservation of fossils
Burial in mud, quicksand, asphalt, volcanic ash, sandstorms, or blizzards, lava flows, or water-borne sediments, also amber, permafrost, dry caverns, arid regions, and peat bogs
How can we identify a phylogenetic species
By finding unique traits that a group of populations share, but that are not found in other closely related populations
Did the ancestors of most major animal groups of today show up in the Ediacaran fossils or in the Cambrian fossils
Cambrian fossils
Define mutation
Mutations are random and accidental but permeant changes in DNA
What was the environmental factor that favored the development of this adaptation in these bacteria
Citrate is part of the standard nutrients broth that Lenski used to rear his E. coli
Explain how the process of classification works
Classification works by looking for similarities between organisms and putting the most similar things together in the same group
Did the Cocos finches evolve from Darwin's finches or did Darwin's finches evolve from the Cocos finches
Coco's finches evolved from Darwin's finches
The relationship between the rough-skinned newt and the garter snake is an example of a ___________________________ ____________ ____________
Coevolutionary arms race
Describe the body of a sponge
Collections of simple cells, that got stuck together, don't have a digestive system, blood/circulatory systems and they get their food and oxygen from seawater, through channels in the body
Describe the similarities between Archaeopteryx and Compsognathus
Compsognathus also had 3 small digits in its arm, had hollow bones, and stood on two legs
Describe the components of eyes that are common to most animals. What are the functions of each component
Contain a molecule called opsin, it sits on the surface of photoreceptors cells, and, when they catch photons, they trigger a series of chemical reactions that cause the photoreceptors to send an electrical message towards the brain
Define domain Eukarya
Contains complex organisms (the eukaryotes) that have cells with nuclei. These organisms include protists, plants, animals, and fungi
Define domain Archaea
Contains simple life forms called archaeans. These are also unicellular prokaryotes. Many of the archaeans have been found in hostile environments. Archaeans include thermoacidophiles that live in very hot acidic environments. Methanogens that produce gas, and halophiles that live in very salty environments. Recent analysis of the 1,738 genes of a species of this group showed that about half of its genes were totally unique. (In other words, these genes have not been found in any other plant, animal, bacterium, protists, or fungus)
Explain why controls are necessary
Controls are necessary because its purpose is to be used as a basis for comparison with the experimental group. Without a control, we could never show that changes in the dependent variable are caused by the independent variable
Why is it advantageous for some scarlet kingsnakes (but not others) to look like coral snakes
Coral snakes have a potential fatal bite and have a bright pattern that they evolved, predators recognize this bright pattern and avoid them Scarlet kings aren't venomous, but the ones who alongside the coral snakes have evolved a similar bright pattern
What are the advantages of having numerous body segments
Could increase in size by adding more segments, each segment could do a particular job, modify to have hooks or claws
What evidences of sophisticated behavior are associated with Neanderthal
Could paint images, or make sculptures, their tools were advanced, and they colored shells with pigment and drilled holes in them
Describe the evolution of crystallins,
Crystallins also evolved from recruited genes. They started out as a first-aid for cells.α-crystallins not only serve to focus light in the eye, but also act as heat-shock proteins in other parts of the body
Give an example of a harmful mutation and explain why it is harmful
Cystic fibrosis, is the result of a mutation to a gene that encodes a channel on the surface of cells, causing cells in the lungs to fill with fluid
What is the relationship between the difference in the DNA of two species and the time of divergence of their evolutionary history (split from common ancestor)?
DNA changes over time due to the accumulation of errors (mutations) that happen when the DNA is copied before organisms reproduce. The assumption is that the longer ago the evolutionary history of two species diverged, the more differences have accumulated in their DNA
What are the shortcomings in using DNA for making phylogenetic trees
DNA decays after death, and, even under the best circumstances, it disappears from fossils within a million years
The earthquake in Chile
Darwin observed that the shoreline had been lifted a few centimeters as a result
What happened when Darwin received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace
Darwin turned in his research to the Linnean society and were published in the society's scientific journal
Describe Darwin's attitude about species
Darwin was amused by these struggles, by naturalists trying to "define the indefinable"
Describe at least three examples of adaptive radiation, using living species
Darwin's finches - adapted to eating cacti, cracking hard nuts, and drinking blood Cichlid fishes - adapted to crushing mollusks, scraping algae, and eating own kind Mountain beavers - Rapidly evolved, but only one species remains
What is a straw man argument
Debaters invoke a straw man when they put forth an argument—usually something extreme or easy to argue against-that they know their opponent doesn't support. You put forth a straw man because you know it will be easy for you to knock down or discredit
What does descent with modification mean
Descent with modification means the passing of traits from parent to offspring
Do all mutations occur at the same rate? Why or why not
Different kinds of mutations have different mutation rates, each gene has about a one-in-a million chance of being lost or being duplicated each time a cell divides
Humans have four different opsins in our eyes. Three different opsins are found in cells called cones that allow us to see colors. How do you think color vision evolved in humans
Different proteins continued to develop, moving beyond just light/dark and even images. They began to absorb different colors of lights an the brain applies the signals to the image
The similarities between Archaeopteryx and Compsognathus indicated that birds were related to which branch of the reptiles
Dinosaurs
Describe the new adaptations that evolved in the monkeys
Diurnal, color vision, a larger brain, opposable thumb
Disabled genes have been found in dolphins and baleen whales. If these genes still worked, what structures would be formed
Dolphins could've had legs and baleens would be able to form teeth is these disabled genes still worked
Describe some examples of convergent evolution
Dolphins evolved their fishlike bodies through the loss of their hind legs and many other modifications to a terrestrial-mammal body. While sharks and tuna swim from side to side, dolphins swim by moving their tails up and down
Which Domain is most closely related to Domain Eukarya
Domain archaea
Which two Domains contain prokaryotes
Domain bacteria and Domain Archaea
List the levels of taxonomic classification, from largest to smallest
Domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
What types of selection (negative, positive, stabilizing, balancing) occurred to the small-beaked birds during both drought and excess rain
Drought-negative Rains- positive
What types of selection (negative, positive, stabilizing, balancing) occurred to the large-beaked birds during both drought and excess rain
Drought-positive Rains-negative
The homology of human, seal, and bat limbs
Each animals appendages served a different function but the bones are arranged in the same way. This showed that humans, seals, and bats evolved from a common ancestor, an ancestral mammal
Describe the requirements for a controlled experiment
Each controlled experiment looks at the effect of just one variable (the independent variable) on some event or condition (the dependent variable). The independent variable is the factor being tested and the dependent variable is the factor being observed and measured
Describe how gene duplication and recruitment occurred in snakes, including the genes for beta-defensin and crotamine
Each species produced its own distinctive cocktail of venoms, but each venom gene typically showed a close kinship with venom genes in closely related snakes. The tree reveals that the closest relatives of crotamine genes that are expressed in the pancreas of snakes. They're known as defensins, and snakes use them to fight infections
Describe the physical changes in the Earth that may have sparked the Cambrian species expansion
Earth was emerging from an Ice Age. The oceans started to collect oxygen needed for cell growth
Describe Snowball Earth and the geological evidence for it
Earth was plunged into a deep freeze, that probably extended from pole to pole, it's likely that these conditions lasted for million of years. Rocks along shores that contain other rocks, "drop rocks", that were transported on glaciers
If you could time travel to 2.5 billion years ago, what would Earth look like
Earth would have looked like a fairly desolate place. On land there was no trees, no flowers. In the ocean no fish, lobsters, or coral reefs; but full of microbial life
Based on her work, where in Africa did modern humans come from
East Africa
Where did the plant ancestor cells originally get their energy
Eating other organisms and capturing sunlight.
Striped possum
Eats grubs. Lives in Australian rainforests. Breaks open bark to find food
Mountain pygmy possum
Eats moths mostly, eats berries and seeds other times of the year
Honey possums
Eats pollen and nectar with long tongue
Describe the two general factors that cause mutations
Errors in copying during reproduction and direct damage caused by exposure of cells to radiation of harmful chemicals
Explain how eukaryotic cells acquired mitochondria
Eukaryotic cells were 'infected' by a bacteria. The cells began to use the bacteria for energy, abandoning their own methods
Describe how human actions have affected the kaka of New Zealand
European wasps were brought to New Zealand and began to eat the kaka's main source of energy. They will most likely eliminate the kaka for good
What is shared by every member of a taxonomic group
Every member of a particular group share certain key traits
Give an example of how evolution today affects all of us, not just biologists
Evolution affects all of us on how we came to be and what will become of us in the future. We once didn't walk bipedally, what will evolution cause us to do next
While thousands of animal species were evolving, what was evolution "tinkering" with
Evolution's not tinkering with the bodies, it is tinkering with the machinery that builds the bodies, the genes
How can evolutionary biologists use fossils
Evolutionary biologists can use fossils to examine the past life of organisms
Why do evolutionary biologists use fossils
Evolutionary biologists use fossils to build hypotheses about how different species are related to one another. They look at fossils to DNA to understand how evolution shapes everything about an organism
Describe the migration pathway of Homo heidelbergensis
Expanded out of Africa to Asia and Europe, left evidence on the island of Jersey, in the English channel
Describe faunal succession
Fauna are groups of animals, succession is a word that means change over time. So a specific sequence of fossilized organisms that is found in a series of rock layers
The fossils of Archaeopteryx had some characteristics of modern birds: (1) __________________ along the wing and (2) __________________ on the tail
Feathers, feathers
Koalas
Feed only on eucalyptus, eating a lot for the little nutrients. When not eating, probably sleeping
Wombat
Feeds on grass and limbs. Lots of fur, claws for digging
Describe the lifestyle of the water opossum, also known as the yapok
Feels its way around with webbed feet. Hair so thick the skin doesn't get wet. It hunts entirely by feel. Closes pouch to water
Rock wallaby
Feet soles have pads that give lots of grip. Live in very rocky areas. Bring up fluids from stomach to give to young
A lineage is a line of direct descent from an ancestor. Mammals are one lineage. Besides humans, what other animals belong to this lineage
Felines
Describe reproduction in the wildebeest
Fetus grows in the uterus connected to the placenta; is fed through the umbilical cord. Then it is birth, more developed
When red squirrels are present, natural selection favors which traits in pine trees
Fewer seeds in thick scales
Based on Jenny Clack's research, which came first: fish moving onto land or fish developing forelimbs
Fish developing forelimbs and then left the water
Briefly describe the fish traits and the tetrapod traits of Acanthostega
Fishlike tail and gills, but had forward set eyes and arms
Describe Hallucigenia. What does the body of this animal reveal about its environment
Five legs, and along the top were spikes that presumably defensive, they probably developed this way to protect themselves
What tetrapod-like features did Tiktaalik have
Flat-head, eyes on top of the head, forelimbs bones
Describe the body features of Tiktaalik
Flat-headed, arms, funs, eyes on top of the head
Under what conditions is it not reliable
Fossils are faulting (rock layers crack and slip apart, sometimes flipping upside down). Erosion (original rock layers is worn away by water or wind and fossils originally formed in the eroded rock are deposited somewhere else
Describe the significance of the fossils found in the Ediacara Hills of southern Australia
Fossils with body plans similar to those of almost all animals alive today
What characteristics did Australopithecus sediba share with Homo
Front of brain reorganized, projecting nose, smaller teeth and chewing muscles, hips less flared, similar to humans, longer legs, hands with precision grip
What is a gene and what is its function
Functional regions in a chromosome; each gene determines the structure of one or more proteins
Define genetic drift
Genetic drift if the variation in the relative frequency genotypes in a small population, owing to chance disappearance of particular genes as individuals die or do not reproduce
What other two hypotheses have been proposed as factors that might have caused the Cambrian species expansion
Genetic toolkit - Animals that exist today used a similar set of genes to develop from the limited Ediacaran organisms during the Cambrian period. Fitness landscape - The evolution caused organisms to develop different defenses that made them more fit for survival
How can a population get new genetic variation
Genetic variant can be replenished by new mutations or interbreeding with other populations
Name and describe the four processes of natural selection, using hummingbirds as your example
Genetic variation- individuals within a species vary from one to the other, the characteristics that give an advantage in a certain environment have to be passed on from one generation to the next Overproduction of offspring- individuals in natural populations tend to produce more offspring that can survive Struggle for existence- leads to differntial survival and reproduction, in any population, this excess production of individuals results in this, the competition for food and space, and mates Genetic variation- bill length Over production- produce dozen of offspring but only one or two may survive Struggle/ Differential survive and reproduction- hummingbirds compete for nectar, their bill is what determine their survival in their environemnt
Describe the different kinds of reproductive barriers which exist between different species
Geography- Some species of organisms are too far apart Time of activity- diurnal and nocturnal conflict Ecological- ex: eagle flies and worms live in mud so they may never meet Anatomy- Sexual organs sometimes just don't fit together
Describe the body plan and lifestyle of Arthropleura. What environmental condition allowed it to get so big
Giant millipede had a lot of feet, 4 1/2 feet long, had 26 or 28 segments. The air is rich in oxygen 3.5% of oxygen
What did Phil Gingrich discover in Pakistan? What was unusual about this fossil
Gingrich discovered a rock with a skull in it, he named it Pakicetus. The braincase at first demonstrated a wolf-like animal with a very small brain, but when the ears were uncovered, they displayed a very characteristic whale ear
Describe the types of adaptations of the venomous snakes studied by Bryan Fry
Glands in the back of its mouth that produce venom, muscles squeeze down on the gland causing the venom to shoot down a pair of tubes that lead into the fans and then squirt out through holes at their tips. Some venoms relax the walls if the aorta, dropping the blood pressure, other venoms lock onto receipts in neurons, causing paralysis, others interfere with the biochemistry inside muscle cells
How did Snowball Earth come to an end? (This was due to a worldwide surge of volcanic activity, which lead to global warming.)
Global surge in volcanic activity, spewing carbon dioxide into the air, producing a green house effect, allowing the Earth to warm
Describe the types of changes that occurred in the lizards found on Pod Mrčaru, with respect to: ecological changes
Got more energy from the plants than the ones on Pod Kopiste get from insects
Numbats
Grooms fur. Eat termites with long tongues
Name four Old World monkeys
Guenons, baboons, leaf monkeys, macaques
As discussed in the video, what information led to Charles Darwin changing his mind about the origin of species
He knew the evidence he gathered and the tests that he conducted supported the revolutionary idea that living things are related and have changed over millions and millions of years
Why did Darwin decide that humans were closely related to apes
He noted many similarities between humans and apes, from the details of our skeletons to our similar facial expressions
In your own words, explain how heritability and the strength of selection affect the rate of evolution
Heritability is the fraction of the variation due to genetic factors. The response of a population is the product of the heritability of a trait time the strength of selection. If selection is strong, a population can respond with rapid change, even if a trait is only weakly heritable. And even a weak selection can lead to significant evolutionary chance if a traits heritability is high
Based on the fossil record, briefly describe the migration pathway
Hominins left Africa, and spread out to Asia then to Europe
Which hominins first left Africa and moved into Eurasia
Homo erectus
Which of these two species was better adapted for walking and running
Homo erectus
Which of these two species was taller and had longer legs
Homo erectus
Which is the first hominin that used tools
Homo habilis
What does this new style of tool making suggest about the brains of Homo erectus and other early Homo species
Homo had much more delicate control of its hand and was able to make more detailed plans for fashioning an ordinary rock into elaborate creations
What is considered today to be the ancestral species of Homo sapiens
Homo heidelbergensis
What is considered today to be the ancestral species of Neanderthals
Homo heidelbergensis
What is the first hominin that made sophisticated stone flake tools
Homo neanderthalensis
What is the first hominin that had the capacity for art, symbolic thought, and full- blown language
Homo sapiens
What 3 groups descended from Homo heidelbergensis? Which 2 groups are more closely related to each other
Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis, Denisovans
What are the assumptions made in using absolute (radiometric) dating
How much 14C was in its body when it was alive, then we measure what is still left
Which New World monkey is most closely related to the spider monkey
Howler monkey
Then explain what Hox genes do
Hox genes encode transcription factors which are instrumental in regulating body formation during development
Compare the development of the forelimbs of the four animal embryos seen in the videos
Human embryos, pig embryos, and bird embryos form arm buds that look similar to each other in the early stages of development. Bird embryos take their own path, pig embryos appear at first human-like until they form their distinct form, with a snout and a tail, fish embryos are proudly different from a human embryo, reflecting an evolutionary course
Describe the current conservation efforts to prevent the extinction of the whooping crane of North America
Humans are trying to teach the crane to survive in the wild
Explain why humans use classification systems and the limitations of the systems
Humans use classification systems to organize large groups of things into smaller, similar groups. Grouping helps reduce large and complex systems into smaller, less complex systems. The limitations of the systems we use is that the categories we use are arbitrary and the boundaries are artificial; the real world often doesn't fit neatly into our categories
Describe how human actions affected the passenger pigeons of North America
Hunting and landscape changes destroyed the entire species
How does a hypothesis differ from a scientific theory
Hypotheses may be tested over a period of years and most are rejected. If a hypothesis is not rejected despite testing over a long period of time by hundreds of scientists, it is called a scientific theory
Explain how this statement applies to modern populations: Move, adapt, or die
If a species cannot move to another habitat in order to escape climate change, it will die out
How does this competition potentially affect an individual's chances of survival and reproduction
If an individual animal or plant has some trait that helps it to thrive in its environment, it may leave more offspring behind than other individuals of its species
What is the advantage of planting both kinds of crops in adjacent fields
If the two fields were next to each other, the insects can mate and mix their genes. The resistant insects mate with vulnerable neighbors and produce less resistant offspring
When science is done properly, experimental data are published and read by other scientists. How does that help scientists arrive at better solutions to problems
If there is already data proving or disapproving a hypothesis, then other scientists can look toward this and create better hypotheses. They can also see that went wrong in a hypothesis and see if they can prove it to be correct/true
In a controlled experiment, what is assumed to cause changes in the dependent
In a controlled experiment, all variables are kept the same except the one that is being tested. Unless we use sophisticated experimental design and statistical methods, we can only test one independent variable at a time. If you test two independent variables at the same time you cause changes in the dependent variable, because you don't know what your measuring/observing
In mice, explain how genes control body development from front to back (not head to tail but belly to back)
In a developing mouse, cells along the belly (the ventral side) produce BMP4
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) show us that when you insert genes into a crop plant, you can significantly affect the relative fitness of insects who eat the crops. How did evolution work in opposite directions in insects exposed to Bt- treated and Bt-untreated crops
In a filed treated with BT-treated crops, insect that could resist BT were bale to flourish. But their mutations that gave them resistance also impose a cost. In a field planted with ordinary crops, the resistant insects would be out competed by the other insects that didn't invest so much in detoxifying BT. In the two fields, evolution moved in opposite directions
How do these characteristics differ from chimps and the other apes
In chimpanzees and other apes, this hole is orientated backwards, chimpanzees lack a lot of the structures for bipedalism
When proteins have more than one function, are both functions usually performed equally well? What evolutionary advantage could come from this ability
In fact, most promiscuous proteins do one job well, and another poorly. Still, even a modest ability to carry out a chemical reaction is better than none, if that reaction starts to benefit an organism
What is the value of a scientific theory
In science, theories are accepted at the highest level of confidence in our understanding of the natural world. They are something that almost all scientists in a field have agreed on
According to Darwin, why do individuals compete
Individuals compete-albeit unconsciously-for the limited resources necessary for survival
What is balancing selection? Use the example of sickle cell anemia in Nigeria to explain balancing selection
Instead of favoring only one allele, natural selection in this case promotes genetic variation in a population. In the case of S and A alleles, balancing selection makes the population more resistant overall to malaria
Since ground-running dinosaurs could not fly, what are other possibilities for the use of their feathers
Insulation, attracting mates, hiding from predators, and even insulating eggs
Feathers first appeared in feathered theropods without wings. What could the feathers have been used for
Insulation, courtship, territorial displays
Define endosymbiosis
Involves an intimate relationship between two species (symbiosis= living together) in which one species lives inside the other species (endo= inside)
Why was a cup-shaped eye an improvement over the flat patch of light-sensitive cells
It allows light to come in many different directions instead of just one, pictorial information
What did a smaller opening add to the capability of evolving eyes? drawback to this type of eye
It allows sharper focus of light, it creates a very dim image
Describe the relationship between the isolation of an area, like an island, and the diversity of species that live on it
It basically means that the life on that island is not going to change much since there are limited combinations in what organisms can reproduce together
Explain why it can be difficult to determine to which species an organism belongs
It can be difficult to tell if an organism is a different species or just a subset of one species
How does the coevolutionary arms race between tongue orchids and dupe wasps affect evolution in the wasps and the orchids
It causes them both to develop even more sophisticated ways of achieving reproductive success
Develop your own hypothesis to explain what may have initially caused the orchid plant to produce a chemical that mimics the dupe wasp pheromone
It could have been a mutation or just an already existing scent that was similar to the wasp pheromone
What factors influence the amount of gene flow
It depends on how far individual organisms move, and how far their gametes move
What was the effect of the end-Cretaceous extinction on the relative diversity of mammals and large dinosaurs on the earth
It ended a lot of diverse life forms and killed off large dinosaurs
Explain how climate change affected the white lemuroid possum
It forced the possum to move to higher elevations to live, eventually running out of space
Describe the fossil bird, Archaeopteryx. Which of its characteristics were bird traits? Which characteristics were reptile traits
It had a bird skeleton and bird feathers but it also had teeth in its beak, claws on its wings and a long, reptilian tail
Describe the fossils of Opabinia and its lifestyle, based on its body parts
It had flaps along side it body, no legs, a broad flat-tail, helped it swim up high in the water, it had five eyes, a long snout-like body part they would grab its food with
Describe Anomalocaris. What is significant about this fossil animal
It had plates along its back, tail at the rear-end (was a simmer), and a mouth with teeth. Could propel itself through the water, grow to the length of a meter, it was the first big predator on the earth
How has climate change affected extinction rates
It has increased extinction rates
How has climate change affected speciation rates
It has lowered speciation rates
What effect did the Siberian traps have on ocean chemistry
It heated the ocean, causing it lose a lot of oxygen
Define biogeography
It is a branch of science that attempts to explain the distribution of species on Earth. It not only explains why each species living today is located where it is, but also reaches back in time to explain why extinct species lived where they did and why they don't live there anymore
Why was the discovery of Tiktaalik roseae significant
It is helping scientists understand evolutions great transition from water to land
In the relationship between the yucca moth and yucca plant, is the relationship purely beneficial to both organisms? Explain your answer
It isn't entirely beneficial because the yucca moth could take advantage of the plant
What is the effect of reproductive barriers on sexually reproducing species
It keeps species distinct
Describe reproduction in the echidna
It lays an egg that it carries around for 50 days, when it hatches the baby is put into a den for protection
Describe the characteristics of Tiktaalik roseae fossils found on Ellesmere Island, Canada,How old are these fossils
It looked something like a fish with arms, with the flattened head of a salamander. It measured about three feet from it flat head to its swimming tail. It had gills and scales, like a fish, but its front pair of appendages could bend at the elbow and could support the weight of its body, 375 million years old
Why is a good theory superior to facts
It organizes them, changing them from a loose collection of details into a meaningful, well-supported picture
Now let's compare the two trees on page 61 of the textbook. Why is the tree on the left more likely to correctly explain the relationship among these six species than the tree on the right
It separates each animal based on an evolution of features that put certain animals in the same group
What function did the lens add to eye evolution
It sharpens image focus on the retina to make a complete image
What is the role of the Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium model in the study of evolution
It shows what happens in a sexually-reproducing population that is not evolving. In other words, allele frequencies stay the same from generation to generation
Describe the microbes found in the deep waters of Green Lakes, NY
It survived in deadly hydrogen sulfide
How does the platypus find its food in the water
It used its bill to find the electric currents that all animals produce
What type of symbiosis exists between the mold and the fungus? Explain your answer
It's a parasitic, probably
What type of symbiosis exists between the leafcutter ants and the fungus? Explain your answer
It's both mutualistic and predatory. The ants feed the fungi, but they also eat it. The fungi wouldn't live without the ants, but it also dies
Explain the statement "Natural selection does not have foresight"
It's saying what was good/helpful at one point in evolution can change to be something unuseful
Identify the factors that have caused species extinctions over the last few hundred years
Killing individuals Habitat loss Isolated species
Describe their body plan, as seen in Fractofusus
Laid on the sea bottom, spindled shape mass, very thin, contained 20 elements on each side
How does full-blown language set humans apart from other animals
Language allows communication about abstract concepts, even things that are in the past and in the future. Animals cannot do this
How do squid mate
Large males generally tend to guard the females and they place their sperm, which is encased in a spermatophore, inside the females mantle cavity, as near to her oviducal entrance as they can get
Describe reproduction in the platypus
Lays its egg and leaves it in a den for protection
Over time, radioactive uranium turns into
Lead
Which primates are called prosimians? Where do most of them live
Lemurs, tarsiers, and lorises, are called before monkeys. They live mostly in Madagascar
Does Lenski's research suggest that the ability to feed on citrate was the first mutation that arose in his bacterial population
Lenski's research suggests that the first mutations may not have even allowed E.coli to feed on citrate at all, but merely opened the way for later changes to produce this new adaption
What happened to the original surface of the Earth
Lighter formations or rock rose and became continents, surrounding crust became vast bosin; which became the oceans. Earth continued to collide with the remaining debris from the original solar disk. Plant broke into plates, opposite margins of the plates were driven down under the crust, and melted away
Red kangaroo
Live in dry, arid desert. Stay in shade and put saliva on skin. The tail props the body up like a fifth leg
Using synchrotron X-ray tomography, what did Professor Philip Donoghue learn about fossilized Markuelia embryos from South China
Lived 20 million years after the animals of Edicaran. Show the first evidence of an animal with a mouth, rings of teeth, and a gut throughout the body until the anus at the end. Internal digestion. That it ate other animals
Describe the lifestyle of the fractal animals found at Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, Canada
Lived on a muddy sea bottom, were a community, very simple animals, absorbed chemical substances, immobile
Based on this tree, what is the closest relative to birds
Lizards
Describe the process of recombination
Lizards that were put on Pod Mrcaru developed a new gut chamber through a beneficial mutation that allowed them to digest plants and to not starve
How can you tell them apart
Look at the nose shape and determine where their habitats are
What other evidences to support this hypothesis are they going to look for next
Look for the poisonous bacteria and hydrogen sulfide
What method is used to clear up confusion when the phylogenetic tree (also called a cladogram) for a single gene does not match the accepted phylogenetic tree for the species involved
Looking at the history of many genes, rather than one, can give scientists a clear picture of the evolution of the species that carry them
Describe the characteristics of primates
Mammals that are adapted to tree-dwelling. Have large brains, large eyes, binocular visions, and grasping hands
Describe the mantis shrimp. What does the comparison of modern-day mantis shrimp with Anomalocaris reveal about the lifestyle of Anomalocaris
Mantis shrimp lurk in burrows waiting for prey. They both have big appendages that shoot out in front to grab prey. Superb vision, great speed, and superior size. 1 2 different color receptors in its eyes (mantis shrimp)
Explain this statement. Different animals are made of the same parts, just arranged in new combinations
Many genes are very much the same but produce different results in different combinations with other genes
Give an example of a neutral mutation and explain why it is neutral
Many mutations alter protein-coding genes without changing their function, these mutations have no effect on survival
What is its major drawback
Many species that seem distinct have been able to produce hybrids with other species
Name five New World monkeys
Marmosets, squirrel monkeys, capuchins, spider monkeys, howler monkeys
What two mammal branches are eutherians
Marsupials and placental mammals
Explain the difference between mass extinctions and background extinction
Mass - Any of several events in the Earth's past in which large numbers of species (in some cases, up to eighty percent) became extinct. Background - The ongoing low-level extinction of individual species over very long periods of time due to naturally occurring environmental or ecological factors such as climate change, disease, loss of habitat, or competitive disadvantage in relation to other species
During which one does the highest rate of extinction occur
Mass extinctions
Cast
Material filling the cavity of the plant or animal, but the internal structure are not preserved
What is the first fossil evidence for life on land? How old is it
Microbial mats, 2.6 billion years old
Why is mitochondrial DNA valuable when making phylogenetic trees
Mitochondrial DNA is useful to scientists because it doesn't get shuffled together during sex, like the DNA in the nucleus. Instead, children inherit mitochondrial DNA from their mothers; nearly identical
Name and briefly describe the three branches of mammals
Monotremes- lay shelled eggs, no formed nipples- platypus Marsupials-pouched mammals- kangaroos, opossums Placental mammals- fetus develops in placenta
Describe the adaptations of the praying mantises shown in the video
Mosquitoes who are genetically more resistant to the insecticide will survive and produce more resistant offspring
Describe the sources of bias in the fossil record
Most land-dwelling organisms, after they die, are rapidly devoured and decomposed. But plants or animals that live in water or that fall into or are washed into lakes, streams, or swamps after they die are more likely to be preserved Plants and animals with hard parts like shells and bones and stems don't decompose very quickly, and are more likely to form fossils
What are stromatolites
Mounds that grow on the floors of lakes and shallow seas. Sediments and minerals accumulate on the bacteria in thin layers, and more bacteria grow on top of the sediments and minerals
What set of circumstances allowed Lucy's skeleton to be turned into a fossil
No predator found her body before it began rotting in the lake's soft sediments, sand and gravel deposits built up over years and buried her remains. Calcium in her bones were replaced by minerals from the deposits
Have scientists found examples of all fossilized organisms yet
No, because most fossilized organisms found are fossils of water-living species
Just because two species have coevolved in one part of their shared range, does it follow that they have coevolved in all areas where they both live
No, the same two species may be mismatched in "coldspots" and matched in "hotspots"
Most of the marsupials of South/Central America are mostly ___________. Most live in ______________, have few ___________________, and have a broad ______________
Nocturnal, the canopy of the rainforest, predators, a broad diet
Is it possible for new adaptations to be the best possible solution to a problem? Why or why not
Not always because the adaptation may not cover a future problem or in fact be more of a detriment
All dinosaurs died at the end of the Cretaceous Period, 65 mya. Is this a true statement or not? Explain your answer
Not exactly because they were just slowly evolving into modern animals
Gene duplication occurs when a gene is accidentally copied. Explain how gene duplication can prevent the loss of a re-assigned protein's function
Now two genes can make the same protein. One of the genes is now free to evolve to make the slow reaction even faster. The other copy of the genes can continue to make proteins adapted to carry out the original reaction
How did the addition of nutrient-rich melt water at the end of Snowball Earth result in the evolution of complex life forms
Nutrient-rich melt water flooded into the oceans. For the surviving cells, the ground up rock was amazing. For microbes it was a potent fertilizer
What is stabilizing selection? Give an example
Occurs when extreme versions of a trait are selected against, very small newborn babies, for example, are more vulnerable to many health problems and are therefore more likely to die than larger babies
Define dispersal
Occurs when species themselves spread away from their place of origin
Describe asexual reproduction
Offspring are produced by a single parent, so each offspring has a copy of DNA that is identical to that of its single parent
Of the New World monkeys or the Old World monkeys, which is most closely related to apes
Old World monkeys
This style of tools is known as the _____________________ tools
Oldowan
What "statistical rule" does genetic drift follow in small and large populations
One allele becomes more common than the other, but in none of them does one of the alleles become fixed
Which of these apes are the "great" apes
Orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, human
How do sexually reproducing organisms prevent the continual doubling of their chromosome number
Organisms have to make special cells with half the regular chromosome number, yet containing one full set of genes
What prevents most dead organisms (such as dead animals and plants) from becoming fossils
Other organisms, such as vultures and hyenas, will eat the dead organisms muscles and organs. Insects, fungi, and bacteria, feed on what's left. The weather can also affect fossilization
Science
Our knowledge of the natural world and the process through which that knowledge is built. The process of science relies on testing ideas with evidence gathered from the natural world. Science as a whole cannot be precisely defined but can be broadly described by a set of key characteristics
What effect did the selective breeding experiments on pigeons have on traits in the pigeon population
Over many generations, this selective breeding would cause the traits to get more and more exaggerated
If animals as different as octopuses and cats inherit the same "genetic tool kit" of regulatory genes, why are their bodies so different
Over time, How genes and other developmental genes came to control new genetic programs; helped give rise to new variations on the vertebrate body plan
What happened to the anaerobic bacteria
Oxygen attacked the existing life, destroying it on contact, and driving many species to extinction, the survivors of this assault hit the deepest parts of the oceans and buried themselves in mudflaps
Discuss why bands of rust are seen in the layers of earth
Oxygen bubbling from the cyanobacteria with the iron in the oceans and for millions of years iron oxide rained down forming huge beds of red rust on the ocean floor. These rust bands are seen because they were pushed up by tectonic action and exposed by erosion
When Thewissen and his team measured the ratio of light and heavy oxygen in fossil whale teeth, what did they discover about the lifestyles of Pakicetus and Ambulocetus
Pakicetus still drank freshwater, while Ambulocetus had intermediate ratio, suggesting that it was drinking brackish water near the shore, or a mix of freshwater and seawater
Define vicariance
Species become separated from each other when geographical barriers emerge
What has comparing whales to land mammals revealed about the method of swimming used by whales
Paleontologists believe that whales came from an ancestor named sinonyx; a wolf-like creature. This animal took to the sea and over millions of years through variation and selection, did these animals gained fins from their front legs, lost their hind legs, and fur
What advantage did a male get from having a big tail with many eyespots
Peahens pay attention to them and want to mate with them, their offspring tend to live a lot longer
Contrast this with the use of theory by most people in everyday speech
People think a hero is simply a hunch; a vague guess based on little evidence
Describe the body of Aysheaia and its modern descendent, the velvet worm, Peripatus. Why have the velvet worms remained unchanged since they moved onto land 540 million years ago
Peripatus looks like a worm but has legs, and had tiny little holes along its flanks which enable it to breathe air. Aysheaia is the same to Peripatus except it lived in water, so had gills instead. Peripatus except it lived in water, so had gills inserted. Peripatus is covered in soft palatable skin, that lack of hard skin/exoskeleton means their unsupported by water and can't grow any bigger
The Siberian traps were active during the _________________ geological period
Permian
What happens during photosynthesis? In plants, where does photosynthesis occur
Photosynthesis replenishes the air with oxygen, but it also stores energy from the sun as sugar. Photosynthesis occurs in a plant's cells, in the organelle, chloroplasts
What is phylogeny
Phylogeny is the evolutionary relationships of a group of organisms
Define phylogeny
Phylogeny is the study of the evolutionary history of organisms
Describe the body plan of Pikaia. What was significant about this fossil animal
Pikaia was a worm-like creature, had no teeth, or external skeleton, but had an internal skeleton; a back-bone. It is the ancestor of all vertebrates
What abilities or characteristics could make a plant or insect species more likely to survive climate change
Plants - ability to be pollinated by many different insects Insects - ability to shift to new flowers
What assumption can be made about plants or animals that have similar body structures? Why is this assumption valid
Plants or animals that have similar body structures are assumed to be closely related. The reason for this assumption has to do with the origin of these structures they were inherited from a common ancestor
Describe some of the problems that climate change may cause in coevolved plant and insect species
Plants will flower too soon, not providing enough food to the insects. The insects will die, decreasing plant population because of no reproduction
What is positive selection? Give an example
Positive selection, takes place when an allele increases the reproductive success of an individual. Positive selection can occur if a mutation allows bacteria to metabolize their food more efficiently
Which would be more appropriate to use to date younger rocks that might be 65 million years old
Potassium-40
Explain how predictions are formulated from hypotheses using the "if...then..." process
Predictions are formulated from hypotheses using deductive reasoning. If the "if...then..." statement is correct, then the test conducted should show results
Compare prezygotic isolation and postzygotic isolation
Prezygotic isolation- is barriers that block reproduction at some point before sperm from a male fertilizes an egg from a female Postzygotic isolation- is created by reproductive barriers that come into play after fertilization
Did her findings support Stringer's hypothesis or not
Tishkoff's results agree with the work of other researchers who have studied other genes
If Baumannia and Sulcia were removed from their insect host, the sharpshooter, would they be able to survive on their own? Explain why or why not
Probably not because they wouldn't have a safe, sustaining environment
Explain what life on earth was like 3 billion years ago
Prokaryotic cells were first the first life forms on Earth and the earliest bacteria and lived in the ocean
Compare the wing of a pterosaur to the wing of Archaeopteryx
Pterosaur had 3 small digits in its arm and a fourth which is very long. The membrane of the wing attaches to this fourth digit and long its body and hind limb
The loss of subatomic particles from an unstable element, such as uranium, is called...
Radioactive decay
What caused the end of the "Golden Age of the Arthropods"
Rainforests had died back and the oxygen decreased
Describe reproduction in the grey kangaroo
Releases embryo from the birth canal; the embryo will crawl up into the ouch, to feed and grow. When its old enough the baby will leave its mother's pouch
Describe two examples of commensalism. In each case, explain which species' fitness was increased by the relationship
Remoras attach to sharks and clean up after their kill. They benefit from free food. Mosquito larvae eat the leftovers from pitcher plants
On a phylogenetic tree, what is the location of the branch points
Represents the relative time of origin of different groups
What organism is the host for the barnacle Sacculina? How, specifically, does Sacculina affect its host
Sacculina destroys the sex organs of crabs so that it can get the energy from the crab instead
What is the oldest fossil that is more like humans than other apes
Sahelanthropus
Describe the characteristics of hominins that show the transition to bipedalism, as seen in the early fossil forms (Sahelanthropus, Orrorin, Ardipithecus, and Australopithecus)
Sahelanthropus- had a hole in the skull that was oriented downwards, head sat atop of its neck Ardipithecus and Orrorin- their leg bones hint that they walked upright, Orrorin thigh bone had a ball at the top that was orientated much like the ball on the femur of a modern human Australopithecus- spines curved so that the upper body sat above the hips, knees located to the midline of the body, feet had a stout heel and the beginnings of an arch
Explain parallel evolution in sticklebacks
Saltwater sticklebacks develop spine while freshwater sticklebacks have mutations that has prevented the spine-creating gene from activating
What are two possible ways that flight might have evolved
Scales may have transformed into feathers, which allowed for flight to take off. OR they were tree dwellers that glided from tree to tree
Explain why science can be called a process of elimination
Science can be called a process of elimination because scientists eliminate explanations or hypotheses that are not valid. In science we don't know everything, there is always the possibility of being wrong. The longer a hypothesis stands without being rejected, the more likely it is to be correct
Explain what science can and cannot be used for
Science cannot be used for things that cannot be observed or measured objectively. Science cannot also be used to test beliefs; such as religions. Science can be used to help understand how the world works through observations and collecting data to support hypotheses
How is the process of science applied to a group of phylogenetic trees showing different possible relationships among groups of organisms
Science is a process of elimination; if any trees contain contradictions to current knowledge are eliminated or revised
What are the rules for writing out a scientific name by hand? In print
Scientific names should be underlined when hand-written or written in italics when printed
Why are creationist arguments not scientific
Scientists can only explain phenomena that follow natural, repeatable patterns. Creation by God cannot be explained since it is supernatural. Intelligent design is not scientific because science can not document the nature of the designer and predict anything about its design
How do scientists decide if the results of their experiments are valid
Scientists decide if the results of their experiments are valid by statistical analysis of the data. They see what probability could of have been chance and the results of the experiment that support the hypothesis
Explain the relationship between sexual reproduction and the ability to adapt quickly to changing environments
Sexual reproduction increased the speed of evolution, produced greater genetic variation more quickly, so over many generations species were able to adapt quickly to their changing environments
Three billion years ago, what type of organisms were present on Earth
Single-celled microbes, some tossed by ocean waves, others formed slimy films on the sea floor
Explain why small differences in genotype fitness can yield big long-term effects through selection
Slight differences in fitness get magnified, over time a genotype with a slightly higher relative fitness can come to dominate a population
Based on the fossils found by Dr. Berger and his colleagues, what characteristics did Australopithecus sediba share with other species of Australopithecus
Small brain size, long, high cheekbones, primitive molar cusps, small body size, long upper limbs, primitive heel bone
Describe the echidna and its lifestyle
Small, hairy/spikey animal with a long nose Strong sense of smell and searches for food often
Describe how massive volcanic eruptions have affected species extinction
Smoke and gases released have caused the temperature of the Earth to rise. The gas also destroyed ozone, allowing radioactive particles from space to fall to Earth
As social life of primates changed, how did this affect the primate face and brain
Social-brain - The more complicated a species' social system is, the larger the brain. Innovation theory - Nature favors larger brains because it allows the organism to innovate and adapt
Define sympatric speciation
Some animals and plans appear to have diverged while living side-by-side
Explain the role of natural selection in the evolution of the color and structure of the mantis' body
Some bacteria can become resistant when strains that aren't killed reproduce to make resistant offspring
What is the difference between fitness and relative fitness
Some genotypes increase faster than others, and the difference between the is known as their relative fitness, Scientists usually give the genotype with the higher fitness in a population a value of 1
Explain the role of endosymbiosis in the evolution of plant chloroplasts and the advantages of this evolutionary relationship
Sometimes in the distant pass, cyanobacteria entered into a relationship with a primitive plant-like organism, eventually becoming a living part of this organism and in the process creating something new, a plant. This relationship was mutually beneficial, cyanobacteria to leave the sea and move closer to the sun
Describe the biological species concept
Species as a group of actually or potentially interbreeding populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups
Describe the process of meiosis
Starts in the diploid cells of sex organs, meiosis separates the chromosomes into two complete but separate sets, the original chromosomes that came from the parents are shuffled and dealt out randomly to the new cells being formed. The new cells are now call haploid cells. The male haploid cell joins with a female haploid cel during fertilization to produce a new individual called a zygote
Trace the steps between the Siberian traps and mass extinction? a. Step 1 b. Step 2 c. Step 3 d. Step 4 e. End step: Mass Extinction
Step 1 - Volcanos cause global warming by releasing gases. Step 2 - global warming. Step 3 - Oceans heat up and lose their oxygen. Step 4 - The hydrogen sulfide is released into the atmosphere after rising to the top. End step - Mass Extinction
What is taxonomy
Taxonomy is the process of identifying and classifying species. It is used to group similar organisms based on shared characteristics, which become more specific as the groups get smaller
Define teleology
Teleology is the philosophical view that attributes a purpose to living and non-living things
List the various activities involved in the scientific process
Testing ideas- Gathering data: hypotheses, expected results/observations, actual results/observations Interpreting data: supportive, contradictory, surprising or inconclusive data may (support a hypothesis, oppose a hypothesis, inspire revised/new hypothesis, inspire revised assumptions) Exploration and discovery- new technology, practical problem, curiosity, personal motivation, serendipity, surprising observations (making observations, asking questions, sharing data and ideas, finding inspiration, exploring the literature) Community analysis and feedback-feedback and peer review, replication, discussion with colleagues, publication, coming up with new questions/ideas, theory building Benefits and outcomes- develop technology, address societal issues, build knowledge, inform policy, satisfy curiosity, solve everyday problems
What does that tell us about its lifestyle
That Markuelia was a predator, That there were predators in the ocean, eating other animals, the evolution of body plan became more elaborate
What was the impact of the evolution of predators upon their prey? How did Wiwaxia, ammonites and arthropods respond to big predators
That hunting had started in the cambrian period. As predators became bigger, faster and stronger; they're prey developed increasingly elaborate defenses
What did the distribution of plants and animals he observed suggest to Darwin
That in each part of the world they evolved gradually over many thousands of years, and that evolution did not follow the same pathway in all parts of the world
What did she conclude by comparing Funisia fossils to modern-day corals, Based on what evidence
That just like coral, funisia at a certain time released its offspring. This means that they were all simultaneously conceived at the same time,
What assumption can be made about plants or animals that have similar embryos? Why is this assumption valid
That plants or animals inherited the genes that control embryonic development from a common ancestor. If they look similar and go through the same sequences of changes, they are probably related
When Darwin compared Galapagos Island mockingbirds to the mockingbirds from mainland South America, what did he notice
That there was a difference from the mainland birds, and how they varied from island to island. The variation in mockingbirds isolated from each other led Darwin to question the stability of species an idea that would eventually lead him to his history of evolution by natural selection
What assumption can be made about two different organisms that have the same type of cell or tissue in their bodies
That they probably descended from a common ancestor, who all started off with the same array of molecules making up their bodies
What did fossil footprints reveal about the lifestyle of Australopithecus afarensis
That they were bipedal walkers
Based on a molecular clock developed by the Grants, how long have Darwin's finches been on the Galápagos Islands
That what they estimated to test the origination of the HIV-1 virus, helped them accurately predict its age by using the molecular clock
How does the DNA of the daughter cells compare to the DNA of the parent cell
The DNA of the daughter cells contain the same genetic information as the parent cell
What had to occur for paleontologists to find her fossilized remains
The Earth's crust to more and heavy storms beating down on the Earth eroded the sediment, exposing her remains
Explain how speciation occurred in Caribbean Sea (Atlantic Ocean) and Pacific Ocean shrimp
The Isthmus of Panama rose and separated the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, causing the shrimps to be separated and evolve separately. However, they are still more closely related to each other than they are to other shrimps in their respective waters
Explain how the Lake Apoyo cichlids evolved into two species
The Midas cichlid originally invaded the lake, perhaps swept in during a hurricane. The arrow cichlid then branched off from the midas cichlids, evolving a distinctive body shape and no longer breeding with their parent species. They enjoyed more reproductive success if they mated with other slender cichlids
Mold
Tissue may dissolve and wash away, leaving a space with the form of the original organisms that will be filled in by a harder material-this forms a mold from the cavity
How does the outcome of this experiment relate to sexual selection in humans
The ability to smell good genes is a remarkable talent, we just like the way someone smells, look, or because they make us laugh; we do it to make us feel good
Describe the amniotic egg and the function of each membrane
The amnion that makes amniotic fluid to bathe the embryo and cushion it The chorion that is involved in gas exchange The allantois that is involved in metabolic water dispersal The yolk sac contains yolk which provides the embryos with nutrients In most amniotic eggs, a leathery or brittle steel surround the embryo and these four membranes
Explain the relationship between the leafcutter ants and the fungus that they eat
The ants bring plants back that the fungi break down in order to remove the poisons. Then the ants eat the fungus
What is the big advantage of placental reproduction
The baby can more on its own
. Think back to the leafcutter ants, their fungus, the bacteria, and the mold. Which two organisms are involved in a coevolutionary arms race
The bacteria and the mold are fighting to beat one another through adaptation
What do Lenski's experiments on E. coli tell us about the fitness of his bacteria over time
The bacteria became more fit in the new environment than their ancestors, all experienced natural selection, they have acquired mutations that make them more efficient at growing under the conditions that lens set up
Humans and gut bacteria
The bacteria breaks food down and gives us amino acids and vitamins. Humans provide a home and source of food for the bacteria
Plants and rhizobia bacteria
The bacteria helps the plant break down nitrogen and the plant provides nutrients
Describe the adaptation that evolved in Lenski's bacteria (E. coli)
The bacteria in one flask had evolved to grow much faster than the other, the bacteria started eating a compound called citrate, this peculiar strain of E.coli could thrive on citrate alone
Why hasn't the mold evolved resistance to antibiotics, like we are seeing today in antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria
The bacteria is evolving to beat to the mold
Explain the relationship between the bacteria living on the ants and the mold that attacks the fungus
The bacteria kills the mold
How many changes in protein function had to occur before the soil bacterium Sphingobium could break down the environmental toxin PCP
The bacteria needed to use five different proteins to break down PCP
Describe some of the factors that might determine whether a species survives a mass extinction or not
The bigger the geographical range of a genus, the longer it tended to survive
In what way is the biological environment different from the physical environment
The biological environment can also evolve
The collection of Darwin's finches
The birds were finches, they had different beaks, but they shared a number of telltale traits of finches. Darwin concluded that all life had evolved. The fact that all living things share a common ancestry
What is the effect of the FOXP2 gene on the activity of Broca's area, an area of the brain involved in processing language
The broca area becomes especially active
What happens during DNA replication
The cell makes a copy of its DNA
What happens if you separate a sponge into individual cells with a sieve
The cells begin to move and then they form clumps, then the clumps come together until a miniature sponge is formed
What factors can constrain evolution
The changing atmosphere, genes can constrain evolution from within, developmental constraints, and even history itself
Why was endosymbiosis beneficial to both the plant ancestral cell and the chloroplast ancestor
The chloroplast had a safe home while the plant cell had a constant source of energy
What environmental factor led to the evolution of proteins in Sphingobium that could break down PCP faster
The development of new chlorine-based compounds to kill assorted pests, that eventually made its way into the soil
If you could time travel to 200 million years ago and walk on land, what kind of organisms would you see
The dominant vertebrates were ungainly sprawling creatures called synapsids. There were no flowering plants, or grasses, but therewere relatives of living ferns and ginglco trees
Describe the evidence that supports an asteroid impact as a major factor in the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period
The element iridium lands on Earth steadily, but there was a large increase in it found. It was decided that a meteor or comet from space impacted the Earth
What did Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace figure out
The environment acts on populations to "select" the individuals that have the best ability to survive and reproduce. That guarantees that succeeding generations will have the traits that allowed survival and reproduction in higher proportions
Why don't all venomous snakes have the same kind of venom
They have different delivery systems and it also depends on the environment and their source of food; what venom works for each snake. Also where they diverged and broke off in evolution
Describe the origin of mitochondria and chloroplasts
The evolution of mitochondria and chloroplasts is more complicated. Mitochondria burn food to provide energy, using oxygen in the process. Chloroplasts do photosynthesis, using sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into food and oxygen. The evolution of mitochondria and chloroplasts involves endosymbiosis
Define convergent evolution
The evolution of two lineages into a similar form by different routes
What is shown on phylogenetic trees
The evolutionary relationships among a set of organisms or groups of organisms called taxa
How did Darwin convince his contemporaries that natural selection was real
The first chapter of Darwin's book discussed agriculture, many of the scientists were landowners and depended on bringing about change in their crops. So they could accept the idea of nature doing it but naturally
Do fossilized organisms represent all types of organisms that ever lived
The fossils that have been found do not necessary represent all types of organisms that ever existed
What is the function of DNA
The function of DNA is to carry information between generations
Plants and mycorrhizal fungi
The fungi break down nutrients for the plant which then funnels CO2 back to the fungi
Describe the evolutionary relationship between the rough-skinned newt and the garter snake
The garter snake can eat the newt, which has developed poison. The snake is resistant, allowing it to continue to eat its prey
What is the significance of the fruit fly experiment by Dr. Walter Gehring
The gene for developing eyes was isolated from the mice and put into fruit flies where it also developed eyes. The genes were the same, there was a common ancestor
Describe the geographic barrier that separates the two main groups of salamander
The great central valley of California separated the salamanders
Describe the evolution of greenish warblers in Asia
The greenish warblers weren't geographically isolated, but they migrated around the Tibetan Plateau, evolving separately until they were no longer able to interbreed when both species (East and West) contacted in Siberia
Describe the anatomical changes that occurred in the descendants of Homo heidelbergensis in Europe. What environmental changes drove these evolutionary changes
The legs became stubby, chests wider, the bodies more muscled
As seen in the Paleozoic fauna, how might habitat loss affect the possibility of a species or group going extinct
The loss of habitat greatly increases the possibility of species extinction
What would probably happen to the population of praying mantis if the environment changed to a brown background
The mantis would stand out and would probably get eaten
What happened to the marsupials of Antarctica after the southern supercontinent broke apart
The marsupials died out from the extreme cold
Explain the relationship between the mold and the fungus
The mold kills the fungus
What is the basic difference between eukaryotes and bacteria/archaeans
The most obvious trait that distinguishes eukaryotes from bacteria and archaeans is a sac, called the nucleus, in which a eukaryote stores its DNA
How does the moth increase the yucca plant's fitness
The moth spreads the pollen for the yucca plant
How does the moth decrease the yucca plant's fitness
The moth's children might eat all of the seeds, leaving the plant with no genetic material
What effect does recombination have on the offspring of sexually reproducing organisms
The mutant is recessive can have no effect if one parent allele is dominant, but if the mutant is dominant than it will always alter the phenotype of a child that inherits it
What are the parts of a scientific name
The name is made of two latin words, one is of their genus and the other is of their species
Explain how this relationship is an evolutionary arms race
The newt and the snake are always developing new defenses to each other
Describe the origin of eukaryotic cells
The nucleus (and some other organelles) probably evolved from infolding of the plasma membrane (membrane at the cell's edge). This divided the interior of the cell into many separate compartments, allowing each cellular function to proceed more efficiently
Describe two straw man hypotheses that are commonly used by creationists
The odds of complex traits being produced by randomness is astronomically tiny. Natural selection is not random, only mutations are. The absence of fossils that document transition means there is no evolution. With small chance of fossils, there is no way to have every fossil or every organism. The found ones still prove theory of evolution
Describe the interaction between the Lissopimpla excelsa wasp (also called orchid dupe wasps) and the tongue orchid
The orchids trick the wasps into carrying their pollen by imitating what a female would look like
In a large population of orchids, some orchids make dupe wasp pheromones and others do not. Explain which type of orchids (with or without pheromones) would have a reproductive advantage and why
The orchids who can produce the pheromones have more advantage because they're able to attract more male wasps to carry their pollen
What is the oxygen catastrophe
The oxygen catastrophe was the early appearance of oxygen and how oxygen attacked the prokaryotic cells
Explain how natural selection is acting on the milkweed plant and caterpillars that eat it
The plant and the caterpillars are both developing defenses in response to the other's adaptations
How does the plant control the effect of moth larvae feeding on it
The plant will abort its seeds, killing the larvae, if the relationship is not carried out fully
Explain why most plants are mutualists with their pollinators
The plants have their pollen spread, but they also give nectar or nutrients for the organism to eat
Explain pleiotropy
The production by a single gene of two or more apparently unrelated effects. Occurs when one gene influences two or more seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits
Describe sexual reproduction
The production of new living organisms by combining genetic information from two individuals of different types (sexes)
What was the origin of these new proteins used to break down PCP
The proteins Sphingobium uses to break down PCP are related to proteins the bacteria uses to break down other molecules, such as amino acids
Explain what an adaptive radiation is
The rapid diversification of a group of organisms into forms filling different ecological niches
Describe how fitness applies to a genotype in a population
The rate at which a genotype increases in a population is known as fitness
What is gene flow
The rate at which alleles move between populations
Define coevolution
The reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species
What evidence for this hypothesis was found when the Nevada rocks were analyzed
The rocks were at the bottom of the ocean once and were devoid of oxygen
In the hummingbird example, what environmental factor determines which hummingbirds do well and which hummingbirds do poorly
The shape of their bill, their wings (shape), the distance they can travel, all depends on the environment
How did the two "arms" of species differ in their adaptation to their environments
The side that followed the forests needed more camouflage in order to survive, changing their markings. The coast side followed the colors of poisonous newts
The narrator on the video points out three differences among the mockingbird species found on the Galapagos islands. What are they
The size of the birds, the color of the feathers on the birds chest, and the beak size
Describe the behavior of sneaker male giant cuttlefish
The smaller males use camouflage to dress up as a female while they go to the real female to start mating while the bigger males aren't aware, Females not only choose their mates but they also choose which sperms get chose, and they normally choose the sneaker male squid over the big males; after running experiments, scientists found that the rate of fertilization for sneaker males was higher than the other males
What is the evolutionary cost to a snake that is highly resistant to newt toxin
The snake moves much slower when it is resistant to toxins, allowing predators to attack more easily
What are sneaker males? Describe their method of increasing their evolutionary success
The sneaker males (who are usually smaller and may also look like the females of a species) sneak in "under the radar" and deposit the sperm with the female or on the eggs. They may also fool big strong males into decreasing their chance of producing offspring
Compare the likelihood of extinction in coral species that have coevolved in a mutualistic relationship with algae to those coral species that do not live mutualistically with algae
The species that lives mutualistically probably survives better
What factors affect the rate at which evolution occurs
The speed of response depends on the strength of selection, the amount of variation in the populations and how much of that variation is inherited
What advantage is there to the fertilization method used by sneaker squid
The sperm placed inside the seminal receptacle, or mouth cavity can last for several months and is viable during that time
Describe the opposable thumb and its advantages
The thumb is at a different angle from the other fingers. This allows one to manipulate an object or tool
What does "half-life" of a radioactive element mean
The time it takes for the radioactivity of a specified isotope to fall to half its original amount
In the relationship between the tongue orchid and the dupe wasp L. excelsa: a. Which species benefits? b. Which species is harmed (not physically damaged but may have lost opportunities to reproduce, thereby lowering its fitness)
The tongue orchid benefits from having its pollen spread The wasp is 'harmed' because it sometimes wastes its genetic material on the orchid. This is a lost opportunity to reproduce
What data do radioactive clocks provide
Time measurement based on radioactive decay
Explain how the divergence of the moth genus Tegeticula into two species is driving possible speciation in Joshua trees in the Mojave desert
The trees are being pollinated by two different moths, and they are gaining features that attract their own moth. It will eventually end cross pollination
In continued evolution between the tongue orchid and the dupe wasp L. excelsa, what kind of mutations do you think natural selection will favor in the wasp
The wasps that can distinguish between the orchid and a female are more likely to survive
Define species, using the biological species concept
The word species means a collection of similar organisms that are capable of interbreeding under natural conditions and producing live, and fertile offspring
Describe the basic structure of trilobite eyes
Their eyes are made of rock, each one of the dots is a sense that is made out of calcite, a form of chalk. Individual lenses had bowls inside to help them focus more precisely
Describe the types of changes that occurred in the lizards found on Pod Mrčaru, with respect to: anatomical changes
Their heads were bigger, allowing them to generate stronger bites, their legs had become shorter and they had become stronger, the digestive tract of each lizards had developed new muscular rings that pinched off a section of the gut, forming a new chamber
What anatomical changes are seen in Homo erectus and other early Homo species
Their long legs and straight feet now allowed them to walk efficiently, no longer using extra energy in moving their limbs out to the sides, could also run for long distances
How many types of subunits (nucleotides) occur in DNA? If all living things have DNA made of the same nucleotide subunits, why are we different
There are four types of nucleotides, each containing a different base: adenine, cytosine, thymine, and guanine. The DNA of all species is made from the same four nucleotides. Differences in the sequence of the nucleotides makes individuals in a species different from each other, and even greater differences in nucleotides order make species different from each other
Explain the geographic mosaic seen in rough-skinned newts and their garter snake predators
There is a mismatch in the areas where newts have high poison and the snakes have high resistance
Briefly explain why some birds became flightless
There were no large predators to escape from, so the birds used more energy for food gathering rather than flying
The similarities between Archaeopteryx and Deinonychus indicated that birds were related to which specific group of dinosaurs
Theropods
Which group of ground-running dinosaurs had feathers
Theropods
Why are cyanobacteria important in the history of the Earth?
These photosynthesizing bacteria were the first to evolve the ability to generate oxygen as a byproduct
What are satellite males? Describe their method of increasing their evolutionary success
These smaller and otherwise less desirable males sit around waiting for females to show up when the "big strong" male frogs sing to attract the females
What are protists
They are a group of eukaryotes that are not plants, animals, or fungi
List the apes and describe where they are found
They are found in Africa and Asia. Gibbons (lesser) Orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, human (great)
What disadvantage did a male get from having a big tail with many eyespots
They are heavy, conspicuous, and will slow down the animal when running from a predator
What are the advantages of being a sneaker or satellite male
They are less obvious to predators and have less of a risk of being eaten while sneaking around, fertilizing eggs, while the big strong males have to fight off both other big males and predators
How do new adaptations evolve
They are modifications of previously existing structures, pathways and other traits
Explain why the hybrid salamanders are thought to be an evolutionary "dead end"
They aren't really good at either hiding or mimicking, so they probably won't survive
As vision became more important in primates, how did their social lives change
They became more emotionally affected by the sight of their fellow primates than possible through smell
What is the role of the scientific community in testing predictions
They can come up with more experiments to see if explanations will get the same results
Can a mutation which occurs in a somatic cell be inherited
They can not be inherited because they occur in the "soma", or body
Explain how the ancestors of plants acquired their chloroplasts
They consumed photosynthetic bacteria that allowed them to produce energy
What has mitochondrial DNA been able to tell us about our own history
They found that African carry the biggest diversity of mitochondrial DNA. They also belong to branches that split off very early from those of other humans. The sequences of mitochondrial DNA of asians, europeans, and people of the new world are much more closely related to one another
Describe the body and lifestyle of Kimberella
They had a snout that fed by sitting through the mud, singular muscular foot
What three problems had to be solved in order for animals to move onto land
They had to learn how to prevent their bodies from drying out, had to develop a method of breathing air
How are early dinosaur feathers similar to the feathers found on today's birds
They had vanes, barbs, and a central stalk. Not only did the feathers have the same structures as feather on birds, but one fossil of a dinosaurs even had raised bumps, just like quill nodes on bird bones where feathers are anchored
Why do the offspring of these individuals who survived and reproduced have an advantage
They have a better chance at surviving in their environment and the trait becomes more common over the course of generations
Since Hox genes are pleiotropic, what are the possible consequences of mutations in Hox genes that caused, for instance, humans to have six fingers instead of five on each hand
They have many effects on an organism. As a result, a mutation to a single Hox gene may do more than just change the number of fingers on a hand. It's possible that the pleitrophy of how genes constrains tetrapod digits. Even if an extra digit would be favored by natural selection, the mutation that caused it would also cause harmful effects elsewhere in the body
Describe where the original salamanders lived about 10 mya and how they spread to the south
They lived in the Redwood forests of California
Describe the Carboniferous plant fossils found in Crail, Scotland. How old are these fossils? What was the Earth and its atmosphere like at this time
They looked like a mix of a tree and a horse tail. The continents of the world were grouped together and forests were widespread. The atmosphere had begun to change because of the oxygen producing plants
Describe the current distribution of marsupial species
They mostly exist in Australia
If scientists rely on indirect clues, how can they be confident in their explanations of natural phenomena
They must find a way to test their explanations against more testing. The better job that an explanation does in predicting the new evidence, the more confidence the scientists have in it
Describe how the work of Powers and Bottjer on the mass extinction of 252 million years ago demonstrates this process
They noticed that certain organisms had died and predicted that another variety would follow
Explain the role of the placenta and umbilical cord
They nourish and protect the baby until its ready to be born
Other than pollination, how do animals such as birds and bats help plants? How do these animals benefit
They pass seeds out in their feces. The animals have sustenance
How do dupe wasps use pheromones
They produce pheromones similar to females to attract the males
How could these microbes possibly relate to the end-Permian extinction
They released the hydrogen sulfide which killed a ton of organisms
What is significant about Funisia, the fossil organism studied by Dr. Mary Droser
They showed evidence of being able to reproduce sexually, they exchanged genetic material with other individuals, gene-swapping
What happens when male dupe wasps mistake orchid plants for female wasps
They try to mate with them and carry off pollen when they leave
Describe the function of mitochondria in cells. Which organisms are mitochondria most similar to
They use sugar and oxygen to produce energy for the cell. They also build iron and sulfur clusters that attach to protein
How do scientists make predictions about the past
They use techniques, such as chemical dating and evolutionary trees
Why were fractal animals an evolutionary dead end
They were proto-animals, lacked color, and were immobile, the simplicity of how they grew-lacked evolutionary purpose or advancement
Very early in development, all vertebrate embryos are very similar. What is responsible for this similarity
They're made up of identical cells
How does the pouch of South American marsupials differ from the pouch of Australian marsupials
They're not well developed so the babies hang to their mother's underside
Why was this experiment valuable in the study of evolution
This experiment was valuable because it showed how they could contrast a phylogenetic tree just on mutations and connect to how the virus would actually become
How does the relative dating of fossils work
This method involves comparisons of the sequence of layers in which fossils are found. When fossils are found in undisturbed rock, whose on the bottom are the oldest and those on top are the youngest
Explain the current distribution of the lineage of mite harvestmen
This species of mites can be found on continents and islands all over the world. It's been attributed to the shift in continents
Why are there no fossils from 4.55 billion years ago
This when the Earth was being created, we have no evidence of life on Earth's first billion years
How was the forelimb of Tiktaalik different from the forelimb of Eusthenopteron
Tiktaalik had the humerus, radius and ulna, just like Eusthenopteron, but Tiktaalik also had wrist bones
What was the purpose of the experiments done by Hallstrőm and Janke. How did their work support the use of trees based solely on DNA
To prove that the closest relative (living) tetrapods are lobe-fins, which today include lungfishes and coelacanths, The fossils made a prediction, in effect, and the DNA supported it. By comparing the DNA of living things, scientists can now explore parts of the tree of life that were once off limits
There are two lineages of modern whales, both descended from a common ancestor that lived about 35 million years ago. Name the two lineages and briefly discuss the differences between them
Toothed whales- evolved muscles and special organs that they used to produce high-pitched sounds with their blowholes and to hear echoes that bounced off animals and objects around them in the water Baleen Whales- lost their teeth and evolved huge, stiff pleats in their mouths that allowed them to swallow huge amounts of water, and to push it back out, straining out any fish or shrimp that the water contained
What do transcription factors do
Transcription factors bind to specific stretches of DNA and then influence how nearby genes are expressed; can switch genes on or off
When red squirrels are not present, natural selection favors which traits in pine trees
Trees with abundant seeds and thin scales
Compare the eyes found in trilobite that were hunters and trilobites that were prey
Trilobite that were hunters had bigger and less lenses that could focus better. Trilobites that were prey had more but smaller lenses; they were particularly sensitive to movement
Describe the basic body plan of a trilobite. What changes in this basic body plan allowed trilobites to occupy different ecological niches
Trilobite was separated into three parts; the head, middle body, and tail. Trilobites molded their exoskeleton in a variety of different shapes. Their exoskeleton gave them an advantage, they utilized their touch armor
Compared to velvet worms, how are true arthropods better adapted for life on land
True arthropods external skeletons protect them from drying out and strong/rigid enough to allow them to grow bigger and get around without the support of water
Define parallelism (parallel evolution). How is it different from convergent evolution
Two lineages have evolved identical phenotypes by independently acquiring mutations on the same genes. In convergent, the animal is acquiring the same type of mutation
Mineralization
Under weight (due to overlying water and layers of mud or sand) and over long periods of time, the materials which made up the body of the plant or animals may be leached out and replaced with minerals
Which of these radioactive elements would be more appropriate to use to date very old rocks that might be 3 billion years old? a. Uranium-235 b. Uranium-238 c. Potassium-40 d. Carbon-14
Uranium-238
Briefly explain how absolute dating works
Uses the process of radiometric dating (measures the passage of time by the rate of decay or radioactive isotopes)-how long ago an object was formed
Have all organisms that ever lived become fossils
Very few of the organisms that ever lived became fossils
What insights into evolution did Darwin learn from the pigeon breeding experiments
While artificial selection picks the traits, nature, unconsciously selects individuals that are best suited to surviving in their local conditions
The comparison of land and fish vertebrate embryos
While fish and land vertebrates are still embryos, they all develop the same set of arches near their heads. Human embryos initially developed blood vessels in the same pattern seen in fish gills, but later become modified. These homologies were inherited by a common ancestor
Describe the types of changes that occurred in the lizards found on Pod Mrčaru, with respect to: behavioral changes
With a more abundant supply of food on Pod Mrcrau, however, the lizards stopped fighting with each other over territory
How do geologists use the decay of uranium to determine the age of a rock
You can measure the rate at which it turns into lead, go to a rock sample, break it open, and measure the relative amounts of different kinds of lead and uranium in it and determine from this how long it's been since the rock cooled
Why is Tiktaalik considered to be a transitional fossil
You have a fish at just the right time in the history of life that has characteristics of amphibians and primitive fish
Describe the sweaty T-shirt experiment
Young men would sleep in the same T-shirt for a couple of nights, until the shirts were infused with their unique smell. When woman were asked to rate the sex appeal of the different men based only on the smell of the shirts, they consistently rated higher the shirts of men whose immune genes were unlike their own
Based on the textbook, describe the three hypotheses that were proposed about the origin of Homo floresiensis
a population of Homo sapiens, not a branch of Homo sapiens but of Homo erectus
What would you expect a beak to look like if the bird embryo had high levels of BMP4 and low levels of calmodulin
deep, wide, and short
How did climate change affect the early hominin lineages
adapted to the new ecosystems
What two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of bipedalism in hominins
allowed hominins to do a better job of gathering food, an efficient upright stride would have helped the hominins to stay cooler
The earliest trace fossils of terrestrial animals are ____________________, dated at _____________ mya
ancient ancestors of insects and spiders, 480
Fungi
are absorptive heterotrophs, they eat other organisms, dead or alive. They digest their food by secreting chemicals outside of their bodies onto food particles
Animals
are ingestive heterotrophs, bring food into their bodies (ingestive), secrete chemicals internally to break down food sustenances and then absorb the particles into their body fluids
Plants
are multicellular eukaryotes that make their own food by photosynthesis (autotrophs)
How did climate change affect the environment around the time that hominins emerged
average temperature of the planet dropped, and Africa received less rainfall, less lush tropical forests, drier woodlands, grasslands began to expand, and unpredictable weather
What do tools and other artifacts indicate about sophisticated behaviors of early Homo sapiens
began trading their tools pierced snail shells, geometrical patterns on ostrich eggs
Which group is most closely related to brown algae
ciliates
What two groups of fishes are the closest relatives to tetrapods
coelacanths and lungfishes
Imagine you are a student of East African descent. On average you: a. (could or could not?) tolerate milk as an infant b. (can or cannot?) tolerate milk as an adult c. (do or do not?) carry the lactose-tolerant allele of LCT d. have ancestors that (did or did not?) practice camel and cow herding
could tolerate can tolerate do carry the allele of LCT did have
What would you expect a beak to look like if the bird embryo had high levels of BMP4 and high levels of calmodulin
deep, wide, and long
Meganeura was a giant __________________ with a wingspan of _______ feet
dragonfly, 3
What kinds of structures have been used in classification
external features, body plans in invertebrates, feathers in birds, internal organs, behavior and chemical composition, structure of tissues and cells
True or False? Many different species would have evolved if each one needed a complete set of new genes and proteins to determine their characteristics. Explain your answer
false
Selection occurs when two or more genotypes have different levels of __________
fitness
Based on fossil evidence, what evolutionary changes evolved in whales with respect to
front legs- went gradually from hooded limbs to flat flippers they used for steering rear legs- because very small until they completely disappeared nostrils- nostrils shifted up along their skulls until they passed over the eyes
Which group is most closely related to animals
fungi
Evolution can be defined as a change in the...of a...over time
gene pool, population
Which group is most closely related to plants
green algae
How do changes in the digestive system and diet possibly relate to the evolution of the hominin brain
had a shorter digestive system—perhaps one that was adapted to a diet with more meat or more energy-rich tubers
Neanderthals a. How did their brains compare to modern humans? b. What does isotope analysis show us about their diet? c. What do the fractured bones tell us about their hunting
had brains at least as big as our own a diet rich in meat had to withstand a lot of abuse to hunt their food
Discuss the anatomical and cultural changes that make Homo heidelbergensis different from other hominins
had brains measuring about 1200 cubic centimeters, left behind some of the earliest evidence that hominins could hunt
How does the FOXP2 gene in modern humans compare to the same gene in Neanderthals and Denisovans
identical to our own
On a phylogenetic tree, what is the portion of the species on the tree
indicates closeness of the relationship
How is the hair of the echidna modified
it has turned into spikes
How does the platypus bill differ from a duck bill
it is rubbery, not hard
What changes occurred in the skulls of mammals, with respect to: other bones in the lower jaw
jaw shrank and some of the bones at the rear of the lower jaw disappeared
If a trait has high fitness and those alleles become more common, the population will have _____________ (more or less?) genetic variation. Hypothetically, if a population runs out of genetic variation, evolution would _____________
less, decline
What was most likely the second step in eye evolution
light sensitive regions became cup shaped/bulged out, light sensing cells with opsin
The study of the history of evolution focuses on...
living things
Which group was the experimental group
males with clipped trains and eye spots
Which group was the control group
males with non-clipped trains and eye spots
Which two groups of animals burn fuel to generate body heat
mammals and birds
What was the advantage of tool making for hominins
may have used the tools to carve off meat and hammer open bones, some may have used their tools to carve sticks and bones
The study of the process of evolution focuses on...
mechanisms (genetic variation)
Describe the earliest fossil apes that appear in the fossil record about 20 MYA
medium-to large bodied creatures lost their tails; but they still had flexible, strong hands and feet that they could use to grip tree branches
What would you expect a beak to look like if the bird embryo had low levels of BMP4 and high levels of calmodulin
narrow and long
What would you expect a beak to look like if the bird embryo had low levels of BMP4 and low levels of calmodulin
narrow and short
Did the different species of Darwin's finches evolve from one common ancestor or several
one common ancestor
What is the role of predictions in the scientific process
predictions are essential to science. When scientist find and explanation of a natural phenomena, they can use it to generate predictions, and in some cases, they can set up experiments to put those predictions to a test
A predator reduces the fitness of a __________ organism. A parasite reduces the fitness of a __________ organism
prey, host
How did climate change affect the early ape lineages
probably responsible for the extinction of most early ape lineages
The earliest cells to evolve were...
prokaryotes
Which type of cells can transmit mutations to offspring
sperm or egg cells
The earliest body fossils of plants on land are _________________, dated at _____________ mya
spores, 475
What changes occurred in the skulls of mammals, with respect to: middle ear bones
started out as part of the lower jaw, became a system of bones in the ear, They evolved into a series of levers that could amplify faint high-frequency sounds
Archaeopteryx also had reptilian characteristics, including: (1) ______________________________, (2) _____________________________, and (3) ________________________________________________
teeth in the jaw, tiny claws, long bony tails
Lobe-fins include ____________________, ____________________, and ____________________
tetrapods, coelacanths, and lungfishes
After noticing these differences, Darwin wrote in his notebook that these differences might mean...
that species changed
Based on the fossil evidence for Homo sapiens, briefly describe the hypothesis proposed by Chris Stringer
that these fossils were evidence that humans arose in Africa and then spread out to the other continents, other lineages of hominids became extinct
Based on her findings, how are the different groups of modern humans related to each other
the greatest level of diversity and the deepest branches among people of East Africa—the same region where the oldest fossils of humans have been found
What was the dependent variable
which males do the female peahens prefer, during mating season