BIO 310 Exam 3

Male frogs will sometimes attempt to mate with a person’s boots if that person walks through a swamp in the right season. Female frogs don’t seem to make these kinds of mistakes. Why not?

What is meant by the “asymmetry of sex”? What typically causes this asymmetry and how does this create different selection pressures on males and females?

Define intrasexual selection.

Compare and contrast the following two models for the evolution of female mate choice behavior:

“get better genes” and the “gradual exaggeration of innate preferences”

How does this create a correlation between female preference and male traits (i.e. sons end up having the kinds of traits their daughters prefer)?

Describe the evolution of female mate preference if the male display trait is selected upon by means of an arbitrary preference by the female.

Summarize the predictions of Sexual Strategies Theory. How does this compare with the Gender Similarity Hypothesis?

What is “Hamilton’s Rule,” and how might it explain the evolution of altruism?

Two rat cousins, neither of which have had babies, both of which would have 20 babies over their remaining lifetime, go for a walk. A sees a car headed for B. If A pushes B out of the way, A will die and B will live. Should A do this?

Explain why it may be adaptive for young male bee eaters to voluntarily give up reproduction to become a “helper at the nest.”

Look over the study of cooperative breeding in birds. Why does cooperative breeding evolve more readily in lineages that are less promiscuous? Relate your answer to Hamilton’s rule.

What is a “greenbeard” allele, and what evidence is there that such things exist?

Define eusociality.

What is the “haplodiploidy hypothesis” for the evolution of eusociality? Explain in detail how this hypothesis might explain the adaptive nature of eusociality. Can this hypothesis completely explain eusociality? Why or why not?

What social/biological conditions must be in place for altruism to evolve by means of reciprocal altruism? Illustrate your answer by showing how reciprocal altruism explains blood sharing behavior among vampire bats.

Define senescence.

Compare and contrast the “rate of living” and the “evolutionary” theory of senescence. Which hypothesis is currently better supported by the available evidence?

What is Lack’s hypothesis, and why do many birds lay fewer eggs than the hypothesis predicts?

Compare and contrast the “artifact” and “grandmother” hypotheses for the evolution of menopause. Which hypothesis is best supported by the available evidence?

Making toxic seminal fluid seems like a very bad idea (not to mention being quite rude). Why on earth would some male fruit flies do this, and under what circumstances can sexual coevolution favor less toxic fluid?

In what way does the life history of sauropod dinosaurs resemble birds more than mammals? How does this potentially explain the great evolutionary success of sauropods?

What is the evidence that there is a “cost” of resistance to antibiotics for bacteria? Can selection reduce this cost over time? If so, are we doomed?

Compare and contrast two hypotheses for the evolution of virulence.

What is the evidence for the claim that breast cancer is a “disease of civilization”? If this claim is true, why haven’t we evolved our way out of the problem?

Is fever adaptive? What is the evidence for and against this claim?

What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of the biological, phylogenetic, and morphospecies concepts? Why can’t biologists just settle on a fixed definition for the term “species”?

What is “reinforcement”? What role does this process play in the standard allopatric model of speciation? Is reinforcement absolutely required for speciation to take place? Why or why not?

Define vicariance.

Give two different examples of prezygotic isolating mechanisms.

What are ecological and endogenous controls of diversification? Give an example of each.

Discuss the significance of “catalytic RNA” with respect to the RNA world hypothesis.

What evidence is still missing from the RNA world hypothesis?

What is Oparin-Haldane model? Why does the chirality of bio-molecules pose a problem for this model?

Define cenancestor.

Draw a simple outline of the phylogeny of all living things. Explain how, using this phylogeny and parsimony, we can infer probable traits of the cenancestor.

Define adaptive radiation through ecological release.

What was the “cambrian explosion”? Why is this event controversial and significant? Explain two different mechanisms for what might have caused the “explosion.”

Define permineralized fossil.

Compare and contrast gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Give two different hypotheses that could explain periods of stasis in punctuated equilibrium.

If we were to go fishing in the Devonian, is it even possible to catch any fish?

Yes! It is a highly productive time for fish as it is known as the “Age of Fish.”

Can we go bird watching in the Miocene?

Yes! It is a vibrant time for birding with prehistoric ancestors of our current bird species!

What characteristics make an extinction event a “mass extinction”?

Explain how volcanic activity may have led to the end-permian extinction event.

List evidence in favor of the impact hypothesis for the K-Pg extinction event.