Exam One Study Set: Bio 330

Define Biological Evolution

Any process by which populations of organisms change over time.

Gene Flow

Any change in the inherited traits of a population that occurs from one generation to the next.

Evolution

Change within a lineage due to natural selection and other mechanisms.

Natural Selection

the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

Genetic Drift

A change in the allele frequency of a population as a result of chance events rather than natural selection.

Lineage

Group that has the same common ancestor

Phylogeny

The evolutionary history of a species or group of related species

Homoplasy

A character state similarity not due to shared descent

Synapomorphy

A heritable aspect of organisms that can be compared across taxa

What are whales related to?

Hippos

What happened to whales hind legs?

The loss of limbs in whales resulted from the transition from land to water

How did whales end up looking so much like fish?

Their body shape adapted for efficient swimming in aquatic environments

How do we know whales are mammals?

Whales share synapomorphies with mammals

Mammary glands

Three middle ear bones

Hair (in developing embryos)

Similarities with fish arose through convergent evolution

Convergent Evolution

Process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve similarities when adapting to similar environments

What lines of evidence document transition from land to water?

1. Fossil analysis of hindlimb loss

2. Isotopic analysis of fossil teeth

3. Embryonic analysis linked to gene expression

Whale brain size and complexity?

Evolution of large brains through:

Formation of lasting alliances

Competition for mates

Complex communication

What is an important insight from Darwin's theory?

All living things are related.

What metaphor did Darwin use to explain the relationships among living things?

Tree of life.

What does Darwin's theory explain?

The origin of biodiversity.

What did Darwin combine with his ideas?

The work of many others.

The great chain of being

European idea that every species was a link on a chain extending from lowest forms to humans and on to spiritual beings. All links and been designed at the same time during creation and would never change. Once all the links were discovered and described, the meaning of life would be revealed.

Carolus Linnaeus

(1707

This geologist organized rock strata into a geological history by using fossils.

William Smith

Natural Theology

complexity is viewed as evidence of design

This geologist proposed that Earth was shaped through imperceptibly slow changes.

James Hutton

Who is Georges Buffon?

A French naturalist known for his work in natural history.

What did Georges Buffon propose about the age of the Earth?

He calculated that the Earth was at least 70,000 years old.

According to Georges Buffon, how did life emerge?

Life emerged as distinct types and transformed when the environment changed.

What laws did Georges Buffon believe governed the formation of the Earth?

He believed the Earth formed according to the laws of physics and chemistry.

This naturalist discovered there were species that no longer existed

Georges Cuvier

This early naturalist believed species could develop variations in traits in new environments.

Georges

This naturalist developed a classification system to organize organisms into taxa

Carolus Linnaeus

This naturalist recognized that triangular rocks found at the top of certain mountains were fossils of teeth from sharks, which pioneered the field of stratigraphy

Nicolaus Steno

Jean

Baptiste Lamarck theory

Lamarck

Complex species (including humans) descended from microbes

Microbes are continually generated spontaneously

Adaptation occurs through inheritance of acquired changes

Uniformitarism

observable natural processes today were responsible for events in the past

Alfred Russel Wallace

Collected plants and animals in South America and the Malay Archipelago

Made observations of biological diversity

Proposed similar evolutionary ideas:

• Common ancestry

• Natural selection

Who's theory is widely accepted as the best explanation for the diversity of life?

Darwin

This naturalist compared elephant fossils to the skeletons of living elephants from Africa and India, which helped establish that many fossils were remains of extinct species

Georges Cuvier

This naturalist discovered spectacular fossils of marine reptiles and other strange animals, which supported the idea that species do become extinct

Mary Anning

What can fossils reveal about extinct species?

Morphology

Behavior

Development

Nutrition

Age

This naturalist believed that Earth was slowly and perpetually being formed by gradual transformations of landscapes, which contributed to the understanding of Earth's age

James Hutton

This naturalist realized that specific rock layers contain a unique set of fossils, which led to the creation of a geological map of strata organized from oldest to youngest

William Smith

Georges Buffon

Earth is very old, and life has gradually changed during its history

James Hutton

Rocks undergo cycles of slow and predictable destruction and formation

Georges Cuvier

Many fossils are the remains of extinct species

Jean

Baptiste Lamarck

Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace

Traits evolve within populations by the influence of environmental conditions

How did Thomas Malthus influence the development of evolutionary theory?

Malthus contributed the idea that population growth in humans can be limited by the supply of resources

What alternative explanation to natural theology makes the most sense?

Natural selection produces the appearance of design because having a rudimentary eye is better than having no eye at all.

The "Great Chain of Being," as originally developed by the ancient Greeks, was adapted by many scholars in the 1600s to 1700s and came to be known as

Natural theology

Linnaeus

rejected evolutionary change but accepted creationism.

Darwin chose just two books to take with him on the voyage of the Beagle. One was the Bible, and the other was

Charles Lyell's The Principle of Geology